Goodbye Oregon, hello California!

What a great day we had yesterday... let me tell you all about it!

First of all, as you'll see from the photos below, it was a beautiful blue sky all day long. Temperatures about 60F (15C) which is perfect for doing a bit of hiking and exploring. And, there was a lot of exploring to be done... once again, every five or ten minutes there is somewhere worth stopping at along this section of coastline.

First thing we did was go for a walk up to the overlook above Port Orford where we had been parked the night before. We walked up to Port Orford Heads State Park where they have some trails overlooking the bluff.

Good start to the day!

Beautiful views.

Scenery along the way.

Stopping to enjoy the view.

Perfect day.

Looking south.

There used to be a harbor here!

From 1934 to 1970 there was a Coast Guard LifeBoat Station located in the rocky harbor above. Now, there is a lifeboat museum located at the old station, but the boathouse down below was destroyed by fire and there's nothing left of it. 

Imagine men scrambling down 532 steep, slippery wood and concrete steps on a 280-ft. cliff in a raging storm to a 36-ft boat…surrounded by waves and rocks, buffeted by brutal winds, tearing out to sea to rescue sailors on a ship in trouble.

These men were US Coast Guard “surfmen,” and launched search and rescue missions from the Port Orford Heads from 1934 to 1970. They were responsible for a 40-mile stretch of coastline between Cape Blanco and Cape Sebastian. Men on a 37-ft lookout tower, perched at the westernmost tip of the Heads, watched for distress signals that sent the surfmen down to the boathouse in Nellies Cove.

This old rescue boat was retired in 1970.

The crew quarters and offices.

We then walked back down to where Sherman was parked.

I think there might be an ocean view ahead!

Yep, there is. 

You can see Sherman's $10 overnight parking spot on the left.

Port Orford Harbor is one of only two boat lift harbors in the U.S..

Yep, that was a nice spot for an overnight.

We figured we had better do some driving! By this point, it was almost lunchtime already!

Scenery along the way.

Sisters Rock. Better stop to have a closer look!

Yep, there is a trail down there! 

Looking south.

And looking north.

I could hear some waves crashing from a rock straight ahead. It kind of looked like there might be a cave of some kind there, and there was! I climbed down to have a closer look...

Made it to the bottom. Now just have to make it back out!

Ruth, waiting for me at the top.

You can see where Sherman is waiting for us.

Oregon coast scenery.

Looks like a pretty decent lunch spot!

Sisters Rock.

We did some more driving.

Bright afternoon sun.

Scenery.

We stopped at a little used trailhead that was supposed to lead to another viewpoint. But the trail was pretty hard to follow. Like I said, this one didn't seem to be used very often. But, we did find the viewpoint. Here, I took a video for you...

What a view!

And, it had this view looking south...

Stunning.

We crossed the border into California, and found the Lucky 7 Casino, a small Indian casino that has a few RV parking spots.

Welcome to California!

Sure enough, they have a Players Club you can join and Ruth got $5 free play because it's her birthday month. But they don't give you free play just for joining... you have to gamble $10 of your own money first, and then they give you a free $10.

Okay, we figured we would go for that. We're not big on using our own money to gamble with, but I thought the odds of at least breaking even were pretty good with that deal.

And I was not wrong.

Ruth ended up to the good by $2.65 by the time all was said and done.

But I did really well! To top off our really good day, I walked out with $53 USD ($70 CAD) profit and a big smile on my face!

So, I'd say that was a great day, wouldn't you??

Yesterday's drive, 65 miles (104 kms).

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