Tree Resort or Treesort

 July, 2020 - Feeling like a kid again !

Jack and I are both past the age of climbing trees with any success but when we were surprised by our brother and sister-in-law with a gift stay at the well known Oregon Out 'n' About Treehouse Resort, we were up for the adventure.  This was not our typical hotel or motorhome camping stay, this was unique accommodations where you literally climb a tree to go to bed. Now we know why Tarzan liked living in the trees. 

The Out 'n' About Treehouse's, located near Cave Junction, Oregon, offers more than traditional camping with their 'Treesort' lodging, they offer the fun and experience you can get by staying in a treehouse suite. To get to the 18 different treehouses (from 8 ft to 40ft up in the trees) you start out climbing a couple stories of spiral stairs attached around some large trees at the main lodge and then take a number of the seven swinging bridges to the different 'suites' in the forest.  If the excitement of the accommodates isn't enough to get you excited they have onsite activities such as horseback riding, zip line rides, spring fed pool and tree hung swings.

Main office & breakfast building.

Our tree suite for the stay was in 'Forestree' and it stood about 35 feet off of the ground which we accessed by climbing three flights of stairs and crossing two suspension bridges (yes, they did some swinging when we walked on them).  The room itself surrounded a tree in the middle and had a queen bed, single bunk beds, refrigerator and happily a toilet and sink. The view from the tree was great overlooking a meadow where we spotted wild turkeys with babies. On the ground were full service bathrooms spread around so it was easy access to any shower if needed plus a kitchen area where you could prep, cook and refrigerate food for dinners which were our responsibility, but they provided breakfast.  

 I must say exploring the network of bridges that connected the treehouses was an adventure in itself. The bridges, made out of wood planks and wire ropes, tested our skill with balance, but once we were use to that, traversing high above the ground turned out to be a lot of fun.  We did experience movement inside the cabin when it was windy and the treehouse would sway a little. We compared it to being on a boat with the constant wave movement.

One of the suspension walkway to our tree suite

35 FT off the ground

Home Sweet Home

Forestree

View from treehouse 

Interior - bed

Additional bunk beds and sink area. Toilet is to the right behind door

Barn-door

Some of the other treehouses were larger than ours like Majestree and Pleasantree and included kitchens and showers and then there were some smaller like Elementree and Serendipitree which were less equipped with no sink and toilet. There's a treehouse for everyone's style.

Majestree  - the tallest at 40 ft off the ground

Serendipitree

We stayed for two nights.

Forestree

 After a good nights sleep the first night we woke early to a hot breakfast of eggs and pancakes.  Then it was time to saddle up and ride off in the forest.  It has been YEARS since either one of us have been on the back of a horse but we surprisingly felt comfortable to be back in the saddle again. My beautiful white horse was named 'Tigger' and I hoped it wasn't because he was jumpy and Jack's horse was 'Mayor' (a tall black beauty). We elected to the harder more scenic ride and so glad we did.  We rode through the zipline meadow and climbed the mountain trail to the other side for a couple miles, crossed three steams and saw wild turkeys and a few deer. We had a great time.

After we recovered from our hour long horse ride our second adventure for the day was zip-lining.  We had the Outback package which took us to the highest zip-line of the approx. 10 different lines available. After we mastered how to use our gloves as a break peddle to slow ourselves down we flew through tall pines like birds stopping at our perches and continuing until we reached the end. But wait - there's more, the 'Outback' package meant - we had to access two of the tree stands via an unbraced rope foot bridge (like Ninja warriors) then we had to repel down from the last tree to the finish.  What !!!!!!!  Oh yeah and it was fun.  We didn't land on our heads so we call it a successful ending for our zip-lining adventure. 

Jack coming in for a landing

Once we finished our very active morning the rest of the day was directed to total relaxation. We relaxed by the pool, relaxed on the swings and had relaxing naps.  It was a very successful day.

Pool area - So relaxing

Feeling like a kid again

Just a swingin'

Watch out I'm going higher....

It was a fun couple of days and ones we will not soon forget or stop talking about.  Our closing thoughts are that this was a   'tree-ific' time  !!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading about our adventures.  

Jack and Deb

The Oregon Coast

 July, 2020              Staying cool on the Oregon Coast

A trip to Oregon is not complete for us unless we venture to the Pacific Coast.  As the temperatures inland were staying around 90 degrees it was time to cool off at the coast.  Jack's brother, Bill and wife Donna loaded up with us and we headed for the coast. We were excited to visit the coast as we had rented an OCEAN FRONT home for three nights in Charleston which is close to the larger town of  Coos Bay, Oregon.  Charleston is considered a quaint fishing village and is a commercial port along with being the perfect area for sport-fishing enthusiasts.  Coos Bay is Oregon Coast's largest city and the largest natural harbor between Seattle and San Francisco. 

The house afforded an excellence view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse. Cape Arago Lighthouse is no longer operated and the site has been returned to the Confederated tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians nor is it open to the public, but, the lighthouse made an excellent silhouette during our daily sunsets.  

View of  Cape Arago Lighthouse from backyard.


Our coastal home

Stairs to our private beach - I think there were about 60 or so steps. Worth every step.

Our happy place !

Every night we had a beautiful sunset with the Lighthouse silhouette. 

Cape Arago Lighthouse and our beach

The area around Charleston hosts a number of beach State Parks.  The Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Bastendorff parks to name a few and all were minutes from our home base.  Did I mention that we were staying in BEACH FRONT accommodations! Wink!  It was fun to visit these parks and learn some of the history of the area while enjoying the continual view of the ocean.  Our days were filled with beachcombing, hiking, geocaching and touring the area. We also tour the towns of Charleston and Coos Bay and found some pretty parks and good food. All 3 nights we ate at the local restaurants savoring the fresh fish, clam chowder and coastal atmosphere.  The great food was the cherry on top of a great stay at the coast.

A short distance inland lies Mingus Park in Coos Bay.  We walked the loop trail around the stream fed pond, Japanese style garden and bridges plus we found yet another geocache.  It was a peaceful setting enjoyed by young and old.

Japanese style bridge in Minus Park

The pond had huge lily pads with pink and purple blooms.

Four days goes by so quickly when you are at a place you love.  None of us wanted to leave the beautiful views, salty air,  brisk 50-70 degree breezes and fresh seafood, but it was time to travel back inland.  We left some footprints in the sand and came home with shells, driftwood and lots of laughs, beautiful sights and good memories.  When we left our little piece of heaven we continued south on Highway 101 along the Pacific Coast where we enjoyed  watching seabirds and other marine wildlife from viewing areas.

Our brief stop in Bandon, Oregon gave us a chance to stretch our legs and tour the town, see another light house, find a couple geocaches and read about the stories behind the local rock formations in the ocean.

Coquille River Lighthouse near Bandon, OR
First built in Bullards Beach State Park in 1891 and later renovated in 1976. Mariners were guided across dangerous bars with the help of this lighthouse.

So many beautiful beaches so little time.

The famous 'Face Rock' - Bandon, OR  (Can you see it)
(My shortened version) The local Indian legend says the daughter of Chief Siskiyou with her dog & kittens went in the ocean and were caught by the evil spirit of the ocean.  She refused to look into his evil eyes and looked up toward the moon. The dog tried to save her by swimming out with the kittens but the evil spirit shook them off into the ocean. Upon finding the daughter she was still gazing skyward. Her dog was on beach howling and the kittens were still in the water. In time they all turned to stone, frozen forever. 

Face Rock and Kittens, etc.

An interesting history stop along Highway 101 was the Thomas Creek Bridge.  This is the highest bridge in Oregon with a height of 345 feet and was built in 1961. Very impressive structure spanning the wide canyon below as the waters flow out to the ocean.

Photo taken at top on Highway 101.

Photo from web - taken from the ocean. During our visit we were standing to the right at the bridge.

Our trip was complete. We treasure the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean and look forward to our next coastal trip.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure and next time - Have you ever slept in a treehouse?

Jack and Deb

Be Kind to Nature

This is Natasha the Turtle and it is a debris sculpture. It is made of water bottles, boots, shot gun shells, bottle caps, fake flowers, detergent bottles, brown shoe soles, shovels and plastic lighters. The debris on this sculpture was collected from the Pacific Coast beaches.

Summer Trip 2020 - Oregon or Bust

Oregon or Bust – Covid-19 Summer Trip

Our retirement travel plans have been altered this summer because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We had planned to once again pack the motor home and Jeep and this year head to New Mexico for a couple months of camping and sightseeing. However, because of the tightening down of camping, sightseeing and tourist facilities in New Mexico and almost every State we decided to leave the motor home stowed away and take a car road trip to Oregon for the summer and stay most of the time with Jack’s brother, Bill and wife, Donna.

Our planned route took us through Utah, Nevada and landing in Oregon.  We did not rush our travel days and stopped at many interesting points along the way.

Our first day of travel got us as far as Panguitch, Utah and after having a great dinner and finding some geocaches around the little country town, we checked into one of our memorable overnight stays at the Panguitch Bed & Breakfast. This 1920 red brick house has some original woodwork and an old timey feel.  Our room was a  comfortable room with its own private bathroom on the second floor. Before leaving in the morning we were served a delicious full service breakfast then headed out to continue our road trip.

Our room at Panguitch B & B

Along the way we visited many southern and central Utah towns and found that many of them have beautiful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapels. Most of the area has history of early settlements and the trials and tribulation that went along with settling in the wild west.

Manti LDS Temple constructed 1877 -1888

Once we reached Salt Lake City (SLC) we stayed a couple of days and toured the City plus the many mountains surrounding the City. The main downtown attraction was the Salt Lake Temple Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints chapel. While we were there it was being renovated so we could not tour the Church and the surrounding buildings that are usually open were closed because of Covid-19.  Next to the Church is a beautiful plaza called Temple Square packed with a variety of flowers, statutes and fountains and also is home to the LDS Church office buildings. We walked around downtown and through the accessible areas of the Chapel grounds but we definitely will need to make another trip to thoroughly tour the grounds, history museum and Chapel.

Salt Lake City LDS Temple constructed 1853-1893

Temple Square LDS church building

Statute depicting the pioneer LDS cross country travelers

Flowers and statutes throughout the gardens

We did a couple of scenic drives around the SLC area, first was an eastward trip up St. Rt. 189 to Heber City area which was at a higher elevation and along the way we enjoyed the beauty of the Bridal Veil Falls. Reaching about 12,000 foot elevation made it a cool respite from the valley temperatures.  We stopped at Park City, Utah, a well-known skiing designation in the slopes around the old silver mining town but the highlight was to walk the very active downtown ‘old town’ 1880's buildings with open galleries, restaurants and shops (And of course a geocache or two).  The second day was Little and Big Cottonwood Canyon scenic drives, both drives went uphill quickly to the 11,000 foot elevation ski resorts of Alta & Brighton high above the Salt Lake City valley.

Bridal Veil Falls

Alta Ski Resort - Little Cottonwood Canyon

Snow spotted mountain in late June - Little Cottonwood Canyon

Beautiful views along Little Cottonwood Canyon

Downtown Park City

Once we left SLC we traveled west toward Nevada on Interstate 80 to visit the renowned Bonneville Salt Flats / Speedway. What seems to be in the middle of nowhere this 150 square mile area has been used since 1930 as the place to speed test vehicles.  It’s basically a dried up lake bed where salt deposits were left behind. (And of course a couple geocaches were found)

Got Salt !!!!

We continued on I-80 through Elko, Nevada to Winnemucca, Nevada where we turned north to Burns, Oregon. There is not much in Burns, Oregon but it was an overnight stop and we had a good dinner at The Pine Room and picked up a couple more geocaches including my 600^th find and even a nighttime cache in a cemetery, which made my heart race but we were successful to find the cache in the dark (and some help from a ghost or two).

One of many 'big boot' art work around Elko Nevada

Some cool art work around Burns Oregon 

My 600th geocache find. It was in the rat ! Yikes

The next morning we headed toward Bend and Klamath Falls, Oregon. Up to this point we  traveled in mostly high desert type scenery but once we reached Bend, Oregon the scenery changed to more forest areas.

Northwest of Klamath Falls is Crater Lake National Park.  The park was established in 1902 and is the 5^th oldest National Park.  Crater Lake was once a mountain which was collapsed by volcanic activity some 7,700 years ago.  It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet deep at the deepest point and has a deep blue color. The island in the middle of the lake is called Wizard Island and is a cinder cone.  An interesting fact is that the Lake has no streams flowing into it or out of it.  The Lake is refilled entirely by direct precipitation in the form or snow or rain. 

During our visit the weather was windy and chilly (according to me, not Jack) with residual snow in some areas.  I layered up and even though the visitors center was closed we toured the Lodge and walked the path along the cliff to view the Lake. Crater Lake is a beautiful park to visit if you are in the area.

The Lodge at Crater Lake

Panoramic of Crater Lake 

One of our interesting stops in our travels was the Collier Logging Museum in the Collier Memorial State Park, north of Klamath Falls on our way to Crater Lake. The Collier family donated the land in 1945 and in 1947 donated a collection of logging equipment dating back to the 1880’s. "A man often ahead of his times, Alfred D. 'Cap' Collier saw his role as that of a steward. He believed that the forest was like a giant garden. It was to be cared for, nurtured, managed and then harvested properly when the time came." 

The museum is mostly a self-guided outside museum which outlines the evolution of log cutting, moving logs  and mill logging history. We walked through a time lapse of the logging industry from axes & oxen to diesel tractors and logging trucks. 

Welcome sign

Log cabin display

A Steam Donkey was used in the 1880's to move logs

A railroad car log loader - a unique 1800's steam log loader. 

This tug boat was used to move logs down the river from 1937 to 1943

Solid wooden wagon wheel - The wheels are sections of logs bound with iron ties.

One of the  World's largest Douglas Fir Tree

So after 2,000 miles, 7 hotel rooms, 55 geocache finds and numerous scenic stops we landed at our home for the next month or so in Oregon.  Stay tuned there's more to come like a trip to the Oregon Coast.

Thank you for following our adventure.

Happy Travels

Jack and Deb