Pacific Ocean to the Columbia River Gorge

After our month-long stay at Land Yacht Harbor Airstream Park in Lacey, WA, we drove west to the Pacific Coast. We camped for two nights at the Pacific Beach Resort and Conference Center, a military facility. The weather was wonderful, and the ocean breezes were refreshing. We hiked along the beach, visited a thrift store, shopped a couple of boutiques, and bowled a few frames at the Resort alley.
Unique kites are a big deal at Pacific Beach, and competition is big all along the Washington Coast. A contest had just ended before we arrived at the local state park, and another was in the works. On one of our hikes on the beach, we talked to one enthusiast, a man about our age, who was flying seven kites on one line. He even purchased a small GMC pickup just to haul his kite gear.

After our two nights at the military resort, we traveled south along the Pacific for several miles almost to the Portland, Oregon area. Then we swung eastward along the Columbia River. We stayed that night in scenic, wooded Ainsworth State Park in a pull-through site. The campground sold firewood and devered it to our site. We loved sitting around the quiet fire roasting hotdogs and fixing “smores.” This park is fantastic except for one thing. The sewer drop on each site loads from the side rather than the top. We will spare you the details, but if you encounter this weird system anywhere, beware! Just use the main campground sewer dump rather than the lateral one on your site. I-84 in Oregon is one of the most beautiful river gorge drives in America. At one point the next day we diverted from the freeway to take an 11-mile scenic loop that overlooked the Interstate and the gorge.