Digital Nomad Summer - Part 17

Zoe and Bea enjoying the view from our site at our favorite

campground, Salt Creek Recreation Area

Whenever we end a big trip, we try to remember to make a list of our favorite things/experiences/places, as well as what we learned as we traveled.  It not only kills some time on our journey home, but it also serves to remind us of the places we saw, people we met, and experiences we had.  On a week-long trip, there's always some, "oh yeah, I forgot we did that!" moments, so you can imagine how we felt recalling these memories from the past seven weeks:

Favorite Camgpround/RV Park/RV Resort

Both of us picked Salt Creek Recreation Area in Port Angeles, WA for this category - we had water and electric hookups here, so we never had to worry about running our generator to keep our laptops charged.  We didn't have a sewer hookup, so we did use the campground's showers, and they were great - super hot water and only a quarter for 2-3 minutes, which was almost the cheapest we found (the showers at Tugman State Park in Oregon were totally free, but not as nice).  There were plenty of walking trails to cool locations from the campground (a WWII bunker, the beach, tidal pools), and the best part were the incredible views.  I wrote about Salt Creek in Parts 9 and 10 of the blog.

Zelda at Salt Creek

Favorite Campsite

Here, I picked our site at Bodega Dunes Campground in Bodega Bay, CA, and Chris was torn between Tugman State Park in Lakeside, OR and Canyon RV Park in Anaheim, CA.  These ended up being our favorites for one major reason - dog friendliness.  The sites in Bodega Bay and Lakeside were tucked away from the main road, and there was a great deal of privacy; the site in Anaheim was open, but it backed up to a massive green area, and we played Frisbee with the girls every day.  I wrote about Bodega Dunes in Parts 3 and 4 of the blog, Tugman State Park in Parts 5 and 8, and Canyon RV Park in Parts 1 and 2.

A great, private campsite at Bodega Dunes

Tucked into the trees at Tugman State Park

The huge green area at Canyon RV Park

Favorite Activity/Adventure

Oh man! This was a hard category for us - we saw so many cool things during our journey.  I somewhat cheated and picked Olympic National Park, since we saw so many different amazing areas while we were up in the Olympic Peninsula.  For his part, Chris most enjoyed Harvest Hosting in the Willamette Valley and driving through Redwoods National and State Parks.  I wrote about Olympic NP in Parts 9 and 10 and Redwoods in Part 5.

Lake Crescent, part of Olympic NP

The Hall of Mosses, in the Hoh Rainforest, inside Olympic NP

Atop Hurricane Ridge, inside Olympic NP

Made in the shade while Harvest Hosting at Laurel Ridge Winery

Visiting these big, old beauties in Redwoods S&NP

Favorite City/Area

For this category, Chris picked the Olympic Peninsula; the views were incredible, the weather was (mostly) great, and the area offered a variety of things to explore.  It was a little light on civilization, but the city of Port Angeles was big enough that we could get groceries and eat tacos without issue (it's also where you catch the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, which is a super cool spot).  That's a win!  I picked the area of the Oregon Coast between Coos Bay and Newport; I had a chance to explore this not just with Chris, but also in more depth with Mom, and we saw so many neat places.  Whether it was the Heceta Head Lighthouse or the Rogue Brewery, the area was full of cool spots where I'd like to spend more time.  I've linked to blogs about this area above, but here's one of some of my adventures with Mom.

Hiking the bunker to beach trail at Salt Creek Rec Area

Having dinner with Mom and the girls in Florence, OR

The Heceta Head Lighthouse

Favorite Food Experience

First, let me say that we eliminated our dinner at Lost Spirits Distillery, described in Part 16 of the blog, from this category; it was so good, so incredible that nothing would even come close.  Taking that truly epic dinner out of contention, my favorite food experience on this trip was the artichoke dip bagel I inhaled from a tiny coffee stand in Waldport, Oregon.  It came into my life around Week 3 of the trip, and I still dream about it.  Chris went through several different options, from the amazing pizza at Crust & Roux our first night in Las Vegas to the remarkably good pizza from the Osprey Point RV Park after arriving at Tugman State Park to the meal we shared with Mom at Homegrown Public House, pictured above.  After giving it serious thought, however, he ultimately settled on the grilled cheese and tomato soup we shared at the Tillamook Creamery.  Can't go wrong with outstanding cheese, right?

The roadside coffee stand where I found my carb-loving heart's desire

Working on our night cheese

Favorite Local Beer/Brewery

Along the way, we did our best to seek out local beer options, and we drank a lot of great stuff on our adventures.  The two that stood out the most for me were the Red Rye Lager from Pigeon Head Brewery in Reno, Nevada (enjoyed next to the granite cliffs at the Coleville/Walker KOA - read about the KOA in Parts 13 and 14 of the blog) and the Magnificent Scotch Ale by Silver City Brewery in Bremerton, WA (purchased at the Joyce General Store in Part 10 of the blog).  Chris focused more on his favorite brewery visits, which included both our old stomping grounds at the Long Beach Beer Lab and a long-overdue pilgrimage to Russian River Brewing (while we were visiting Bodega Bay in Part 4).

Bob with the cliffs in Coleville, CA

Relaxing inside Long Beach Beer Lab, after sending Dad off for the 2023 TransPAC race

Enjoying the beer garden at Russian River

In addition to our list of favorites, we also try to ruminate on the lessons we learned along the way; what we might repeat in the future, what we wouldn't do again, and what we'd try to improve next time.  Next time, I'd plan to bring more warm clothes - as I was packing the rig in the 105 degree June Phoenix heat, it was hard to imagine that I'd be cold, and as such, my warmer wardrobe consisted of one pair of jeans, one pair of hiking pants, one pair of lounge pants, a hoodie, and a nicer cardigan.  This was not nearly enough for just hanging around camp.  Thankfully, I wasn't getting too sweaty while wearing these warmer clothes, but I would have liked one more set of camp pants and another sweatshirt, for example.

Wearing my one set of camper pants in Bodega Bay, CA

On the opposite side of the equation, Chris brought way too many t-shirts.  We each have a wardrobe cabinet next to our sides of the bed, and his was full to the brim with shirts on hangers - he didn't use around half of these, and they took up space and weight that could have been used more effectively.

Our trip reinforced the importance of patience and effective communication to me.  We've generally been pretty decent with this (we're both even tempered and try not to make assumptions we know what the other person is thinking), but the need to be careful and clear when hooking up the truck to the tiny house containing all of our earthly possessions and driving down the road with the lives of our kiddos in our hands was brought to a level of paramount importance on this voyage.  Thus, if Chris asked me if I turned off the propane (for example), it meant he was just double-checking an important safety item, not questioning my thoroughness.  It also meant that if I told Chris he was clear on the right side of the rig, it didn't mean I was critiquing his driving, I was just trying to be helpful and ensure he was free of hazards.  We're not a couple who generally fights about things, and we didn't on this trip, but it's always a good reminder that the two of us are partners working together to accomplish things (it was particularly necessary after all of those long driving days when we'd pull into a 100+ degree campground and needed to set things up as quickly as possible).

We make a pretty good team - here, in our TransPAC Night's Watch t-shirts

Another lesson we learned was to plan for shorter driving days.  When we were mapping out this trip, I asked Chris what his maximum would be each move day (generally, these were Saturdays, but a random Sunday or Monday crept in here, too), and he gave me an 11-hour figure.  We normally plan on doing 50 miles in an hour, to account for not going over 65mph in the rig and taking breaks to stretch, potty, eat cheese, see national parks, and so on.  Thus, I planned for driving ranges of 550 miles as maximums.  In some places, this was fine (Coleville to Vegas, for example), but in other spots, particularly on the windy, narrow coastal roads between Northern California and Oregon and Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula, it was waaaay too much; our 500+ mile drives in these areas took 12-13 hours instead, and we were all destroyed by the end of them.  While we likely won't subscribe to our Coleville KOA neighbor's plan of never driving more than 3 hours on any move day (how do they get ANYWHERE?), we will reduce them in the future (that's why an eight-ten week trip next year is also looking appealing - we can still see a lot, with shorter drives on move days - and be away from Phoenix for all of July and August).

We have a few other things we'll do before the next work trip (I need a more ergonomic seating solution, for example, and we need to replace our cheapo Walmart camper silverware and get a cell booster), but overall, we consider this adventure a resounding success!  Keep your eyes peeled to the blog for more in the future!

Family selfie from Salt Creek!

Later!

Amy