Lava River Cave, Lava Butte, & Lava Beds

After our lovely trip to Descend on Bend, Meowmy and I headed to Lava River Cave with our new friend Stavros whom we met at Descend.  The Lava River Cave is part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in the Deschutes National Forest between La Pine and Bend in Oregon.  No pets are allowed in this mile-long lava tube, so they explored it without me, which took about two hours.  I heard it was really dark and cold inside and that they went so deep that when they turned the flashlights off, it was eerie and darker than one can imagine!

Afterwards, Stavros and Meowmy headed to Lava Butte, a cinder cone on the northwest flank of Newberry Volcano.  They headed to the top of the cone where they had a 360* view of the land and enjoyed a stroll around the whole rim.  I heard there’s a fire lookout at top because you can see for miles and miles!

Saying good-bye is always hard, but this is where we parted ways with Stavros, who headed North while we headed South.  We spent the night in Hagelstein County Park near Klammath Falls, which is a great place to overnight if you’re looking for free camping in this area.

The next morning we headed to Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California.  It’s definitely off-season at the beginning of October because we barely saw another person or vehicle the whole time we were exploring this beautiful volcanic park.  We stopped at Devils Homestead Flow and Fleener Chimneys, plus Meowmy did some easy caving, exploring Merrill Cave, Skull Cave, Sentinel Cave, and Valentine Cave.  I even got to explore some of the lava near Valentine Cave before we headed out and made our way towards our next stop, Lassen Volcanic National Park, which I’ll be blogging about soon!

The Journey To Descend On Bend

Meowmy was really excited for the 3-day vanlife camping event called Descend On Bend, which takes place an hour southeast of Bend, Oregon.  She decided to make a 10 day trip out of it, with stops along the way there and back.

We left on Tuesday, September 25th and worked our way North to Burney Falls.  Since no pets are allowed on the trail to the falls, Meowmy went by herself to see these magnificent falls while I stayed in the RV. We spent the evening boondocking off a forest road near McCloud, which was great cuz I got to roam around the trees chasing small animals while Meowmy made dinner.

The next morning we headed to McCloud Falls near Mount Shasta, which is a three-tiered waterfall off Highway 89.  There’s a nice trail you can walk from the Upper Falls to the Middle and Lower Falls, where there was a bunch of fisherman. From there, we passed through Weed and Mount Shasta, then enjoyed lunch at Veterans Memorial Park in Klammath Falls.

We drove the final stretch to Bend and found a great overnight spot next to a park where Meowmy took me for a walk before heading to the Descend pre-party at Silver Moon Brewing.  The parking lot was a vanlife haven with an assortment of Vanagons, Sprinters, Promasters, and even a huge Class A!  Meowmy had fun walking around meeting people and seeing their van builds, all while enjoying some awesome beer.

Thursday morning we headed South through La Pine and then East towards the Outback Station, where Descend Cinco was taking place.  Hundreds of RV’s, vans, trucks, and cars ended up camping at this high desert oasis near the famous Hole-In-The-Ground in Fort Rock Basin, a maar field of former volcanic activity.  Meowmy chose a nice shady spot in the trees and made friends with our neighbors for the next three days.  These guys from Portland had an awesome old fire truck from Germany that they remodeled; it even had sirens!

Descend is a cool event with live music, potluck, BBQ, raffle, swap meet, sunrise yoga, salsa contest, ladies cocktail hour, syncrorun, and bonfires at night.  There’s even a huge teepee in the main community area!  Meowmy attempted to ride her bike to the Hole-In-The-Ground on Friday and ended up bailing hard due to no traction on the sandy dirt.  We met tons of cool people and had an absolute blast, so Meowmy said we are coming back next year!

Portland Japanese Garden

During our Thanksgiving Trip, Meowmy went to the Portland Japanese Garden on an overcast day while I slept in the rig.  She took some beautiful pictures of the foliage and said she absolutely loved strolling for a few hours through the whole garden, enjoying all the different toros (garden lanterns), the groomed bonzai trees, the bamboo stalks, asymmetrical ponds, zen gardens, and stepping stones throughout the different levels. There was even a display of gorgeous kimonos for her to see! I do remember her saying that she wished she came earlier in the autumn to see more of the bright red and orange fall colors as only a few trees and bushes still had their vibrant leaves. Did you know that a traditional Japanese garden consists of six key elements?  They are water, rocks, trees and flowers, bridges and fences, stone lanterns and water basins, and fish! Meowmy definitely saw all of those on her journey through this sunning garden that is worth seeing if you’re ever in the Portland area. I hope you enjoy the collage we put together for you!

Thanksgiving Trip Through Oregon

When Meowmy got invited to Vancouver, WA for Thanksgiving by her close friends, she jumped on the chance to drive up Highway 101 again to see her beloved Oregon Coast.  Turns out our buddy Chris and his kitty Michi were heading to Portland at the same time, and so the plan to caravan together came into play.

We left the Bay Area on a beautiful Saturday morning and headed up towards Northern California with a quick stop at Cherry Creek Rest Stop (aka Irvine Lodge in Mendocino County), then a nice detour and lunch stop along the Avenue of the Giants near Myers Flat.  All those tall redwood groves were spectacular to see, there was even one tree that looked like it had a door in it!

We were lucky enough to enjoy a spectacular sunset near Moonstone County Park, where Meowmy and Chris made a steak and asparagus dinner while Michi and I explored the cliff area.  Then we headed to Trinidad Rest Area off the highway, which is a nice forest-adjacent rest area without a lot of traffic noise.

After a morning stroll in the Trinidad forest, we headed North to the Oregon coast with a lovely rest at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings and quick lunch at Natural Bridges in the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

That night we found a gem of an overnight spot near Coos Bay, where there’s this little speck of BLM land called Bastendorff Beach, which is approximately 2 miles west of Charleston and has fantastic sunset views with Cape Arago Lighthouse off in the distance.  Sadly Meowmy fell stepping out of our rig that night due to a precarious step and hit the back of her head on a rock, which gashed her scalp open pretty good.  Luckily the bleeding stopped and she didn’t have a concussion!!  It was a scary moment for me and our caravanning friend Chris, but it all turned out ok and the doctor said it would heal fine.

After a quick pit stop at Cook’s Chasm to see Thor’s Well and Spouting Horn, we ended up in Manzanita where there’s a whole stretch of road along the beautiful beach.  Turns out the cops are really nice in this town, knocking on all the vehicles after sunset to let them know that you can’t overnight within the city limits, but also letting us know that the city limit ends just further down the same road.  Nothing beats waking up to an amazing beach view, even if it was misty the next morning!

Being that it was our last day en route to Vancouver WA, Meowmy didn’t mind the wind and rain, stopping at Neahkahnie Viewpoint, Hug Point, Arcadia Beach, Silver Point, and lastly Cannon Beach, where she took a stroll all the way to Haystack Rock without another person in sight.

Stay tuned for Meowmy’s afternoon in Portland Japanese Garden coming soon!

Pacific Northwest Trip

Meowmy and I took a two week trip to the Pacific Northwest back in August and it was one amazing journey! We traveled north to Oregon and Washington along Highway 101 and then worked our way east to Seattle, then south to the Vancouver, WA, and Portland area, then into the Oregon wine country, the Columbia River Gorge, and finally home along the Interstate-5. I got to see so many wonderful places, met some amazing people, even “hung out” with two dogs, and watched the sun get eclipsed by the moon!! I also figured out how to get extremely comfy in Meowmy’s lap while she drove our home on wheels and never needed to grab on with my claws. As much as the trip was a lot of fun and I got to explore cool places, it’s good to be home and back in my neighborhood. I hope you enjoy all the beautiful photos of our journey, Meowmy really likes to capture all the wonderful moments and places we saw!

The road trip started with a few stops in Northern California along the coast. Meowmy heard about Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, but was disappointed that most of the glass is gone. You have to walk a mile or so north or south to find glass. Further north is Westhaven-Moonstone, which is a lovely community on the cliffs with spectacular views. We spent the night at the Trinidad Rest Area, a rest stop along the forest and far enough away from 101 to not hear the freeway traffic, making it a decent overnight spot with some exploring opportunities in the trees. False Klammath was our last stop in California, before crossing into Oregon.

The Oregon Coast is absolutely incredible with so many places to explore!  Due to our travel schedule, we couldn’t stay too long but saw quite a bit over our two day trek. First we hit the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, which is just breath-taking, full of great places and vista points to stop at such as Harris Beach State Park, Whaleshead Viewpoint, Natural Bridges Viewpoint, and Arch Rock Picnic Area. Then we worked our way up Highway 101, past many other state parks, quaint beach towns, historic lighthouses, and beautiful recreational sites, including stops at Myers Creek Beach, Sisters Rock State Park, Humbug Mountain State Park, Battle Rock Wayside Park, Cape Blanco State Park, and Bullards Beach State Park.

We spent a good amount of time in the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area near Yachats to see Thor’s Well, the Spouting Horn, and Cook’s Chasm, and even spent the night Neptune State Park despite the Day-Use Only sign, tucked away in the corner under some trees.

The next day we stopped at Devil’s Churn, Little Creek Cove Scenic Point & Seal Rock, Yaquina Head, Devils Punchbowl State Natural Area, Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area, and Manzanita. It was just breathtaking and both Meowmy and I fell in love with the state! Meowmy even found her dream house in the gorgeous little beach town of Manzanita, and we both wished we could have stayed longer.

Knowing that time was limited and we had to reach our overnight spot south of Forks, WA, we didn’t have a chance to stop at more places in Northern Oregon, including the famous Cannon Beach.  Instead, we drove over the Astoria-Megler Bridge into Washington, stopped real quick at the Dismal Nitch Rest Area, then heading north past the Quinault Reservation.  Along Highway 101, there’s this cool spot Meowmy found last year with a beautiful cliff view of the Pacific Ocean, so we raced against the sun and made it there just before it got dark.  There were two other vehicles in this awesome overnight spot, which led to us making friends with Matt & Pat from Seattle and Lennon & Dillon from Arizona.  Together we enjoyed the most magical views of stars and the Milky Way you can image (no light pollution), and even witnessed the end of the Perseid Meteor Shower! The next day we stopped at Kalaloch & Ruby Beach, Forks (made famous by Twilight movies, and Lake Crescent, with a quick stop at La Poel day use area, though no RV’s per sign). Meowmy wished we had gone to La Push, but missed out on this trip due to time.

After passing through Port Angeles, we worked my way over to Kitsap County via the Hood Canal Bridge to meet up with a cat owning van dweller named J.P. we met through the United West Coast Vandwellers Facebook Group. He told us about Kitsap Memorial State Park, which is a beautiful park along the water with nice showers and campsites. After Meowmy enjoyed a nice early bird dinner at The Point Casino & Hotel, J.P. showed up a fabulous overnight spot with a secluded beach overlooking the Hood Canal between Port Gamble and Hansville. We watched the most spectacular sunset I’ve ever seen!

The next day, we headed to Point No Point Lighthouse in Hansville, where we met a cool lady named Mimi and her dog. Then I got to take my first ferry boat ride over the Puget Sound from Southworth to Fauntleroy! We headed to Alki Beach, which is very boondocking friendly, where we enjoyed another beautiful sunset. From Alki Beach we headed to Seattle, where we met up with Meowmy’s high school friend Lou who lives on Queen Anne Hill.  We parked at Kerry Park, which is known for it’s amazing view of the Seattle skyline.

Saying good-bye to Seattle and the Puget Sound wasn’t easy, but we needed to head South to Vancouver / Portland area, where Meowmy met up with some good friends who moved here a few years back, ate some delicious food at Tidbit Food Farm and Garden, went cider and ginger beer tasting at Portland Cider House and Rachel’s Ginger Beer, and enjoyed a local Vancouver farmer’s market.

From there we headed through Oregon wine country to McMinnville where we watched something called a total eclipse, which was really eerie and amazing at the same time!  The air got cooler, everything went quiet and dark, there were even these things called shadow snakes that happened right before and after the corona.  What a spectacular experience, plus I played with a dog.

Our next stop was the Columbia River Gorge where we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls Overlook, Wahkeena Falls, Multnomah Falls, and Horsetail Falls, then headed into Cascade Locks to an overnight spot we found on Freecampsites.net.

The next morning we dumped our tanks for free at Hood River Waste Water Plant, then headed to Maryhill, WA, where there’s a full-scale replica of Stonehenge built as a WWI Memorial. We continued down the Lewis and Clark Memorial Highway with great views of the Columbia River and stopped at Horsethief Butte, Coyote Wall, and Beacon Rock.  We passed the famous Bridge of the Gods and Bonneville Dam along the way, as well as the overnight spot Meowmy boondocked at last year near the railroad tracks.

Satisfied with our Columbia River Gorge exploration, we headed South on Interstate 5 through Portland, Salem, Eugene, and Grants Pass, and ended up at Valley of the Rogue State Park outside Medford, which turned out to be a great overnight spot, though it was a bit smoky from the fires burning in the Cascade Mountains.  Meowmy let me roam around a lot of the park before we headed off the sleep on our last night of this incredible PNW journey. Waking up to even smokier air from the Oregon fires, we headed home over Mount Ashland, through Weed by Mount Shasta, and finally passed Shasta Lake after a quick stop at Castle Crags State Park (which doesn’t allow RV’s to scenic vista point or camping area).  It was a long day of driving, but we finally made it home to the San Francisco Bay Area and I was happy to see all my neighborhood friends.

For a fun end to this long post, I wanted to share all my crazy poses in the RV and Meowmy’s lap.  Thanks for reading and following along on our #rvlife adventures!