Author: Mike Pekrul

We moved to the Columbia Gorge, east of Portland OR, on Sunday. Not so much what I’d call a “gorge”, it’s a huge broad valley and expanse of river flowing slowly to the west, though there are tall sharp cliffs on both sides. Sunday night we had the first rain we’ve seen in months. The…

We booked a whale watching tour for this morning out of Depoe Bay OR. When we arrived, we found crowds of people standing and waiting for word whether the tours were even happening today or not. Apparently the sea conditions were not so great, and getting out of the harbor across the bar was kinda…

On Tuesday, we got up early (8:30 am!!) and had breakfast out and then went into Newport OR, the “Dungeness Crab Capital of the World”. Evidence of crab fishing is everywhere here! Stacks of traps, giant crab signs, places advertising crabs for sale, steamed or boiled, crab sandwiches, crab cakes, just plain containers of crab…

Week before last, back in Reedsport OR where I flipped the dune buggy, it was quite chilly most of the week. 40’s at night, up to 60 in the day. Then we moved about 50 miles inland to Lebanon OR for a week and the temps were in the 90’s. Not so horribly hot as…

Started the morning by hiking to a few waterfalls. Pretty easy, a couple miles and only a couple hundred feet of elevation. McDowell Creek Falls, Royal Terrace Falls, and Majestic Falls. Only pics of the second two, McDowell falls wasn’t so impressive. In the evening, we finally had another night out on the town. Susy…

Back in school, I hated history class. It was required, so I had to take it, but I always refused to be engaged by it. Somebody did something to someone, so long ago that it was all Who Cares. Somewhen during my life, I started to get interested. I’ve read more history books for fun…

The holiday started with a call from Lindy, a friend back home, to let me know our gang was booking campsites for July next year and to remind me to jump fast. Done deal, our first campsite for 2026 is booked and waiting. That got me thinking of all our friends and family back home.…

SO FREAKIN’ AWESOME! Maybe even as good as the helicopter ride! We are staying next to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, a vast interconnected series of beautiful tan sand dunes, stretching for miles along the Oregon coast. The area is just criss-crossed with crowds of 4 wheelers and side by sides. Hordes of them.…

I just want a pizza. A regular old medium pizza. The same kind of thing I get at home. $10-15 bucks. That’s all. Nothing special. Pizza out here is just crazy expensive. $38 for a medium pepperoni. $48 for a large. Even plain ol’ Pizza Hut, back in the last town, wanted almost $30 for…

We drove inland yesterday to a place called Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area. Some of the signs said “state park”, but it wasn’t much more than a parking area and a couple trails to the falls. Driving out to it was an adventure of its own. The road was very narrow, and dropped…