Paradise Cove RV Resort and Marina on the Nehalem River near Rockaway Beach is our first stop in Oregon. What a wonderful surprise we had as we backed the camper into our site. The view out the back window was so great. The Salmon were running up the Nehalem River so there many of the local Oregon people camped here. The people that were camped next to us gave us a nice slice of fresh salmon the had gotten that day. Kay fixed it for supper the next night, and it was out of this world. Can't get it any fresher. We did take one day to kayak the river. We left just before high tide so the tide would take up up river. Than coming back as the tide was going out. That made for a easy kayak trip. We sure do like this part of the Oregon coast.
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
The bridge on HWY 101 over the Columbia River from Washington to Astoria, Oregon.
Kay took this picture from her window as we were going over the bridge.
This one I took on my side of the truck.
We stopped at Fort Clatsop
This is a reproduction of the old fort, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter.
view of the river.
View of the Nehalem River out the back window of the camper.
View of the campground from the river. Our camper is sitting on the second level. If you look closely you can see our wind sock.
We took a trip down to the cheese factory to get some of the good stuff, and some of the good ice cream too. I spent a lot of time in the cheese sample line. That stuff is really good.
View of the production floor.
This is a crab trap with a bunch of Dungeness crabs in it.
Being in Oregon, and doing what the locals do, I got me a crabbing license. What you see here is called a hoop crabbing net. I zip locked a chicken leg to the bottom of the net and then dropped it into the water off the side of the pier. One has to wait for about ten minutes and then pull it in.
In Oregon the legal size of crab you can keep is 5 3/4 inches, and it also has to be a male crab. The local crabbers on the dock showed me what the difference was between them. Most of the ones in the net were too small and had to be thrown back in.
The other thing they told me is to wear heavy leather gloves. These little crabs can really pinch hard, even through the gloves. The crab I am holding is of legal size and I kept it.
One day I thought it would be fun to go crabbing from the kayak. That was a wonderful experience. I was out for about three hours and only got three crabs of legal size, but it was fun anyway.
The next few pictures are what the cleaning process is about. I kept the crabs in a bucket so they could not crawl all over the inside of the kayak. I do not think it would be fun having a pinching crab fall into my lap while sitting in the kayak in the middle of the river.
Next you take the crab out of the bucket to show Kay how big it was.
This was the biggest one of the bunch.
At the campground they have a big pot of boiling sea water going all the time. You dump your crabs in and wait for about 15 min for them to get done. Here you can see me scooping them out of the pot.
This is what they look like after cooking. The campground also provides us with a cleaning station. I also had to have one of the local ladies teach me how to clean them. After cleaning, I sealed them up in one of the airtight bags and put them into the freezer. when we get to Michelle's home, will make crab cakes with them. All in all it was a good experience doing the crabbing thing. I plan to do it again when we get back to this part of Oregon.
The river at sunset. and low tide.
Sneaking up on the Gull.
Juvenile Herring Gull
Herring Gull (non breeding)
Great Egret
Blue Heron on old tree root.
Kay and her flowers and bugs.
If you look close there is a bee getting ready to land on the flower.
This is the little town of Wheeler, CA seen from the kayaks on the river.
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