We are back from another magical adventure to Northern California and the Oregon coast! This trip has become a fall tradition of ours, usually the last trip of the year, where we recharge our souls with the stunning natural beauty. This year we ventured further up the coast and tried out some of the Oregon State Parks with Pearl, and we recommend them as fine campgrounds to stay in along the way.

We started out the trip at one of our favorite places, Burney Falls. We had never stayed at the campground. It had spacious sites, nice facilities and easy access to the Falls trail.

The next major sight on our journey was Crater Lake. The stunning blue of the water never fails to take our breath away! The Mazama campground inside the park is another great place to stay.

Look what I finally figured out how to do–put a video directly into the blog!

From Crater Lake, we headed out to the coast to Florence, Oregon which is home to famous sand dunes which stretch for miles along the shore. We stayed in the Jessie M. Honeyman campground and had a private site, well protected by bushes and a large tree.

From Florence, we drove down the coast to Bandon and stayed at Bullard’s Beach campground. It was here that the rain caught up with us, so we put Pearl under her rain tent.

But, luckily the rain parted enough for us to enjoy these gorgeous walks among Bandon’s stunning sea stacks. I think this is one of the prettiest beaches to walk in Oregon.

The next day, the clouds parted and we enjoyed this beautiful sight just outside of Brookings, Oregon:

Next stop was one of our favorite places on Earth–Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park. This was our 3rd consecutive year here among the giants.

Afterwards, we hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail, one of the longer and more challenging trails in the area. What a magical place! It rained on us a little in the beginning, but overall was a lovely hike through this amazing old growth forest.

Video of the Boy Scout Tree:

I was so happy to be able to do this trail this year. Last year I couldn’t manage it because I still had that nasty cable around my right femur. It’s hard to imagine a year ago I was limping through my hikes, and this year I was pain free! That being said, the last mile or so was tough. Both Scott and I agreed that our hiking sweet spot is about 3-4 miles. But it was worth it to see that big old tree! Luckily, I had no ill effects from this hike, like I did the one to Smith Lake in July.

Our last stop of the trip was Ashland to see a couple of plays and visit our friends, Michelle and Drew. We saw How to Catch Creation and Between Two Knees. Both were excellent–grappling with difficult topics, but interjecting humor and heart, which made the painful things bearable (isn’t that how life is?) Then we enjoyed a great bottle of award-winning Viognier at Trium Winery with Michelle and Drew. It’s always great to catch up with them when we are in town.

We stayed again at Emigrant Lake campground where we enjoyed the full moon and wine overlooking the lake:

It was an awesome trip and we came home soul-filled and relaxed, ready for the fall harvest and the coming of winter in the Sierras.