Friday, 2 August 2013
Vegantopia, Blodgett, Oregon
Weather: Sunny, clear, high of 74 degrees, low of 52.
Early to rise after camping out on the living room floor of their soon-to-be new home, Lady Etain, Sir Thomas, and Prince Cian got up and made breakfast then took a walk through of their new home. Sir Thomas negotiated with the Jester Markey on renting to own the new ranch that he was desperately ready to leave for 250,000. Sir Thomas was interested in buying it was did not have the capital needed. Jester Markey said he would hold the property for them for a year if they paid the $500/month rent for a year in advance, so Sir Thomas did. He met downstairs with Jester Markey and hashed out the arrangements and negotiations, there was some friction, but they came to an agreement and drew out the contract. The Prince and Lady Etain were upstairs. Sir Thomas wrote the check and made it be. Lady Etain was a bit hesitant as she wasn’t sure if she completely liked the place, but she agreed. Jester Markey would be occupying the downstairs apartment while Sir Thomas and Lady Etain would take over the 3 bedroom house upstairs and the rest of the ranch shared. Sir Thomas and Lady Etain contracted rental of the gypsy wagon/vardo as a guest house as they had hoped to rent it out to their friend Lady Wendy.
They explored the dining room, the kitchen, walked down the hallway to the bathroom which had a claw foot iron tub. It was so lovely they thought. The back main bedroom, Cian’s bedroom, and and third bedroom as Sir Thomas’ office. The living room had a cast iron stove/ furnace. They loved it. They took in the views of the deck and the 8 or 16 acres of land they could use. Downstairs were stairs down to the large warehouse garage with stage, and they had their own stairwell on the side of the house.
Two large solar panels next to a wooden shed that was in ruin. 80% of the house’s electricity was handled by solar. They obtained the Gypsy Wagon/vardo that had its own sink, cast iron stove, table/chairs, booth seats, and loft queen size sleeping area they were going to use for their guest house with visiting friends.
An apple orchard, blueberry bushes, and a vegetable garden – it was a dream come true. The foot bridge across the creek led to a fairy path to a faerie ritual circle up in the hillside. It was so magical.
For Lammas, they planted the Prince’s umbilical cord and mother’s placenta under a lavender plant just across the foot bridge. It was to be their home.
Lots of plans about the new ranch swirled in their heads as they planned on how to get the rest of their stuff on the East coast to the west coast from their three bedroom home in Columbia, South Carolina. Uhaul’s Uboxes were the idea they believed they were going to go for.
They bid farewell for the night to Jester Markey as they headed west to explore the coast and get established with their new surroundings. They got a postal box in Newport and found a storage unit en-rout. They then went to explore Yaquina Head Natural Beauty Site taking the Prince to the beach to play with the beach rocks and cobbles, dig in the sand, watch the waves, look for seals and whales. They explored the volcanic remnants of the basalt flows that millions of years etched its way into the ocean. It was an ancient lava flow, fourteen million years ago that gushed lava from huge fissures in Eastern Oregon and Washington that flowed over 300 miles to this spot. It was a rugged and eroded landscape carved from the Yaquina Head River Basalts that created the western-most toe of the Ginkgo Basalt Flow of the Columbia River Basalts. There were fossilized clams, snails, and marine mammals in these stones.
The Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area had a lighthouse as a beacon of light for this rugged shore so ships would not crash into the lights. Lady Etain was ecstatic as she adores lighthouses. They walked around the perimeter of the lighthouse showing the Prince its monumental grandeur.
They walked down to the beach to play in the rocks, look at seals, but couldn’t spot any whales even though this spot was infamous for gray whales during their migrations. They did observe the many sea birds flocking, nesting, and making sounds along the sea stacks and sea rocks protruding from the frothy sea water. Apparently over 25,000 common murres breed on Colony Rock protruding from the waters. The Tuffed puffins come here in April nesting in the burrows and crevices the Pigeon Guillemots come in late March to nest here as well, the Pelagic cormorants make nests of seaweed and grass. Brandt’s cormorants breed in large colonies here, the Glaucous winged gulls and western gulls build bowl-shaped nests lined with local vegetation where they nest until their young hatch in June.
Apparently when the Gray Whales pass by here from December to February, they “spy hop” where they come straight up from the surface of the water then slip back into the sea. They explorers had hoped to see some of that but no luck. They got to see some playful seals frolicking in the waters.
They then drove north to Depoe Bay – looking over the rocky harbour and the smallest harbour in America. The waves crashing the shore and basalt rocks were phenomenal.
They drove North to Lincoln City and found their favorite sea stack / sea rock / rock island just as they entered the city and beaches. It was here, the rocks were eroded and the great Tsunami of 1700 struck Native American villages at Siletz Bay. The beach was and villages were devastated on January 26, 1700 with a magnitude 9+ earthquake from the great offshore fault system known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone felt from Northern California to British Columbia. The ocean floor heaved up over 20 feet creating up to 50 feet high tidal waves striking the shore for 10-30 minutes changing the landscape that once was.
As evening arrived, they saw campfires on the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. They dropped into the Matzatlan Mexican Family Restaurant for dinner then grabbed a room at the Super 8 for the night with plans to play on the beach in the morning.
Mileage: 86
Accounting: -6,900 Rent for a year plus deposit for Vegantopia, -20 starbucks, -32.19 C-25 Philomath Town Pump, -78.47 Super 8 hotel -74.00 CC-25 philomath town pump RV gas, -9.50 starbucks
A view of this day in 2012, 2011, and 2010.
Lincoln City, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
Solar panels powering Our new home at Vegantopia inbetween Corvallis and Newport, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 2, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
The main garage and inner warehouse. Our new home at Vegantopia inbetween Corvallis and Newport, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 2, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
The garden. Our new home at Vegantopia inbetween Corvallis and Newport, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 2, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
The river walk/bridge. Our new home at Vegantopia inbetween Corvallis and Newport, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 2, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
The Fairy path and circle – Our new home at Vegantopia inbetween Corvallis and Newport, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 2, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
Lincoln City, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley,Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
“The Great Tsunami of 1700: During the 18th century, Native America villages occupied the mouts of nearly every stream along this coastline – including here at Siletz Bay. Since native peoples probably had little idea about the relationship between earthquakes and tsunamis, they were etaken by surprise in January 1700, when this beach was hit by a devastating tsunami. References to great flooding and ground shaking events in the oral traditions of many Pacific Norwest coastal tribes are probably the records of this event. On January 26, 1700, the earth shook violently in the throe of a magnitude 9+ earthquake that occured along the great offshore fault system called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. From northern California to British Columbia, the ocean floor heaved upward approximately 20 feet, and within 10-30 minutes a giant wave up to 50 feet high reached the shore. The wave probably struck this beach only 20 minutes after the earthquake. Devastating waves from this event continued to strike the entire coastline for several hours, flooding beaches, bays, tidal channels, and marshes. Today we know that major earthquakes and tsunamis occur along this segment of the Pacific coast approximately ever 200-1000 years – we also know what to do when the earth shakes. “Lincoln City, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
Depot Bay, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
“Whales on the move – While a small number of gray whales remain in the waters off Yaquina Head for most of the year, the entire population swims by twice on their annual migration.” “Migrating gray whales – Yaquina Head is one of the best places along the coast of western North America to view gray whales. These 45 foot (14 m long) whales migrate annually between their breeding lagoons in Baja California, and their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The migration north can be seen from Yaquina Head from March through May. Whales heading south pass by here from December to early February. How do I find Whales? The best way to spot gray whales here is to locate other people who have already found them! Or, you can scan out toward the horizon for “spouts:” wisps of exhaled air which are usually more vertical and mist-like than are the white-caps of waves. Migrating whales can be anywhere from about 1/2 mile to two miles or more away which makes them hard to find. Good luck!” “Watch for spy hopping – gray whales coming straight up from the surface of the water, then slipping back into the sea. No one knows the reason for this behaviour which is seen here once in a great while. Perhaps spy hopping is used to communicate with other whales.” “Other travelers – other species of sea mammals pass by or spend time feeding in the area but they are rarely seen from Yaquina Head. Very lucky visitors might catch sight of California and Northern sea lions, harbor porpoises, or orcas (killer whales)”. Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
lighthouse – Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/
