Dear My Gorgeous Pretties,

Another week, another adventure. I didn’t wanna leave Pismo Beach. I legitimately fell in love. It had just the perfect balance of small town coastal living without it feeling like it was doing the most or the least. Everything seemed to have an effortless touch of class while still being very much down to earth and relatable. Kinda like me. Should I move there? I missed it as soon as I drove off and continued my trek up north to Canada. Pismo Beach, will you have me?????

California is a long ass state! It took forevverrrr to get outta there.

But California is also gorgeous so I didn’t mind too much. Leaving the beach, and for several hundred miles thereafter, the center barriers were a garden of gorgeous gorgeous flowers so it made for a scenic voyage. My directions didn’t take me the rest of the way up the coast after that which was kind of a bummer, but my plan was to head to Portland as the halfway point between there and Calgary, and honestly I would’ve definitely not left, especially if I stopped at one of my other faves, Carmel-by-the-Sea. Matter of fact, I know I wouldn’t have left. But the sprawling farm towns along the way—Santa Margarita, San Miguel, San Lucas, King City, and many more—reminded me of the ultimate goal. So, we put the pedal to the metal and sally forth.

*Sweetness, can you buy this for me, pwetty pwease? 🙇🏾‍♀️*

After driving for honest to God what felt like 10 hours, I stopped in Salinas for a 2 hour reprieve. There was a rodeo going on for the next week or so just on the outskirts of town, but when I arrived, doors weren’t open yet, and I wasn’t sticking around for that much longer after they did. In fact, by the time I left it was overtime for me to leave if I wanted to cross the Oregon border before midnight. And did! Just by the skin of my teeth. I was grateful to have such lovely weather so far in my journey. The rental didn’t have satellite radio (rude) so between the coffee, red bulls, and power bars, I was scanning the local stations for some jams I could blast that would last longer than a few songs before I crossed over into another airwave. This was much harder than expected. Otherwise, I was driving in silence, which actually wasn’t terrible.

I know a lot of people need a constant stream of ambient noise in the background on a daily basis to fill their silence, but I am the exact opposite. Literally stick me on a deserted island, or the middle of the forest for a good 99 days with all my essentials & no human contact, and I promise I will be so good. Shoooo, gimme peace & quiet on any occasion and I’m good. Ever since I was a little girl I knew I didn’t like all dat ra ra. It’s nice to hear your own thoughts without being influenced by subliminal messaging from music and talkshows and podcasts, etc. In fact, of my roughly ~3000 miles traversed, 75% of them were driven in silence. It was necessary. But it was also necessary to crank the volume and crack those windows to the crisp night air when after midnight crept up on me and my eyes were slowly beginning that slow motion blink of sleep as I was making my way through the windy roads of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Thank the Lord for my Guardian Angels on the lookout for my safe keeping. Finally, when my brain, eyeballs, and bladder could physically take no more and I had safely crossed over into Oregon, I found myself in oh so pretty Klamuth Falls. Looking at the map, Portland was still a ways away, so I said, lemme just call it a night. And I’m glad I did!

Klamath Falls is so cute! I wanna live here too! As soon as I rolled down the window to take in the night air, I was immediately met with a mixed scent of fresh pine & firewood. The town was super quaint. It was almost 1am so the streets were pretty empty aside from a couple peeps hanging outside one of the local juke joints. Otherwise it was perfectly peaceful & serene. I also smelled water. Not sure if that was my imagination still longing for the beach or the fact that we were somewhere near Lake Ewauna—which I didn’t get to—but the nose knows! Either way, the air smelled good enough to eat! Then again, I am greedy so…

Driving all day + getting in late = immediately to bed. Immediately! Ok, well after a quick shower of course. I was so sleepy, My Pretties. Where is my chauffeur when you need him!? Anywho, as soon as my head hit the pillow I was instantly knocked, and because my body has been slowly (but surely!) recalibrating itself back to its default setting of waking up at 5am, I only slept for about 4 ½ hours and laid in bed for another 30 just for good measure. Because I didn’t hit my actual halfway point of Bend, OR—I was rerouted to a quicker route—I wanted to make the most of my day and the 15 hours I was going to drive to get to Calgary. Now I know what you’re thinking: Girl, 15 hours?! I literally said the same thing, but then I thought back to my younger self and was like, Girl, you used to do this all the time. A 9 hours stint on the road was like nothing. You drove 12 hour stints in your drive cross country from Jersey to LA. You got dis! And then I proceeded to lolly gag at the continental breakfast, film some work content—which, work is not lolly gagging—record my meditation—also not lolly gagging—and then before I knew it, 9am had rolled around and it was most definitely time for me to bid adieu and hit the road.

I made a quick stop at a nearby park around the corner from my hotel—thanks Holiday Inn Express 😉—to do my meditation, and then it was off to the races! Or so I thought. I had been on the road for maybe an hour before I found myself driving through another part of scenic Oregon with these ginormous pine trees the size of Goliath. I kid you not. I could barely keep my eyes on the road and then I saw this campground with a few people walking alongside this incredible river/stream, so you know me, the water was calling! I popped a u-turn and entered the camp grounds. The smell of pine permeated the air and the cutest chipmunks were everywhere!

Though the beaver is the state animal, I’d say with the way these little cuties were running amok, the chipmunk may be a close 2nd!

I didn’t want to get too deep off the beaten path but I saw the river connected to another site just across the highway and curiosity got the best of me so I went to explore, and to my pleasant surprise, an outdoor museum was awaiting!

Nestled inside Collier State Memorial Park, the Collier Outdoor Museum is one of Orgeon’s premier collections of antique logging equipment, with artifacts located both outside on the Museum grounds and along the river, and inside the replica cookhouse (which we’ll get to in a minute!)

Upon parking, may I suggest a stop into the Visitor Center, where you’ll be met with one of their lovely volunteers who can tell you all about the site, what you can expect to see, and even has activities organized for the littles who may not want to/are able to do all that walking around and prefer something indoors. Don’t worry, there is no shortage of cool items on display regardless of which adventure you choose.

Allie was awesome and suggested I take all the pamphlets and postcards my heart desired, and to be sure to stop into the Cookhouse & see Tony to get an even better sense of what these loggers ate, wore, and the ridiculously large chainsaws and machinery they had to operate by hand. Don’t worry, don’t worry. We’re getting there. Patience grasshopper. The gift shop & information centers are run solely by volunteers and wouldn’t be possible without your donations. Let’s ensure our country’s iconic logging past doesn’t go forgotten.

Now, off to the trail!

*Due to the sheer size of this equipment, the museum is outdoors for a reason!*

*Original artifacts included animal powered equipment as well as* steam tractors, a steam donkey, a steam locomotive, and a Corliss steam engine were donated by the Collier brothers who wanted to safeguard the land & equipment that was so vital to the Oregonian logging & milling industries.

But given the size of these hand operated machines, it makes sense!

As you can see, they even have a small “hands-on” area for the littles which the former teacher in me will always appreciate.

Such a unique & unexpected experience. 10/10 *high key* recommend. So cool. I love it!

A relocated settler’s village gives you an idea of their living quarters. Because job sites were so far from towns a ways away into the deep of the forest, most loggers would live on site and then go home on the weekends, or sites would create mini villages complete with a school & post office so their families could be near.

*Adjacent campground across Spring Creek.*

There was so much to see. You could easily spend a whole day here, which I did 😅 but sitting along the river, meditating at the end of it was well worth. Sometimes the best adventures are unplanned and the Universe fills your detours with delight! Like the river, I trust the flow of life and allow it to direct my course with unshakable faith in my destination.

And with that, we hot tailed it ~15 hrs and crossed over the river & through the woods to the great North of Canada. And the adventures are only getting started. It might be time to buy an actual camera now because my storage is looking real basura! But I can’t get over how gorgeous America is. I think everyone at some point should drive cross-county. Whether East to West or North to South, you will be astounded by her natural beauty, and it’s something we have to strive to maintain because what happens to the water and the animals in the mountains and on the plains when we mere mortals cause irreparable damage that we can’t make go away? It really is about getting back to the bare necessities of life. What do we actually need in order to be happy & thrive? Just some food for thought for you to marinate on.

We’ll be back next week with some beautiful Canadian spots and delectable cuisine so don’t go anywhere! I have so much I look forward to sharing with you with this summer, My Gorgeous Pretties, but for now, that’s all she wrote. I hope you’re having an incredible time and ideally spending some of it on a boat or near the water. Think of me while you’re there, will ya? Whoever you are, wherever you may be, you could be anywhere in the world, but here you are with me. And I love that for you. And I love that for me. Enjoy the rest of your week! Stay blessed out there, and of course, God speed.

Love always (& besitos!),

Keepin it quiet on tha creek

Bear necessities

Life after death, it’s a beach!