France Trip 2013

Bonjour,

We are traveling to France and Germany for an early Fall trip.  

Our five week trip starts at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris where we pick up a leased Peugeot car.  

France is about the size of Texas with 64 million people. Twelve million live in the Paris metropolitan area. Our travels will center on small towns & villages in the rural areas.

On this trip we will visit four regions in France:  Champagne, Alsace, Provence and Burgundy.  We will also visit the Black Forest in Germany which is next door to Alsace, France.

Corvallis Farmers Market and Oregon Covered Bridges

Corvallis is the home of Oregon State University and great Saturday Farmer's Market along the Willamette River.

The agriculture industries in the area make for great selections of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The colorful setting in a riverside park with abundant flowers makes it a popular attraction.

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Great views on the river pathway.

Fountain area provides entertainment for the kids.

Oregon's 51 Covered Bridges can be found in 12 counties from Portland in the north to Ashland in the south. Most are located in Lane County east of the cities of Eugene/Springfield. 

The bridge is located in the community of Harris founded 1890, Benton County near Wren, Oregon.

Harris Creek Covered Bridge was rebuilt in 1929 over the Mary's River.  The round portal design with board and batten exterior is finished with a shingle roof.

The Howe Truss design is kept dry by the roof which makes the bridge last 80 years or more and would deteriorate in 9 years if left uncovered.

The bridge provides easy crossing the Mary's River.

Willamette Valley, Oregon

From the Oregon Coast we moved about 60 miles inland to the Willamette Valley near Harrisburg and Junction City.

This valley is a large farm production area.

Hazelnut crops represent 99% of the US production.

Hazelnut flavor is used in coffee, chocolate, salad dressing, cereal and bread.

  There are 1,500 grass seed farms growing 950 varieties.

From our campground in Harrisburg, we smell the scent of mint

from this distillery. Oregon is the top mint oil producer in US.  Guess what... a pint of mint oil can flavor 45,000 sticks of gum.  

Our favorite hot dog joint had a makeover since last year, but no change to the 

"Chicago Dog"

Funky inside still the same.

Start with a fresh homemade bun, add mustard, neon relish, chopped onion, tomato, pickle spear, sport peppers and sprinkle of celery salt.  Oh, by the way... if you look close you can see the hot dog!

A few miles down the road is Junction City home to the annual Scandinavian Festival to honor the customs of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The city was founded in 1872 and settled by many people from these countries.

The festival encourages the tradition of authentic costumes, crafts, food, dancing and music.

 

Children performing at the Scandinavian Park.  

Newport, Oregon International Terminal

Newport, Oregon is a small town in a big world.  The community is currently having a traffic issue involving the new International Terminal for log export.

The terminal is to the left of the blue LP tank. In the foreground is the new pier for the NOAA weather ships.

The Pier construction of $25 million financed by bond levy, grants, lottery and loans.  The 15 acre log yard will employ 22 full time people.

Once a month a log freighter will pick up a load bound for China.

At least 50 log trucks a day will transport loads through this neighborhood to the pier.  Homeowners along the route are not happy.

Tsunami Dock from Japan to Newport Oregon

In March 2011 Japan experienced a 9.0 earthquake which created Tsunami

waves reaching 125 ft. high.

This 165 ton fishing dock broke loose from it's mooring in Misawa, Japan. 

The dock floated 5,500 miles for 15 months and landed at Agate Beach Newport, Oregon in June 2012.

Most of the dock was salvaged for parking lot foundation and two corners were saved as a memorial for the people who died. 

Newport, Oregon

Newport, Oregon welcomed us with a bright sunny day.

 The Port of Newport Marina & RV Park is our home for two weeks. The pier in the foreground is a popular place to catch crabs.

The Yaquina Bay Bridge was the last historic bridge built to link

the Oregon Coast Highway.

Construction of the bridge took two years in 1936.

One of our favorite walks is along the south jetty channel where people 

enjoy digging for clams at low tide.

Old Town Newport is an active fishing center and tourist attraction.

Past the harbor is an estuary formed by the Yaquima River

fresh water meeting the Pacific Ocean. This area attracts many birds

during the seasons.

Across the river is the new Port of Newport International Terminal for proposed future China bound log freighters.