Brookings, OR - July 16 - July 29, 2010
After traveling north along Highway 101 through the redwoods and misty coastal meadows we arrived in Brookings, Oregon just north of the California/Oregon state line. This was our first stop during our ten-week summer Oregon idyll.
Brookings is a small seaside village of about 5,500 population situated on the bluffs and valleys of the Chetco River. The town's main industries are fishing, logging and tourism. We spend two weeks at the Driftwood RV Resort at the Port of Brookings, less than two blocks from the beach and within easy walking distance of numerous restaurants.
We were very fortunate that the two-day Southern Oregon Kite Festival, held just across the port from our location, was scheduled for the day after our arrival. If you have an opportunity to attend a kite festival don't pass it up. It is exhilarating to watch the fliers make their kites dance to music. We watched in amazement as six fliers made their kites perform to the theme from Raiders of The Lost Ark. We were so enthused we bought a stunt kite, found a bit of open sky among all the other likeminded kite enthusiasts and tried our skill. After a couple of hours of frustration we were even more impressed with the 'professional's' skills. We have improved substantially since our first attempts and look forward to putting those notorious Arizona desert winds to good use.
In addition to challenging our kite skills, we enjoyed a couple of hikes, and explored the town and coastline. We continued to bask in beautiful sunny skies during our first week in Brookings, but during the first days of the second week the fog rolled in and refused to leave.
Since the fog wouldn't leave, we did. We planned to attend a small Monaco rally in Eugene starting July 31, so on Friday we headed north on Hwy. 101 to Reedsport, and followed the Umqua River inland to I-5.
