CALIFORNIA
Oregon Road Trip - Day 1
As soon as I bought my car I knew I wanted to go on a road trip. One thing still hung over my head was the the Colombia River Gorge in Oregon. When I went in 2017 it was snowing so badly we couldn’t really see anything.
Originally I planned to leave Sunday and just drive a lot on the first day. I think my intention was to use the entire day Saturday to prepare for my trip. Thankfully I realized that was overkill and was able to make reservations to leave a day earlier.
First I wanted to check out Orr Hot Springs. I don’t remember how I heard about it but I have an interest in hot springs and it looked pretty serene. You do have to call ahead to make reservations and it’s not cheap – 50 dollars for day use. The yurts and cabins require you to stay at least 2 days so I couldn’t stay here either.
Their website says that Google maps will lead you astray so I followed the website’s instructions. Google actually was correct, but the entrance is not clearly marked and it’s not obvious it’s a spa versus just a regular house address. I also took care to download maps to my phone since there’s no reception up here.
Check in went smoothly and the employees were super nice but the rest of the experience was really not for me. My own fault really. The clothing optional aspect is more pronounced than I realized. I was the only one wearing a bathing suit. It was also kind of crowded at first so I wasn’t really sure where to sit since I was by myself. I have to put this one down as a good learning experience but perhaps not too fun in the moment.
The rest of the spa is pretty nice though. They have a communal kitchen so I could cook my dinner with actual utensils and cookware instead of my campstove. I was also able to shower here before heading out.
From there I drove an hour and a half or so to Mendocino to camp at Jug Handle Creek Farm. The roads west through the mountains were absolutely insane! So gorgeous. I wish I had a GoPro strapped to the hood. The actual campsite was nothing to write home about in particular, mainly because I just got there and set up my sleeping arrangements and fell asleep haha.
So I bought a Luno air mattress for my Rav4 and had a nice little sleeping cave in the trunk:
It was already noticeably colder here than in the Bay Area so I’m really glad I brought my comforter.
My only gripe with the Luno is that it doesn’t solve the basic problem of the bed being at a slant because the seats don’t fold down completely flat. I still found myself sliding down the mattress throughout the night. I solved this problem by wedging stuff under the foot of the blown up mattress at the bottom of the trunk.
On the other hand I loved being protected from the elements in my car – it would rain and hail pretty badly later on in the trip. I also liked how fast set up and teardown were.