We arrived here at Honeyman on May 1st and were delighted with the fact we were not seeing any rain during the days when Portland and the valley was getting quite wet. It would rain during the nights and clear during the days so we have been able to get out and see some of the sites here on the coast.
The park has been rather empty so far except for Florence's Rhodie Days. We were warned ahead of time of the motorcycles riders that make this an annual event and how Old Town is taken over by the bikes and riders in leather. Historically some riders will rent a camp site here at Honeyman then invite all their friends out to party after the bars close in town. Well, the Rangers were prepared for them and besides praying for rain, they checked everyone coming into the park after 9pm for a reciept of a camp site. If they did not have one, they were turned away. The evening did have a few loud parties, but were calmed both by the Rangers and a light rain that did come our way.
It has rained each night since the 21st. Tuesday the 25th was the first time we had rain not only all night, but all day. We are not expected to do any work when it rains like that, so we stayed inside all day listening to a story on CD and playing on the computer.
It is now Wednesday the 27th, and we had sun all day yesterday and it broke through around 2pm today and the sky is gloriously blue. Weather reports are for good weather for the coming Memorial weekend and the park is already scheduled to be full. Chris and Cindy are coming down to spend the weekend so we are looking forward to spending time with them
When we are not working we get out to explore what is around this area. We have taken a drive to Shore Acres, a beautiful gardens hidden on the coast and outsideof a little town called Charleston. When D'enne, Mike and Matthew were here, we all took a buggy ride in the dunes and had great fun.
We have met some great people who are also hosting here this summer. One couple is from Sisters and they head south to the same place we do in Arizona so we will see them again later this year. Another couple we met is from New Jersey and they are full timers and also head to Arizona in the winter and will just be a few miles from us. One other couple actually lives in the Phoenix area and come to the NW during the summer.
We have been tasked with some interesting chores from using a large blower and cleaning off the camp sites, to checking all the electrical sites for problems, revarnishing the shelves at the registration booth (Deane also washed the booth and cleaned the gutters), to doing woodburning on the hot dog/marshmellow cookers they sell at the lodge. Then each Friday and Saturday nights we will be selling firewood. We are not asked to do a lot and the rangers are grateful for all that the hosts do and they are fun to work with.
We are coming to the end of the first month of our two months here and we are enjoying ourselves. We would love to see any of you who would like to come and campout with us!