Gold Beach, Oregon

We did not plan well this summer and didn’t line up a park for July 4th in advance, so in May, we realized we could be boondocking on the beach if we didn’t figure something out. (Which sounds fun, but we need shore power and neither me nor the cats like fireworks.) We also heard the Crescent City area LOVES its fireworks, and we didn’t want to find out how much. We got lucky and found the last spot at Oceanside RV Park in Gold Beach, OR for a nearly-two-week stay that included July 4. It wasn’t the cheapest place we’ve stayed, but it had full hookups and it was right on the beach, and it was available. It was really nice having a short drive to a new place we’ve never been, and the cats appreciated that, too. There were tons of birds for the cats to watch, and …

Read the rest of this post.

Tour Through Tree, Klamath, California

This tree is centuries-old and a cheap ($5) tourist attraction worth seeing in the Klamath area. Small cars can drive right through the tree, but there’s no way our truck would’ve made it. So we just enjoyed hanging out in the shade of a tree that’s already outlived us 10 times over. Truthfully, it made us a little sad to see such an ancient living tree butchered like this. The tree still produces sap, constantly attempting to heal the damage. It continues to grow, with one branch in particular that resembled an entire new redwood. These trees are just incredible. When you visit the tour-through tree, do NOT bring your RV! The hill to get to the tree is steep, narrow, and there’s not much room to turn around when you get there. However, we had no problem taking our Ram 2500 up to the parking area next to the …

Read the rest of this post.

The Red Ghost Sculpture, Quartzite, AZ

The Red Ghost sculpture commemorates a sad and bizarre story of a red-haired camel roaming the Quartzite region many years ago, who was found with the skeletal remains of a human tied to the camel’s back. No one knows who the human was, or what happened to them. I imagine this was quite traumatic for the camel. The sculpture is made of old wheels and scrap metal and lives outside Gem World, gem and mineral store on Main Street in Quartzite.

The Last Camp of Hi Jolly (Hadji Ali), Quartzite, AZ

We visited the Hi Jolly monument in Quartzite. Arizona. The photos tell the story of Hadji Ali (note the whitewashing of his given name), a Syrian Muslim camel expert who helped the US Army with a short-lived attempt to use camels in this part of the country as beasts of burden military purposes. Hadji became a bit of a legend around Quartzite, and when he died, they built the monument to honor him, and the town’s cemetery is named after him.