Sunday, August 31, 2014

A Change of A(l)titude

Approach to Astoria Regional Airport in Oregon.
This week Wayne and I took our plane 997 out for a Pacific Northwest vacation.

We ended up going to three of our favourite camping airports: Chehalis and Orcas Island in Washington, and Siletz Bay in Oregon.

Chehalis Airport campground.
Our first stop was Chehalis Airport. We started out for Siletz Bay, but coastal low clouds made us change our destination. Chehalis is the friendliest airport for campers with locals stopping by to offer assistance. Camping is free in a grass area with covered picnic tables, a restroom, a golf course restaurant nearby (we had dinner and breakfast), and a shopping center within walking distance.

Final approach at Orcas
The next day we tried Siletz Bay again, but no luck. We headed north to Orcas Isalnd Airport. Orcas has a large grass tiedown area for tenting under your wing, no bag drag needed. This is also a very friendly airport. We walked the short trail to Eastsound for a sunset dinner overlooking the bay. The next morning, we used my Meal Kit for breakfast in camp.

Camping at Siletz Bay Airport in Oregon.
Three's a charm. The clouds had just moved off the coast and we finally made it into Siletz Bay. Here there are two campsites nestled in the trees, but we set up our tent on the tarmac because no one else was around. We walked across Highway 1 to the Side Door Cafe for a wonderful dinner. We woke up to fog, but by the time we finished our camp breakfast it was gone.

Final approach at Olympia Regional Airport.
We tried two new airports for fuel. McMinnville Municipal Airport houses Oregon's Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum with the Spruce Goose. Fuel is self-serve and there's camping on the field, but it's too rough for our Piper Arrow. Olympia Regional Airport is near the Washington State Capitol and has fuel by truck.

You can read more about our Pacific Northwest flying adventures in Wayne's book Flying the Pacific Northwest. It's available in print and e-book formats. Happy flying! Wayne and Margy

Kindle $5.99
Print from Amazon.com $10.95
Check with your favourite e-book dealer for other formats.

8 comments:

  1. Very interesting about flying small planes and camping. Nice shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a neat camping trip. Last September we went to my cousin's wedding in McMinnville and hubby visited the Aviation museum one day when I visited with some relatives. He loved it, thought it was the neatest aviation museum he has ever seen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I especially enjoyed all those photos. I bought Wayne's book some time ago as a kindle ebook but the only problem with that is that the pics in it are terrible - as are all pics on the kindle. Your blog pics really add to all that I have read. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You folks have so much fun and adventure! I sewed some dresses! sigh.
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been reading the book - some great stuff in there I had never known before - great adventures - even without a plane.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cheapchick - We didn't get to the museum but landing we could see the huge airplane on the roof. That must have been some construction job. We did see the Spruce Goose back when it was in Long Beach, California. That is some plane. It's hard to understand how it could fly, even a little bit.

    mick - Glad you enjoyed the book. Sorry about the pictures in Kindle. Black and white isn't as good as colour. I have quite a few pictures here on the blog under "Flying."

    JoAnn - Glad you are enjoying the book as well. Wayne wrote it to appeal to pilots and "armchair" pilots as well. Sound like he met his goal with you.

    Margy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, you and your husband are sure adventurous. Where do you keep your plane and fly out from? It doesn't look like a float plane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We fly out of Bellingham, WA. No, we have wheels only so we have to use a boat to get to our cabin. - Margy

      Delete

We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy