Trip Report: Gold Beach, Oregon and trying to help the disabled

Sunset behind the house we stayed in at Gold Beach, Oregon.

One thing that's going to take me a lot of time to perfect is how to handle someone who is disabled on a long road trip. Ann had been a bit hesitant to take on our planned trip to Gold Beach, Oregon, and not for her own health reasons. Frankly, she believes that she can no longer talk to me because my religious views have changed and hers are so much a part of her life that she cannot hold a conversation without referring to them. The conversation during the travel was what she was most worried about. So much so in fact that she said, "I'm not worried at all about the actual trip and getting around". I took that as a big plus because previously, that issue, her disability, had been high on her list of worries. Because of that statement, I figured she could deal with regular motel accommodations for one night on the way there, and one night on the way back. That and the fact that Lakeview, Oregon is the only town roughly halfway between Salt Lake and Gold Beach, and also that the handicap room was already booked in the one motel that had one (Best Western) led me to scheduling a regular room. I felt like she could deal with it for a night.

Smoky and hazy everywhere except the coast. It got worse than this.

One of the high points on the road to Gold Beach. This waterfall alongside the road.

The problem was, the room was carpeted and her normal mode of movement, scooting around on a desk chair, wasn't going to be a possibility. It's a long story about trying to convince her to walk more and failing in that convincing. The secondary problem that became more acute was that the toilet was really low, making it hard for her to get up after sitting down. Ann needs knee replacement surgery and low seating isn't something she enjoys. I did manage to find a handicap toilet seat apparatus from housekeeping that raised the level up to a comfortable height. But by that point, she was already aggravated and upset. I found out later that she had been struggling with hip and leg pain on the ride there--something she never told me about.
The mattress was memory foam. Some like it, some don't. It was the first time either one of us had ever slept on such a mattress. I found it difficult to move around on, but fairly comfortable sleeping. Ann had a hard time with it, but not unbearable. We both decided that after this testing of the mattress, we knew we would never get a memory foam mattress.
From Salt Lake to Lakeview is about 560 miles. A hard stretch. Our van was much more comfortable riding in than the 4Runner would have been though. It was our first long trip in the Sienna and everything worked well with that. That was as close to half way as we could get with the lodging situation.
The next day I got up early and went for a walk. As I returning, I saw a large buck vanish behind a building across the street. I thought he might come through and out the other side, so I headed that direction and got a few pictures of him.

Our drive that day was about 330 miles, but over many more winding roads. And much of  that part of Oregon has the speed limit at 55--even on the non-winding parts where 65-70 could have been done safely and easily. I drove at about 5-7 miles above the speed limit on all of these roads, except for the I-80 part through Nevada and Utah. In Nevada the speed limit is 75 and I drove 80, and in Utah it's 80 and I was driving 83 for the most part.
As for the remaining 330 miles to the coast, I was looking forward to seeing the greenness of the land and vaunted forests of Oregon. It took a while to get to that part. Much of the eastern part of Oregon looks like much of the western parts of the U.S. like Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho---lots of sagebrush, juniper, and other high desert landscapes. It took a while to get to the forested parts and once we did, we couldn't really appreciate the vistas. Everywhere we looked was smoke. I did appreciate though as we continued on, the immensely tall trees that came right up to the roadside and towered above us. That was unlike anything I had seen in Utah for sure. On the other hand, I love the aspen sprinkled liberally in Utah forests--something I didn't see in Oregon. It was all evergreens.
We got to Gold Beach early in the evening on Tuesday night. Back in Utah, it was Pioneer Day, with all the attendant celebrations, but  in Gold Beach, it was just an ordinary day. We found our accommodations rather easily, Ann made it up the one large step and two short ones, I loaded stuff into the house where we'd be staying for three nights, and then we had some dinner. I had packed some leftovers and we heated that up in a saucepan as there was no microwave in the place.
There was no way to roll Ann out to the edge of the cliff to view the ocean, but the ocean was quite visible from the kitchen table in the house. She wasn't going to walk that far, which was about 150 feet, and over some rather uneven ground. Keeping her balance is normally something she has trouble with--especially on uneven surfaces. I went out and took some pics of the house and property, and also of the ocean.

Cypress trees lined the property.

Not a bad place to stay.

Great viewss

Fabulous sunsets

Ann was frustrated and upset about the steps. I got the brunt of it because I had scheduled this house close to the ocean instead of one that was several miles away from the ocean but had no steps. I had asked her if she was okay with it at the time I scheduled it, and she had said "yes", but when it came right down to it, she blamed me for the "error". Another thing I need to learn about her and her disability is that I should always opt for whatever's going to make things easier for her. My natural inclination is to challenge her so that she'll fight through it and learn better how to cope with difficult situations.
The next day we woke up to fog. There was a lot of fog, especially in the mornings there.

It would be our luck that they had more fog than usual while we were there.

We found out that Ann had forgotten her Lisinopril, which is a blood pressure medication. She can be a panicker about her blood pressure, even though recently it hasn't ever gotten out of the 140s for the upper number and most of the time is in the 100-130 range. I told her that she could live without that drug for three days until we got home, because she had a quick acting drug with her that is used to stop high bp if it stays over 150 for five hours or so, but that kind of logic didn't work. So I went to work contacting local pharmacies and her doctor and arranging to have a small prescription sent.

The fog receded a little.

And I enjoyed some "relax" time.

The problem became that I was not getting a phone signal anywhere outside of the actual towns we passed through and I ended up missing a call back from her doctor. This extended the episode of the missing meds into the second full day of our stay. Before I knew I couldn't get a phone call back from the doctor's office though, I found some time to hike up to the Frances Shrader Old Growth Trail. Ann was pretty good about letting me get in my activities, but somehow managed to make me feel guilty about them at the same time. It's common for those with disabilities to say things like "It would be nice to be able to do things like that", which is true, but when Ann does it to me, it makes me feel horrible for being a healthy human being and guilty for not just staying home. It's a catch-22 sometimes.

The Frances Shrader trail was pretty awesome!

These trees are even bigger than they look.

This trail is a loop with numbered signposts and trail brochures explaining them along the way. I had told Ann that I would be back in time for lunch, and I wasn't sure if she would be thinking Mountain Time, which we are used to, or Pacific Time, which was the time where we were now (she told me later that she hadn't been worried about it at all). I split the difference. Still, that meant I was going to have to be fast on the trail. The trail was interesting and is well worth the time it took. It is a deep, dark forest in parts, kind of Hansel and Gretel-ish. I could have taken a lot longer and just strolled through it, but being aware of my time commitment, I basically rushed through it. I found that hiking at that low elevation when I was used to the high elevation hiking in Utah was a piece of cake.
I made it back and convinced Ann that we should go out for lunch. I had a hankering for pizza and asked her if that was okay. She said it was and we ended up at Panther's Den Pizza. I really liked their pizza and Ann seemed to as well. By the time we were done with that we headed back and I found out that I had missed the doctor's call. I played phone tag with the doctor's office and the pharmacy in the Brookings Fred Meyer (which was about 35 miles from our lodging), and thought we had it squared away. We had more leftovers for dinner, and then left so that I could get Ann some time on the beach or near it at least. I'd read that Lone Ranch Beach, which is part of the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor was pretty accessible to folks in wheelchairs. We drove down the corridor and stopped at a lot of viewpoints before we made it down to Lone Ranch, which is pretty much the last one before you reach Brookings.

The beach near Myers Creek

Part of the Natural Bridge area

There actually are two "bridges".

I pushed Ann down in the wheelchair as far as the last picnic table, where she had a nice view of the beach, rocks, and ocean, and I went exploring for a while. I think we were there about 45 minutes or so. I got to discover and adventure, and Ann got to talk to people about their dogs and learn the dog's names.

Drift wood and rocks near Lone Ranch Beach

Some sea anemones in a tide pool near Lone Ranch Beach.

A stranded crabl

Ann and me.

Ann's viewpoint. She turned around so we could see the ocean in the pic.

The next morning we finally got the med situation squared away. Since I love seafood and Ann hates it, she told me that I could go somewhere for lunch, then pick up her drugs in Brookings and then come back and go hiking to the place I'd really wanted to see--Cape Sebastian. I hadn't really known of it before, but the hosts of our lodging had posted some papers with some information on them on the fridge and the place they recommended highest was Cape Sebastian. As far as I was concerned, it was a must-do.
I left for lunch and the drugs, deciding I should eat lunch after I got back from Brookings, and then it took so long to get down there and back (like driving from Salt Lake to Provo and back here in Utah), that I didn't stop for lunch. I wanted Ann to get her meds so that she would be relieved. I took them back first and headed out for lunch. I ate lunch at around 2:30 pm at the Port Hole Cafe in Gold Beach. I thought it was great, although I hadn't expected it to be deep fat fried. I sort of wished I had gone with the blackened rockfish after finding out that the sampler I ordered was all deep fried (it hadn't said that on the menu). Nevertheless it was scrumptious.
After lunch I drove a few miles to the Cape Sebastian trailhead. Somewhere along the way I realized that I had left my DSLR back at the lodging and was going to have to try and document the most Beautiful place on my trip with my lousy cell camera. Oh well. That would just give me more time to look at it without worrying about getting good shots. I can get so focused on taking good pics sometimes that I lose the experience of just being there and enjoying it.

Cape Sebastian was Beautiful!!

It was a nice hike! It was mostly downhill of course, because you begin at the road, Highway 101, and end up at the edge of the ocean. I would recommend this hike to anyone visiting this part of Oregon, or even if just passing through, taking an hour and a half or two hours to do this hike. I timed my hike up and it was just about 35 minutes, but that was hiking at a steady, strong pace. I imagine my hike down was somewhat similar in pace. Again, my normal hiking is at high altitude, as well as the Stairmaster/leg workout I do regularly. So I'm thinking most people should allow for more time going down and back up. Make sure you check out the short video above of the ocean coming into the rocks.
That night I made blackberry jam from some fresh blackberries we had taken with us. I had some on a piece of toast to test it out and it was great. Amazingly, there were blackberries growing wild all over the place near Gold Beach. We picked a few right off the thorny vines and ate them.
We started watching Dr. Strange on Netflix. Afterward, I went outside and checked out the sunset one last time before we would leave the following morning.

The next day was the day we left Gold Beach. I had wanted to hike down to a place called "Natural Bridge" along the Samuel Boardman Corridor, because I had seen it from a viewpoint platform and it was spectacular. The trail had continued past the platform so I wanted to get back there before we left town and go get a closer look of the Natural Bridge.

I think this trail may have led down originally for a closer look.

I followed that trail for perhaps ten minutes and it never headed down, although I passed a steep spur going down that had been signposted by Oregon Fish and Game Department "Area beyond this point CLOSED". I don't know if that was safety reasons or  harm to wildlife/plant life area, or what. I kept going past that trail hoping for a way down, but never found one and in fact the trail just seemed to be heading parallel to Highway 101. I gave up and returned to the Sienna and we were on our way.
The road back to Lakeview was smoky like before, and even mountainsides that weren't that far away were shrouded in a thick, dirty film caused by burning vegetation. Along the way, on Highway 140, we passed a firetruck that was hosing down something in the trees off to the side. Another truck joined them as we passed and shortly thereafter, several police cars zoomed by toward that area with their lights flashing. I have no idea if the road got closed behind us, but I'm thankful we made it out of the area before it did--if that was the case.
We stayed in the very same room in Lakeview. Ann wanted some leftovers for dinner, and I wanted to try one of the local burger joints. I made sure we had the raised potty chair right off the bat this time, made sure Ann was comfortable, and headed off to the Burger Queen. They made my shake, but forgot my food. I didn't know that though and so I sat down and ate my shake and then waited for my food. Finally the cook came out and said that sometimes the counter people don't pass the food order back after they make the shake, He was really nice and offered me anything I wanted on the menu to make up for it. I didn't want anything else though, so I politely declined. The burger ended up being really good.

We saw this herd of small horses on our way home.

These two were in love, but I interrupted their nuzzling.

After a minute, they ignored my intrusion.

We finished Dr. Strange. Ann  didn't really like it. She's not a superhero movie fan. It was the third time I'd seen it though. I reminded her that she had laughed during it, and to not let her face crack. She said she didn't like the computer-generated effects and that the characters weren't developed enough. I told her, well the main character was an egotistical jerk and it showed him growing into someone who cared about other people enough to defend them.
The next morning we ate at the motel breakfast room, or I did. I took Ann's food to her first and then I just went back and ate there. I went back to the room and asked her if she minded me going for a walk, which I did and I went and took a couple of pics of a real-life phone booth (I thought they were extinct)

One of the few remaining places for Superman to change clothes.

and then climbed the hillside nearby up to the water tanks where I could get a better view of the layout of the land. I snapped a few pics.

We drove and drove, I needed to find a restroom before my bladder burst, but there wasn't any rest stops, nor trees to hide behind. Sometimes with a four-door vehicle, you can open both doors on the passenger side and have some kind of screen, but the van only has front doors that open out, and then the sliding doors. What a relief to finally find a rest stop in Nevada!
We ate lunch in Winnemucca at a place called "The Griddle". It was highly-reviewed on both Yelp and TripAdvisor. The staff was excellent at accommodating her wheelchair, and excellent in other ways as well. I found quite a few things on their menu that sounded good, making it tough to decide. Ann, who was almost as worried about her weight-loss continuing as she was about her blood pressure earlier, couldn't find a thing. She finally settled for a cheeseburger. I ordered the peach crepes. I thought they were delicious. Ann said that the burger wasn't that good and she would have been just as happy with a McDonald's burger and that you couldn't really call the side salad a salad because it only had lettuce, two small tomato wedges, and two cucumber slices--no croutons, cabbage, or carrots. She said that she'd been hoping for some kind of mom and pop drive-in that had tacos. I hadn't seen anything like that in all the restaurant listings--at least in the ones people rated highly and that's all that I had looked at.
I knew at that point that we would have to stop for dinner before we went home. We stopped in Wendover, looked around for some kind of display of a bomber aircraft that Ann had seen on a sign as we exited the freeway, and then when we couldn't find it, began looking for a place to eat. We saw a taco wagon on the east side (the Utah side) of the town and decided to stop there. There was a group of four or so ahead of us that apparently had ordered a lot of food, because I stood there for about twenty minutes waiting for ours. Once we got it, we drove around and parked in some shade near the Quality Inn that the taco truck had also parked near. I believe Ann actually liked the asada tacos she got, because I heard no complaints! I had a pork burrito and it was one of the best I've had.
For much of the ride home we discussed spiritual topics in a calm, mannerly way. It was nice, but every time I had to pee, I got irritable. I told her that it was because of that , and not because of anything she was saying, and it was painfully true! I guess with that in mind, I should be a little more cognizant of what kind of hidden pain others can be in and how irritable that can make them!
We arrived home about 8:10, another adventure under our belt and already beginning to think about the next one.