Here are a couple pictures from Cape Arago that I forgot to post last time:
Saturday 6/16 Charleston, OR
Quiet day today, took our time in the morning and took a short walk around the a marina. Lots of folks out on the flats digging clams, a pretty common occupation around here. Nancy did laundry this morning. I’m still fighting a long running sinus infection, not incapacitating, but uncomfortable. Watching LeMans coverage today.
Walked over into Charleston proper and had lunch at High Tide Cafe, stopped at Crabby Cakes Bakery on the way home for a snack. We are really happy with this location compared to our original plan at Sunset Bay State Park. Good eating places within walking distance here and good places to walk around the harbor. Every cloud has a silver lining!
Sunday 6/17 Charleston, OR
First thing in the morning we headed down to Sunset Bay beach to see the tidal pools there. Arriving an hour before low tide there was wide expanse of beach. We parked at the south end as it looked most likely for the tidal pools there, but it turned out that was the discharge point of a fresh water creek! All the way at the other end of the beach,
about a third of a mile along the nice sandy beach, was a rocky outcropping where we found a lot of tidal pools. A good amount of sea life in the pools, from sea urchins to tiny little crabs (which we found out later were apparently an invasive species!).
That is a tiny little crab in the circle! About an inch wide.
Nothing really exotic, but it was quite interesting the amount of life that is left behind as the tide goes out. Spent the better part of an hour and a half looking at the tidal pools.
On the way back home we stopped at the Crabby Cakes Bakery (again!) for a fresh out of the oven cinnamon roll, another brownie, another sourdough donut and and a bear’s claw! Watched the finish of LeMans 24 hours and Sunday morning. Late in the morning we drove into Coos Bay and had lunch at 7 Devils Brewery (again!) using Libby Rd. again.
After lunch we headed north towards North Bend to visit a history museum there, but along the way we noticed the Coos History Museum which had not been mentioned in our guide books. Turned out it is a new museum, just opened in the fall of 2015. Quite a nice facility, with a nice collection of local, indian and maritime history.
After visiting that museum we decided to skip the one further north and headed home. Pizza at home for dinner.
Monday 6/18 Charleston, OR
Last day in the Charleston area. Moving a little north tomorrow. Mid-fifties and overcast this morning, turned sunny in the afternoon.
Mid-morning we drove into Coos Bay with the truck to get it washed. I had noticed a coin operated car wash with a tall bay on 2nd st. Turned out to have a spray nozzle with a hole in the hose! Managed to get the truck wash fairly well and only got a bit damp in the process.
A stop at the grocery store and back home for lunch.
Mid-afternoon we drove down to Simpson Overlook to look at the sea lions. Beautiful afternoon, slightly overcast, with a light breeze. There was a lady there from Oregon Game & Fish with a spotting scope. Turns out there are sea lions, and several kinds of seals out on the rocks, including some elephant seals, which she showed us with her scope.
Tide coming in so the surf was beautiful. We watched the sea lions and seals for quite some time with binoculars, and sat an watched the surf. Then we went on to Cape Arago and sat and watched the surf.
Turns out there are seals here, not on the rocks but out in the surf. We just could not see them with the naked eye when we were here before. All together we probably spent close to two hours out there. Only a short drive from where we are camped and a really beautiful spot.
Tuesday 6/19 Winchester Bay, OR
Moving day, but we’re only going 30 miles north to Winchester Bay RV Resort. Took our time getting ready as we are not supposed to check in at Winchester Bay until 1 PM. Supposed to check out of Charleston Marina by 11. So we took it easy, rolled out about 10:50. Stopped at Pony Village Mall in North Bend (because it has a large parking lot) and had lunch at Los Dos Amigos, picked up a couple of pizzas at Safeway for the next two weekends.
Did not bother to load the car for the short trip so Nancy followed along in her car. Winchester Bay RV Resort is a beautiful place, right on the water with generous spaces and nice landscaping. We had checked it out last Tuesday.
Got here early enough to do some cleaning up on the outside of the trailer as it was looking a bit grungy.
Took a nice long walk about a mile around the marina to a small shopping area and had dinner at Griff’s on the Bay. Nancy had nice crab cakes and I had an excellent steak. The prices at these places on the shore are amazingly cheap. Those meals along with two beers and a glass of wine? $42!
Back home and relaxed for the evening.
Wednesday 6/20 Winchester Bay, OR
Nice walk around the perimeter of the RV park, which is on a peninsula out into the bay. Drove up to Sourdough Bakery just a mile or so away for the highly touted cinnamon rolls. Nothing there in the way of pastry’s, only what looked like day bread! Unenthusiastic girl behind the counter first said “No cinnamon rolls yet.” Then said, “Maybe none today, I can get you a bagel?”
Late in the morning we drove up to Reedsport, just five miles up the road, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Not much to see or do there. We went on through town to the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area east of the city, but there were no Elk to be seen. Nancy got a glimpse of the herd when we went by there on our way out to the coast a little over a week ago. This morning she saw one or two off in the distance east of the viewing area.
Back in Reedsport we stopped in the Sugar Shack Bakery, which in itself was worth the trip! Had a little snack and bought some cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow.
Drove back through town but saw little of interest other than a couple of restaurants. Stopped in the grocery store and then back home.
Weather is cool and a little misty this afternoon, just kicked back and relaxed for the afternoon.
Thursday 6/21 Winchester Bay, OR
Cinnamon rolls from Sugar Shack Bakery for breakfast! Delicious! Mid-morning we took a walk around the RV park and then headed back into Reedsport. Stopped at the National Forest Service Visitor’s Center to get info on the Oregon Dunes Recreational area, drove a little ways East to the Elk Viewing area but no luck. May be due to haying going on in the area or the fact that they did a controlled burn in the area two days ago.
Went back to Reedsport and the Umqua Discovery Center to check it out, but it appeared as we suspected to be primarily aimed at children and looked pretty small. Decided it was not worth $8 each to see it. Took a short walk on the small boardwalk there, then drove across the road to the Sugar Shack Bakery (we are nothing if not predictable!) where we had excellent light sandwiches for lunch. Nothing fancy, but good. Picked up some doughnuts for the next few days, but managed to resist the cinnamon rolls!
Drove north up to the Oregon Dunes Overlook. Spoke to a couple of Forest Service rangers who had a display of invasive plants at the overlook. It seems the Forest Service brought in scotch broom and European beach grass to prevent erosion of the dunes. Those plants were joined by another invasive species, foxglove, and the three plants are now threatening to completely cover the dunes, with no good method of eradication in sight!
Back to the RV park mid-afternoon and Nancy did some more clean-up on the front of the trailer with tar remover. It really looks great! I’m still dragging a bit with this sinus infection that will not go away.
Sat on a bench out by the harbor for a while, then drove back into Reedsport for dinner at Bedrocks Pizzeria, Chowder House, and Grille, where I had a pizza and Nancy had bacon wrapped halibut.
After dinner we drove by Umpqua Lighthouse to see how long a walk it would be from the trailer. Not a bad walk, but no good place to walk on the road up to the lighthouse. After that we went a couple of miles south along a road through the dunes and one of the ATV off road areas. Stopped and walked over to a beach. Really nice beach with swells rolling in from the open ocean. A really nice evening.
Friday 6/21 Winchester Bay, OR
Took a nice walk around the peninsula the RV park is located on, had some Sugar Shack doughnuts with breakfast, then mid-morning we went up to the Umpqua Lighthouse.
The light may look a bit short, that is because it is situated on a headland. Shore light houses are all built and situated so the lens is 146 feet above sea level. That height permits the light to be seen all the way to the horizon, about 20 miles. So Umpqua Light is only 61 high since it's base is 100 feet above the river.
Looked through the excellent museum and took a guided tour of the lighthouse which was quite informative and interesting. The tour group was actually allowed up to the floor just below the Class I Fresnal Lens where we were able to individually climb a small ladder and stand with head and shoulders actually inside the lens!
As you can see the light is lit. It is on and rotating 24 hours a day.
Very interesting history of the Umpqua Light and the Lighthouse Service in the museum with photos and artifacts. The entrance to the Umpqua River was once a major port on the Oregon coast, with much of the lumber used to rebuild San Fransisco coming out of the forests in this area.
Back home for lunch and a quiet afternoon, a couple of walks around the RV park on a beautiful sunny afternoon, about 65 degrees. It’s 105 in Tucson today and we are REALLY enjoying this weather. And the trees! I never realized how much I miss trees. Here in Winchester Bay we can look out over the water of the bay and then turn around and see fir tree covered mountain slopes least than a half mile away!
Went over to the other side of the bay to Double D’s on the Rocks for dinner. Nancy tried a Triangle Oyster Slider which she said was very good, The Triangle oysters are grown on ropes hanging from barrels in an area of the bay here called the Triangle. When they extended the north jetty on the Umpqua River it caused a build up of sand around the south jetty so they built a new south jetty and created a triangular backwater that turned out to be the perfect place to raise oysters with a perfect mix of 20% salt water and 80% fresh. Since they can suspend them from drums there is no sand and grit in the oysters.
The Triangle from Umpqua Light
We waited until 10 PM to take a ride up to the lighthouse and it still was not completely dark! The sun comes up at 5:33 and sets at 9:01 right now! The light house was beautiful nonetheless. It was a clear night so you could not see the beam very far from the lighthouse, but you could see the beams hitting the tall pines trees around the back of the light as it turned.
There are 24 bulls eyes in the Fesnal Lens, 8 reds and 16 whites, so out at sea the light flashes white, white, red at 15 second intervals.
Saturday 6/21 Winchester Bay, OR
Last day at Winchester Bay, tomorrow we move 20 miles up the road to near Florence. We wanted to take one last look at the breakers at Cape Arago, so we headed out fairly early back down south past Coos Bay. Unfortunately we arrived just after high tide, so the breakers were not as spectacular as they had been last time we were there. Still pretty though.
Also stopped at Simpson Overlook to look at the sea lions and seals for a few minutes. A stop in Charleston at Bayside Roasters where Nancy picked up some coffee and of course we had to make a stop across the street at Crabby Cakes Bakery for cinnamon rolls. The owner and his wife are so enthusiastic about what they do that it is a real happy place to stop, we are going to miss it.
Drove over to the southeast side of Coos Bay and took a short walk along a path that led out into Millicoma Marsh along the South Slough of Coos Bay. Really pretty spot and a good view of the kind of salt marshes that used to cover much of this area. This was the first time we used the book ‘Day Hiking the Oregon Coast’ that we had picked up at Summit Hut in Tucson. The other book we bought at the same time “Oregon Off the Beaten Path’ has been invaluable in finding places to eat and things to see and do.
Decided to try a different restaurant from ‘Off the Beaten Path’ for our last day in Coos Bay, Shark Bites Seafood Cafe, which also turned out to be an excellent choice, That book has not led us wrong yet.
After lunch we made a stop at Walmart for meds and then back home. Another gorgeous day, bright sun and virtually no clouds. Stiff breeze a little cooler than the past few days though. We have been blessed with spectacular weather all the way along on this trip.
Went back to Double D’s on the Rocks for dinner again, good food and friendly service.
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