Monday, July 21st
Today we awoke to rain and clouds, but off we went, and soon we were in the Siuslaw Nation Forest, home to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Our first encounter was rightly reminiscent of our childhood .... we encountered Smokey Bear. "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"
Armed with a map from the visitor center of the nearby sand dunes, we drove first to the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. There, we explored the lighthouse and its surrounding campground, museum and gift shop while finishing our coffee.
The lighthouse is at the south end of where the Oregon Dunes actually begin. Lots of the campers bring their own dune buggies and trail bikes (OHV's) to ride the dunes, and of course, there are excursions available for those without their own buggies.
We made our way on down 101 to the John Dellenback Dunes Trail where we hiked back to some massive sand dunes which are right on the beach. We climbed all the way up to the top, and the dunes were so wide, we couldn't see the ocean. It was really incredible. The sand dunes stretch down the Oregon coast for 40 miles, and they are the largest bunch of coastal sand dunes in North America. The camera could not truly capture the expanse, but you can take a look and decide for yourself ...
It was very windy at the top, and very steep going up and coming down. We got our exercise early today!!!
After this excursion we went through the quaintest little town called Coos Bay and stopped in for a well-deserved lunch at Sharkbites. By now, the sun was out, and we were hungry! We sampled the halibut fish n chips and the creamy clam chowder! Vi loved the dungeness crab cakes! It was all delicious!
After lunch, the weather was postcard beautiful! We went on from Coos Bay to Bandon where we were told by our friend, Stacy, that it was a "must see." It is comprised of 6 golf courses, and located right on the Pacific Ocean. Wow, was he ever right?! It was gorgeous, but very, very breezy. It looked very challenging, shall we say. I borrowed a photo from www.golf.com to show just how fantastic it is!
We left the pristine golf course to venture on down south. Truly we were driving along the edge of the rugged natural coast. It was still beautiful out, and we saw so many of the sea stack rocks just off the coast. We couldn't take a bad picture. The water was so blue, Pacific blue!
We arrived at the Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint, and got out just to take a look. If you look closely, the one rock looks like a profile of a face looking up at the sky. It's third rock from the left in picture below.
There were just so many views like this ... all along the way. These are the quintessential Oregon coast views we were expecting!
One of our last stops of the day, right after LeRoy said, "We can't stop at every scenic lookout," was the Kissing Rock. We parked and got out there. (Yes, we kissed.) We got to walk down to the beach, and LeRoy even put his feet in the ocean while Vi made rock sculptures on the beach.
By the time we left the Kissing Rock, the weather was beginning to change. We had one more must-see rock formation to see, Arch Rock at Secret Bridge in Samuel H. Boardmand Park. By the time we got there, it was difficult to see, but we still stopped and hiked as far down as the weather and trail would allow.
By now it was time to get to our hotel in Crescent City just over the California state line. As we pulled into Curly Redwood Lodge, we saw all these vintage VW's. They had been running the same course as we had since Hama Hama in Lilliwaup. They showed up in a lot of the same places we were, and we will see them again. They are making their way down to Mexico.
VW's in Crescent City, CA
Holing up in Curly's tonight was like a step back in time, and also unique because it was built from the wood of one curly redwood tree that produced 57,000 board feet of lumber. Curly redwood is beautiful and unique because of the curly grain of the wood. It was uber cool and very retro! So good night for now. The redwoods are tomorrow!
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