When I left you last week, I was at the wonderful public library in Brookings. From there I was planning to make my way up into the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor which covers some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in the south of Oregon. Unfortunately the fog just wouldn’t lift that day, so I spent a lot of time hanging around the beach and reading which was also nice. The skies finally cleared to some extent around 6pm so I hustled my way up the coast, pulling off to take a bunch of photos along the way. I wish I had had more time to do it, but it was really magical nonetheless and I had some amazing views. The broad beaches and sea stacks are really something to see and I’m really glad I got a little bit of sun to take some photos with. In the end, I only made it as far north as Gold Beach before it got dark, but it was a lovely evening.
On Thursday morning I headed out early and traveled up the coast to Port Orford, where I went to visit the Port Orford Lifeboat Station up on the hill outside of town. This station was in operation from 1934 into the 1960s and had a permanent staff of 13 “surfmen”. They spent their days drilling and training and each man kept two 4 hour shifts at the watchtower. When a ship was in trouble, the watchman would sound the alarm and the surfmen would run down the 532 steps to the boat house and off they would go into the storm (either literally or figuratively depending on the circumstances). I can only imagine the combination of fear and excitement in these young men as they pushed out from land and into the open water. Their unofficial motto was “you have to go out, but you don’t have to come back”. During World War II, the Navy came to town and the station grew to house 100 men. They even fought off a Japanese submarine during this time. The station today is really cool to visit and learn about this history and the volunteers who staffed it were great. From there I moved a short way up the coast to the Cape Blanco lighthouse which I had been to about a decade ago. It’s always nice to see a pretty lighthouse, though, and this one has a nice spot up on a headland. At that point, it was lunchtime and my friend Drew recommended that I stop into the Langlois Market for their “world famous hot dogs”. I have to say that the hot dogs themselves were really good, but the sweet relish mustard that made them famous was not to my liking. I had a scoop of local Umpqua Dairy ice cream to make up for it though, and that was a real treat.
After lunch I continued up the coast to the tiny town of Bandon, a town which I really enjoyed. As the day was waning quickly, I headed straight for the local history museum and spent a little over an hour wandering around before it closed. Located in the old city hall, this museum was incredibly well curated and really gave a feel for the town. There were some excellent old photos and a lot of fun memorabilia to check out. I learned about the devastating fires the town had suffered which had basically burned it to the ground. But I also learned a lot about cranberries seeing as many of the country’s cranberries come from Bandon and the surrounding area (there’s an Ocean Spray plant there). They host an annual Cranberry Festival and crown a Cranberry Queen and the museum has photos of all of the Cranberry Queens back to the 1940s. After the museum closed, I had a nice ramble around the old town area on the waterfront and then headed out to the beach for the evening. The end of the day was beautiful and I loved wandering among the sea stacks and taking photos as the daylight faded. From there I headed back to town for a cold beer at the Broken Anchor before calling it a night.
Friday was a gray and gloomy day from start to finish. I went to get a cup of coffee at Bandon Coffee in the morning and loved the fact that they had live music at 8am. It definitely brightened my morning. With a little more pep in my step, I took off inland and drove north to Coos Bay, the largest town on the Oregon coast. I hit the gym for a while and then paid a visit to the town’s history museum. It had nice exhibits on the local Indian languages, transportation, mining, logging and fishing. The items I probably found most interesting were a Japanese baseball and bat which washed ashore nearby and had been swept away during the tsunami in 2011. I was living in Japan during that time and remember the warning sirens and panic very clearly. Thankfully our town did not suffer any damage from that tidal wave, but we were lucky. Leaving the museum, I stopped at the 7 Devils Brewery for a pint of their Spruce Tip Ale which was definitely better than I imagined it would be. Then I headed downtown to the beautifully restored Egyptian Theater for a screening of an old movie called Inception. Tickets were only $5 and popcorn was only $4 and the theater really has been lovingly refurbished by the community. The movie was pretty good, too, although it made me think more than I prefer to during a movie. Afterwards I wandered a block down to a bar called Coney Station. There was definitely an eclectic group of patrons there, but there was also a really good band playing, so I hung around for a while. For a rainy day, I tried to make the most of it.
Just north of Coos Bay you start getting into Oregon Sand Dunes National Recreation Area, one of the largest temperate coastal sand dunes areas in the world. The NRA covers 31,500 acres and can be enjoyed in many different ways. On Saturday I decided to go for a hike, and my friend Arno had recommended the John Dellenback Dunes Trail. This was a lovely 6 mile hike which started in the forest, crossed the vast dunes, returned to the forest and ended at the beach. The weather was sunny and not too hot and I really enjoyed this hike, especially the solitude I found when I was deep in the dunes. Afterwards, I drove just down the road to the town of Lakeside which sat on a lake that could have been in Wisconsin. The whole vibe changed so quickly that it was a bit jarring, but nice as well. I had a quick beer at the lodge there and wandered down to the water’s edge and then took off north again to the little town of Reedsport. Reedsport had once been a major logging town right on the Umpqua River, but it’s pretty quiet now and was a nice place to spend the night.
I woke up Sunday morning and went for a coffee and a donut at the local bakery, and then headed just up the road to Torex ATV Rentals to go out and see the dunes in an entirely different way. The rental process was long, but I was definitely glad for all of the safety information when I got out onto the dunes as there was a lot more to it than I had imagined. I’ve ridden ATVs before, but usually on trails in the woods, not on giant sand dunes. It was often hard to see too far in front of you because of the glare from the sun, and you had to pick the right hills to climb or descend or you would definitely go over. I had a blast but was glad I only went for an hour as that was more than enough time to cruise around and get a feel for the machine. From there I headed just north to Florence which is an agreeable little town on the Siuslaw River. I spent some time wandering the old waterfront area and stopped for a sampling of local rums from Stillwagon Distillery. They had a nice variety and some of them were okay, but a good American rum is hard to find and none of their rums tempted me to buy a bottle. There was definitely some sort of classic car crawl in town because there were a half dozen really cool old cars on the streets. I took a few photos of those and then continued north to Yachats for the night, with a quick stop at the lovely old Haceta Head Lighthouse on the way. Yachats is a very small town, but had a nice cidery and a great beach to watch the sunset from. I decided to treat myself to a little seafood and went to the much lauded Luna Sea Fish House. I ordered a platter and had some beautiful scallops and delicious fries paired with some terrible shrimp and a tiny portion of halibut that looked almost as bad as it tasted. It was like two different meals on the same plate – one really good and one simply terrible. Umpqua Dairy ice cream up the street once again came to the rescue.
I passed a pleasant night in Yachats and was up in the morning for breakfast and my morning coffee overlooking the ocean, just about my favorite way to start the day. As the tide was coming in, I headed just south of town to visit a feature called Thor’s Well or, less elegantly, The Drainpipe of the Pacific. I have seen pictures of this place for years and it looks like it’s an amazing chasm which has waterfalls cascading down every side of it. The reality is that is very small, only 9 feet (3 meters) across. And while the water does churn up from below and pour in from the top as well, it is definitely significantly less impressive than photos make it out to be. It’s much like being in the Louvre and looking at the tiny Mona Lisa and thinking ‘this can’t be what all the fuss is about’. But it is in Paris and it is just south of Yachats, Oregon. It was definitely worth seeing as I was passing through, but I’m glad I didn’t travel any real distance to get to it.
From there, I was off to Newport for the day, one of the larger towns along the Oregon coast. I started by visiting the two lighthouses in town, one of which was being renovated which is always good to see. Then I decided that I would check out the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I really love aquariums and this one was quite enjoyable. It’s not as sophisticated as the ones in Monterey or Baltimore or Atlanta, but it certainly holds its own. The jellyfish and the sharks were my favorites as usual and I sat for at least a half hour watching each. They also had a lot of cool anemones and starfish and other marine life from the local waters. I enjoyed my time there and then headed just down the road to the Rogue Brewery for a couple of beers. Rogue is one of the OG breweries of the modern craft brewing age, having opened way back in 1988. While technically started in Ashland, they moved down to Newport the following year and have been there ever since. Their beers are always good and I enjoyed a couple before heading up to Nye Beach for the night.
The following morning I headed to the library there in Newport to work on this post and I have to say that public libraries in Oregon are amazing. Really some of the best I’ve found and I’ve only been in small town ones so far. After putting in a couple of hours in behind the computer, I cruised north to Lincoln City to meet up with my old friend, Susan. Susan used to work for the same tour company that I spent most of my career with, and has since gone on to a successful career in food and beverage, gotten married and had a daughter. They moved from Greater Portland to the coast during the pandemic and have a beautiful home right on the water on the south end of town. It was really nice to catch up with Susan and to meet her family. They had some plans for the evening, so I continued through Lincoln City to the north end where I grabbed some really good fish and chips and then went just up the road to the casino, which was an excellent place to spend the night.
Today I am once again at the library to finish up this post and edit some photos. I was hoping to publish a Snapshots post on Bandon, but the while the library is great, their internet is dragging so it will likely have to wait until next week. When I finish up here, I’m going to continue to make my way up the Oregon coast. I plan to get all the way to Astoria in the far north of the state before plunging inland to Portland. I hope to be in one or the other by this time next week, but you’ll have to check back and see where I end up. Either way, I’m looking forward to several more days of coastal beauty, lighthouses and sunsets over the Pacific. I’ll definitely be taking photos, too, which I can’t wait to share with you next week. Until then, have a wonderful week and thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike
A Tall Ship in Bandon
Beautiful Coastal Reflection