Southern Oregon Coast

July 16 ~ 20

Moving down the coast in search of warmer weather proves fruitless, but gorgeous.

Finally coming to the realization we are not going to get any serious beach time in Oregon, we go to Coos Bay, a little inland, to The Mill Casino (themilcasino.com) for a little diversion.  The RV Park is adequate there, the casino is a nice mid-sized facility and the two evenings we spent put us a nice bit ahead.

The real reason we came here though, is for the Oregon Dunes, (stateparks.com/oregon_oregon), a 40 mile stretch of wind blown sands that stand up to 500 feet above the water.  I was just planning on walking them....Rick had another idea.....a dune buggy!  Rented a two-seater for an hour from SpinReel (ridetheoregondunes.com) in North Bend.  Must say, they were extremely professional and careful in the pre-ride training and checklist.  I really didn't think this was going to be any big deal....I was wrong.....it was quite a ride! 

Loved it when we were on the beach.

But going up these huge sand hills was kind of freaky because when you got to the top, you didn't know what kind of plunge was on the other side! Hard to get your bearings especially when there was no vegetation....almost like being in a white out.

A couple of days here was a good respite, but we are going to give it one more go for a beach day.  Brookings, Oregon hasn't got much going on, but there is a RV facility in a marina on the beach.  We'll take a chance.  The Port Brookings Harbor and RV Park (port-brookings-harbor.org) has nothing to boast about except it is just feet from the beach.  The facilities are not nice, but watching the beach up close and hearing the waves all night make up for a lot.

The temperature climbs enough to make some beach time possible.

The wind kicks up enough to get in some kite-flying.

And the beach walks are uninterrupted.

One thing we find quite interesting and very charming is the way the locals use the beach.  They don't seem to be coming to sit in the sand.  What we see is an almost constant procession of cars that pause for just a little while to gaze.  In the morning they have coffee and look like they are trying to jump-start their day.  At night,  ice cream cones seem to be the big thing and they are there to just exhale.

We are growing weary of traveling, but know some prime destinations are within reach.  We will go through the Redwood National Forest, then to Napa which I expect to be a near religious experience for me!