Up earlyish and gone soon afterward. Frozen and mostly dark as we pulled away, the horizon was just showing the first signs of the approaching dawn. Without a window scraper, we waited for the car to warm so the windshield wipers could do the work of clearing the view. While we sat there we realized how luxurious those seat warmers in our own car can be; this is part of the price we pay for renting the cheapest car on the lot.
With no interest in Portland today, though I’d swear Voodoo was telepathically signaling me to stop in for a breakfast of maple bacon donuts, we got onto Interstate 5 for the trek south. It’s 34 degrees of cold, with fog filling the space between. Our need for coffee is demanding a stop in Salem to re-caffeinate our nervous systems.
Our stop in the state capital is at the Sassy Onion; our server is Michelle. We learn that she’s been here for nine years and is the mom of a 1-year-old baby. The handmade glass ornaments that went up overnight are made by the owners over the course of the year just for the approaching holiday season. Breakfast was great without a single negative, such as the abundance of hipsters we’d have had to compete with for a table had we eaten in Portland. If you want to blurt out loud that this writer sounds like a grumpy old man with a chip on his shoulder, go ahead, as I am likely quite a bit of that by now.
Nearly the entirety of our drive down Interstate 5 was under a blanket of heavy fog which was of no matter to us as our goal was getting to the coast with as little distraction as possible. Not far from our turnoff on Highway 38, the weather started to clear, likely because the universe wanted us to have a great welcome when we finally reached the coast.
This being our 18th visit to Oregon, we finally learned how to pronounce Umpqua, which is the name of the river seen here in front of my lens. It’s pronounced with an emphasis on the “U” with a sound like “umpire” instead of the are pronouncing it like the “U” sound in “soup.” At this point, you should take note of our weather conditions as we have. One never knows what will be just around the corner.
And it was surprising that the sign that suggested we were in an elk crossing area meant that we’d really see elk, but that’s just what happened. I wasn’t armed with the right lens for capturing them in the distance, but the meadow they live in was so beautiful that it required a stop for entering another image into our long-term memories of just what we’ve witnessed out here in America.
In Reedsport and looking forward to encountering the ocean in a few minutes Caroline spotted a yarn store. It may as well have been a lightbulb in the middle of the night and her a moth. We made a U-turn because there was no other choice, but luck would have it that the shop was closed with no explanation why it was so on a day it was supposed to be open. Next door was an open shop with this old loom in the window, so Caroline dipped in to find out if the yarn shop might open later.
This hoped-for shopping moment was more utility than just desire as Caroline needed some reinforcing thread for a pair of socks she was knitting for me while on our coastal visit. While inside the neighbor’s place called Timber Faller’s Daughter, the owner of this shop tried texting the other lady, but there was no answer. Well, luck was still with us as she told us that she was down in Coos Bay visiting the First Annual Chowder Festival, so while we might not get the thread, we are hoping to find the Chowder Fest.
At the coast in the sun, who could ask for more? It’s nice to be out here on the Pacific Ocean in Oregon and not to feel any sense of urgency that we have somewhere we need to be. With nine days to enjoy ourselves while covering 230 miles between Bandon and Cannon Beach, we only need to cover about 25 miles on average, though with trips up and down the coast at various times of the day depending on what we want and where it’s at it we’ll likely drive a considerable amount more. The point is we have reservations for every night we’re out here, but nothing else is pressing, and if plans had to change, we’d simply adjust the schedule. For now, we’ll take our time as we meander slowly down the coast for the 50ish miles we have left today.
Coos Bay, with the McCollough Memorial Bridge in the distance on the left, is one of our favorite views. Okay, so that’s just a little disingenuous as we’d be hard-pressed not to admit that everywhere we look on this coast are views that are our favorites.
Our stop at Coos Bay is at the David Dewitt Veterans Memorial. Today, there are stones with messages on them laying atop some of the bricks, noting people from the area who’ve died in various wars. Not only does this display grab our attention, but so does one of the larger markers with the following engraving:
“There shall not be Peace until the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power.” – From a latrine wall at Pleiku, Vietnam in 1968
Since we entered Reedsport, we’ve been in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area that stretches over 40 miles south. ATVs and OHVs are the primary means of transport on the dunes, and for those who may not know, ATV stands for an all-terrain vehicle, while OHV is an off-highway vehicle. Even in fall and winter, the dunes are a popular place for people to race around along the ocean as they careen about the sand at all times, day and night. If you don’t own one of these vehicles and you are on a visit to Oregon from another country or you are coming from somewhere that makes it difficult to drag it with you, there are plenty of places to rent these things along the coast.
In the city of Coos Bay, we found the difficult-to-find location of the First Annual Chowder Competition. The event was running from 10:00 to 4:00 p.m. with chowder tasting from 11:00 to 3:00 p.m. For $10, visitors were able to taste nine different preparations of clam chowder. There were supposed to be 11 participating vendors, but two bailed out at the last minute, we heard. The nine we tried were not simple iterations of a theme; there were some significant differences between everyone’s play on this old coastal favorite. Our favorite, though, goes to the gentleman above, who is the owner of the Blue Heron Bistro right here in Coos Bay. Turns out that he’s the new owner of the restaurant that specializes in German food.
We met Jessica Shrag, one of the owners of Driftwood Farms up in Reedsport, who also happened to have set up a small booth at the chowder competition, which I should have pointed out is also a Craft Bazaar. The colorway of yarn in the center of the photo will be a new pair of socks for me someday. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t happen until a return to Oregon in 2020 or while on a trip to Europe.
Opting for the scenic route via Charleston and not Highway 101, we are able to make the obligatory first visit to the water’s edge.
While Caroline combed the beach searching for treasure, I headed down a pier where a father and son were walking to haul up some crab pots. The little four or five-year-old kid was fearless as he grabbed small crabs from their back legs and tossed them off the pier back into the water as they were too young for harvest.
We are visiting the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge and the Ni-les’tun Unit specifically. I decided to bring along my macro lens so I could capture some different views of things here on the coast. Mostly, I seem to focus on landscapes, and I’m sure they’ll make up the bulk of what I’ll be sharing over these nine days, but at least I might have some variety of details. We stopped at the refuge because, with all the time we’ve spent in this area we’ve never paid a visit here.
The colors of fall are here at the refuge, though they are mostly tans, with a lot of green still dotting the open land. We are here by ourselves, though a gunshot in the distance lets us know that someone is likely hunting birds on the refuge. The sound was far enough away and was from a shotgun, so we were not too worried about some high-powered rifle shot zinging past our heads.
There are not a lot of birds out here; maybe they’re all dead. There’s not a lot of water either, so as far as this being a wildlife refuge is concerned, we may not be as impressed as we would be if we were visiting at the right time of year, whenever that might be.
Checked into Windermere Hotel in Bandon and learned that our room has been upgraded to a fireplace room with a king bed and patio from the no-frills cheapo room we’d booked as it wasn’t finished being renovated. Lucky us. Before fetching some dinner down in Port Orford, we had to go for a walk to take advantage of the early sunset.
Caroline’s happy place. Nothing likely beats the sounds, smells, and feelings to all the senses as we walk on wet sand towards the crashing ocean as sunlight glistens on the surface of the water and reflects off the wet sand. Shorebirds come and go with about the same frequency as a couple of other people out here with us. We find it peculiar that in such a spectacular place, we can ever be nearly alone for as far as the eye can see on pristine beaches such as these.
As for where exactly we are, this is in south Bandon and south of the famous Face Rock that sits just offshore. This small town on the southern coast is the first popular landing place for visitors coming up from California. So why am I posting a photo of a small blob of seafoam? Well, because it was moving around like it had a mind of its own and kind of looked like an amoeba. Now, it’s available for our memories for the rest of our lives.
Shortly before 5:00 p.m., the sun closes up shop and goes home for the night. As for us, we’ll get into the car for the 30-minute drive south to Port Orford for our 6:30 p.m. reservation at Red Fish Restaurant. The food was pretty good, on the verge of excellent, and definitely one of the best, if not the best, food on the south coast.
Our first day here on the coast feels complete with a sense we used every available minute for things that gave us value for each penny of investment it takes to put ourselves out here. There was nothing to change, no lament, no surly staff or angry people in our encounters. Tomorrow will surely be just as amazing.
