Of course, nothing here is in chronological order....so here goes....This is one of the views toward the sea from Shore Acres. The rock formations are really unusual to my view. Just imagine, when there was a mansion here, waking up in the morning and beholding this out of your window, and hearing the crash of the waves.
This is us by the side of beautiful Crater Lake; made eons ago by the eruption of a volcano.
Yaquina-Head light house we stopped to view; it had just closed and as you can see, there was loads of mist & fog. We were told that this kind of weather occurs when there is heat in the valleys on the other side of the mountains.
This was one of the beautiful views along the Umpqua River, which we followed for a great distance on the way to Diamond Lake.
This is the Umpqua Lighthouse of which I had a tour. It is leased by the Coast Guard to the historical group. The Coast Guard would love to give or sell it to the historical society because they don’t want to take care of the light; but the historical society doesn’t want to take care of the light either, so they won’t take it. Unusual stand-off. The tour was real interesting.
I already mentioned the beautiful Shore Acres John & Dianne took us to see; manicured with many varieties of flowers & shrubs.
Wearing my hiking boots to climb to the top of this huge volcanic area in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, I look surprisingly like Daisy May.
This is John & Dianne’s home that is so close to the ocean that you can hear it. Beautiful and welcoming home.
John was giving Bart & Tommie treats. He definitely had their full attention. Bart was a nice mello pup but was one up on Tommie because he loves to play…Tommie couldn’t figure it out.
The happy tourists with John & Dianne. We were in front of the Coquille Lighthouse.
Dianne made a wonderful picnic lunch for us to enjoy after our walk through Bandon’s interesting downtown. The picnic area was by “face rock” (which actually looks like a profile of a person coming out of the water) and there were loads of birds on the rocks.August 5, 2008 Leaving Mike & Andrea’s home and driving the Pacific Coast of Oregon
We started our southern route to Coos Bay Oregon at 9 am, with a blue, cloudless sky and 71 degrees. Andrea made a wonderful breakfast for us of bacon, eggs, and toast from her homemade bread. It was yummy. The day was so beautiful that I got the sun screen out of the cupboard so that I would have it handy when it got hot. I put on shorts because I was optimistic that it was going to be a beautiful day.
We traveled for a while along the Columbia River to the Pacific coast. It started out as a beautiful drive, but the sky was hazing up. When we got to the huge (about 5 mi. long bridge) that crosses from Washington, across the Columbia River, to Oregon (or “OreGUN” as locals pronounce it) it was so hazy and foggy, that I could only see the first little bit of the bridge…the bridge that traveled into the clouds, like in Lornadoon.
We continued on down the coast and stopped at two lighthouses to take pictures. One we couldn’t even get close to because of the traffic and the parking lot was full. There were lots of people out and traveling the coast on holiday; the little towns were full of folks browsing the shops.
When we finally decided to stop for the evening, it was quite difficult to find camping places; they were all full. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to pull off in wide spots beside the road and pop your camper like we were able to do in Canada and Alaska. Too bad. That was very nice. There are signs all over the place here: “Day use only”. We finally got a site at Seal Rocks RV Cove, right across the road from the ocean.
I walked across the road to see what I could see…everything was still overcast and misting. Chris and I are just praying that there will be a beautiful sky tomorrow, because it will be so beautiful out there, and….because we still have more road along the coast. We’re hoping and praying.
August 6; about 8:30 a.m. leaving Seal Rocks RV Cove; 58 degrees, foggy & overcast. Stopped and used the binoculars to see the seals on the rocks across the road, but it was too far for any good pictures.
We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves along the coast in Oregon. These caves are the only known wild Stellar sea lion caves along the North American mainland. (We saw some along the Lynn Canal on the way to Juneau.) A bit later on down the road we stopped at the Umpqua River lighthouse. I went on a tour and it was most interesting. Shortly after that we arrived in Bend, OR at Diane and John Bender’s beautiful home, close to the shore. You can’t see the ocean, but you can hear it! It’s that close.
After a nice lunch we went for a tour of their “little bit of heaven” including the local parks, Simpson Reef and the rocks full of sea lions and seals, and Shore Acres, a positively beautiful park that had a mansion owned by local timber baron 80 years ago. Sadly the mansion had been burned down, but the view of the ocean rocks, shore, cliffs was wonderfully beautiful, and their formal gardens were likewise unique. It was a wonderful walk with loads of photo ops.
August 7; tour by John & Diane of Bandon and further south coastal areas. We saw the Coquille lighthouse, had lunch by the sea, walked the down town touristy area of Bandon, drove up the Coos River and enjoyed the company of Chris’ cousin and his wife.
August 8: We left Coos Bay, John & Dianne, and headed toward Crater Lake. The morning had been a tad chilly and overcast, but John assured us that as soon as we headed down the Umpqua Valley and got to the other side of the mountains it would clear up. Sure enough, it did. The drive was beautiful and the river was a beautiful river in many ways: it’s unusual rocks, rapids, greenery along the shore. We passed several “elk viewing areas”: very nice special areas with benches along a walk facing a pasture land that elk obviously frequented. Nicely done. But no elk could be seen. However….get back on the road, out of view of the special area…and there were the elk, chilled out and munching on their cuds. Down the road further was a whole big herd of them. None were where we could stop along the road
We stopped at the Diamond Lake Campground. Very pretty lake, but a little haze from the California wildfires. It’s good thing we stopped when we did, because it sure is filling up now.
August 9; leaving beautiful Diamond Lake, we drove to Crater Lake. Just as we entered the park, there was a Pumice Desert, where nothing much can grow because of all the deposits from the lava flow. Then on to Crater Lake where Mt. Mazama blew its top a few eons ago and left behind a beautiful jewel in our country. The smog from the California wildfires was creeping across the lake so I did not try to take pictures in that direction. Crater Lake is about 1900 feet deep and is the deepest lake in the U.S.
At Newberry National Volcanic Monument Tommie and I walked to the top of the volcanic lava field. That was lots of fun, and windy. The sky was blue but getting hazy from the “fire fog”.
Heading toward Mt. Hood we stopped at Clear Lake campground, about ½ hour short of the Mount Hood, which is the highest spot in Oregon. Tomorrow we should reach the mountain quite early.
We started our southern route to Coos Bay Oregon at 9 am, with a blue, cloudless sky and 71 degrees. Andrea made a wonderful breakfast for us of bacon, eggs, and toast from her homemade bread. It was yummy. The day was so beautiful that I got the sun screen out of the cupboard so that I would have it handy when it got hot. I put on shorts because I was optimistic that it was going to be a beautiful day.
We traveled for a while along the Columbia River to the Pacific coast. It started out as a beautiful drive, but the sky was hazing up. When we got to the huge (about 5 mi. long bridge) that crosses from Washington, across the Columbia River, to Oregon (or “OreGUN” as locals pronounce it) it was so hazy and foggy, that I could only see the first little bit of the bridge…the bridge that traveled into the clouds, like in Lornadoon.
We continued on down the coast and stopped at two lighthouses to take pictures. One we couldn’t even get close to because of the traffic and the parking lot was full. There were lots of people out and traveling the coast on holiday; the little towns were full of folks browsing the shops.
When we finally decided to stop for the evening, it was quite difficult to find camping places; they were all full. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to pull off in wide spots beside the road and pop your camper like we were able to do in Canada and Alaska. Too bad. That was very nice. There are signs all over the place here: “Day use only”. We finally got a site at Seal Rocks RV Cove, right across the road from the ocean.
I walked across the road to see what I could see…everything was still overcast and misting. Chris and I are just praying that there will be a beautiful sky tomorrow, because it will be so beautiful out there, and….because we still have more road along the coast. We’re hoping and praying.
August 6; about 8:30 a.m. leaving Seal Rocks RV Cove; 58 degrees, foggy & overcast. Stopped and used the binoculars to see the seals on the rocks across the road, but it was too far for any good pictures.
We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves along the coast in Oregon. These caves are the only known wild Stellar sea lion caves along the North American mainland. (We saw some along the Lynn Canal on the way to Juneau.) A bit later on down the road we stopped at the Umpqua River lighthouse. I went on a tour and it was most interesting. Shortly after that we arrived in Bend, OR at Diane and John Bender’s beautiful home, close to the shore. You can’t see the ocean, but you can hear it! It’s that close.
After a nice lunch we went for a tour of their “little bit of heaven” including the local parks, Simpson Reef and the rocks full of sea lions and seals, and Shore Acres, a positively beautiful park that had a mansion owned by local timber baron 80 years ago. Sadly the mansion had been burned down, but the view of the ocean rocks, shore, cliffs was wonderfully beautiful, and their formal gardens were likewise unique. It was a wonderful walk with loads of photo ops.
August 7; tour by John & Diane of Bandon and further south coastal areas. We saw the Coquille lighthouse, had lunch by the sea, walked the down town touristy area of Bandon, drove up the Coos River and enjoyed the company of Chris’ cousin and his wife.
August 8: We left Coos Bay, John & Dianne, and headed toward Crater Lake. The morning had been a tad chilly and overcast, but John assured us that as soon as we headed down the Umpqua Valley and got to the other side of the mountains it would clear up. Sure enough, it did. The drive was beautiful and the river was a beautiful river in many ways: it’s unusual rocks, rapids, greenery along the shore. We passed several “elk viewing areas”: very nice special areas with benches along a walk facing a pasture land that elk obviously frequented. Nicely done. But no elk could be seen. However….get back on the road, out of view of the special area…and there were the elk, chilled out and munching on their cuds. Down the road further was a whole big herd of them. None were where we could stop along the road
We stopped at the Diamond Lake Campground. Very pretty lake, but a little haze from the California wildfires. It’s good thing we stopped when we did, because it sure is filling up now.
August 9; leaving beautiful Diamond Lake, we drove to Crater Lake. Just as we entered the park, there was a Pumice Desert, where nothing much can grow because of all the deposits from the lava flow. Then on to Crater Lake where Mt. Mazama blew its top a few eons ago and left behind a beautiful jewel in our country. The smog from the California wildfires was creeping across the lake so I did not try to take pictures in that direction. Crater Lake is about 1900 feet deep and is the deepest lake in the U.S.
At Newberry National Volcanic Monument Tommie and I walked to the top of the volcanic lava field. That was lots of fun, and windy. The sky was blue but getting hazy from the “fire fog”.
Heading toward Mt. Hood we stopped at Clear Lake campground, about ½ hour short of the Mount Hood, which is the highest spot in Oregon. Tomorrow we should reach the mountain quite early.
So, until we "connect" again...
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