Oregon Coast

On Saturday, we made our way down the Oregon coast and one of our orders of business was taking a shower. We stopped in Umpqua State Park and the Camp Host said we could have two hot showers for $2.00/person, so we took her up on that. This particular state park had Yurts for $40/night, and deluxe Yurts for $80/night. I don't know what the difference was, but they looked interesting.

We also saw the Umpqua Lighthouse:

Something interesting about Oregon is that they are one of two states, according to the gas attendant in Oregon, where it is illegal to pump your own gas. He said New Jersey is the other one.

We headed to Coos Bay, and came across a Walmart, and decided to call it a night. The next morning we got up, got out of the van to go into Walmart, and there were police cars and policemen around. One kept looking at us and the other vehicles located around us. We thought we may be in trouble for sleeping there, but we just kept walking to the store.  When Anthony went in, the men's bathroom was closed and there were policemen in that bathroom. Come to find out, there was a shooting at the community center that night, and they found the shooter's clothes in the men's bathroom, and these policemen were getting to do some detecting work. We were glad the police had more pressing issues than us squatters in the parking lot.

After we left, we drove down the coast a bit and came upon a cute town, Bandon.

They had wood sculptures on the pier:

Very detailed.

A lighthouse:

And a pretty busy coffeehouse, where I got a nice cup of coffee:

Next we drove through Port Orford, where they don't want there to be any question where the ocean view is, and had big writing on the road to show us the way.

And here it is:

We came across a visitor center in Gold Beach on Sunday morning.

The lady worker there got excited when we said we are from Tennessee, and said we have to place a pin on the map, so we did. We were the second ones from Tennessee, and the only ones from Chattanooga for this year.

The lady asked us where we were eventually heading, and Anthony said we were going to Eureka and then heading East for a bit to Lassen Volcanic National Park. What she did next, I think, actually saved our marriage. She pulled up the temperature at the National park and said it is well over 100 degrees there. I am pretty sure Anthony would not have made it through the night with all the griping and complaining I would have done if I would have had to sleep in the van in 100 degree weather.  I am expecting it to be pretty hot in Utah, but I wasn't expecting it to be that hot in California. Anthony asked her if she had a choice to go down the Coast or go to Lassen, which would she pick. She said the Coast, and that's what we did. The temperature difference is amazing, as Gold Beach had a temperature in the 60's and that is what we have been experiencing along the coast thus far. It's been very pleasant.

She gave us lots of information about some areas to stop before getting into California, so we did stop at the Natural Bridge area:

But the walk was just as interesting as the bridge. We felt like We were in a tropical rain forest:

This pic is for mom, she likes ferns^. This is what I was seeing while we talked on the phone. I knew she would have loved all the lushness of the area. Wish we could have facetimed.

And next we came upon Indian Sands, which had waves crashing upon the rocks at the coast.

Anthony said it looked like a washing machine down there. I didn't want to get any closer because I have a phobia about being in high up areas, and there has been more than one time on this trip where I have been very uncomfortable, and this was one of them.

And I guess someone got bored and decided to be creative:

Indian Sands was an Indian Summer Camping spot and burial grounds.

We met a fella there who said there had been several deaths at that area from people falling off the cliffs to down below. After we walked around a bit and took some pics, on our way back up the trail, we saw the signs warning us of all the dangers of the fragile cliffs, air gusts, and staying back from the edges. Now they tell me.

Next is California, yay!