Coos Bay - the last rodeo

My time in Coos Bay has come to an end.  I enjoyed all of my adventures that I embarked on during my time there.  It was definitely a learning experience for me that is for sure, I had to learn how to have fun by myself, and not become a hermit which I have a tendency to do anymore.   When I was in my early twenties, I never had any problems going places by myself, I thrived on it actually. I enjoyed the fact that I was always a strong and independent woman, not to say that I’m not still a strong independent woman, its just different now.  I have spent the last 10 years of my life pretty much doing everything with my best friend, my husband Kyle.  Its funny, I feel like I never realized how much I depend on him just being there, as much as I did these last couple of weeks. While I had a great time, it just wasn't the same. We have the most fun when were together.  Not to say that we haven't ever spent time apart from each other, because we have. We both enjoy going on our own trips, be it a boys trip, a girls trip, visits to family without each other, ect, but I would say for the most part we really enjoy being together more than anything.  So it was interesting to me to go on all these adventures with out him, because he’s my number one, the one I share everything with, and I have missed him so.  I am so excited to pick him up at the airport tonight, finally, and to start making more memories together!

Yesterday was a big day for me, or at least I made it out to be one in my head that is.  I had the task of packing up camp, loading up the trailer and pulling it to Eugene.  Probably doesn't sound like a big deal to many of you, but let me just preface with the facts: 

1. I’ve never pulled the camper, at all.  Kyle likes to be the one driving, he said he feels like its his job :)
2. my nickname is Crash..

With that being said, most people who know me best, were a little worried about me taking this task on by myself.  Like I told my Dad Greg, I have the ability to turn crash off, slow down and pay attention. It was not a big deal.  Plus I feel like I have driven with the horse trailer as a kid, although that could just be me trying to force a memory into my brain because I honestly have no recollection of ever driving one. The only truck/trailer combo that I do remember driving, was when we went to North Dakota hunting the year we got married, but it was much smaller than our camper.  

Yesterday morning I got up early, mentally went through the entire list in my head of what I needed to do to get ready to leave. I had dumped everything the day before so that  wouldn’t have to deal with it in the morning. I put everything away, turned everything off, got the trailer hooked up, and my neighbor helped me check and make sure all my lights were working.  I checked out and I was on the road.  I had been mentally preparing myself over the last two weeks on making sure I was giving my self enough room on the shoulder, that I didnt slam on the breaks at all, and that I didn’t take right hand turns to tight.  As our friend Whit says, “its all fine and dandy until you take a right hand turn and forget that you were pulling a trailer,” which would be terrible! I just made myself relax, and take my time.  I know I am a rookie at this, but I WAS FINE! As I was driving here, I kept thinking to myself, I have no idea what everyone was in such a tizzy about, this is really not that complicated.  It went very smoothly.  I set my pace and I just drove.  Once I reached Eugene, I found my parking spot at the mall and had no issues pulling it through the parking lot, it was over all just a great day.  I felt a little guilty saying that to Kyle, I don’t want to down play what he has had to drive through.  I am sure that there are times that are much more stressful than others, and I greatly appreciate his driving skills,  but yesterday was just not one of those drives.  

I will stop bragging now though and get to the meat of this post.  I wanted to make sure I shared with all of you my last adventure that I went on in Coos Bay, it very well could have been my favorite day.  

I dont know if I have mentioned this before or not, but along with covered bridges, I have a thing for lighthouses.  Not sure what it is about them, probably the nostalgic aspect of them, but I find them very comforting and welcoming, and I love the sound of the horns echoing across the waves.  My last adventure was to head down to Cape Blanco lighthouse, which also happens to be the most western point of Oregon.  I left early again last Friday to head down there. I have found that Friday-Sunday is typically busy in general, and later in the day is usually more busy as well. I like to avoid too big of a crowd whenever possible so that I can just enjoy what Im doing with out too many distractions.  Today was no different, but apparently I left a little too early because I reached the lighthouse before it opened. Which was fine by me, it gave me an opportunity to take the pups on a three mile stroll on the beach before it became flooded with people as well.  This was another beautiful beach, I mean lets be honest, I haven't really met a beach I didnt like, and this was no exception. The best thing was that I was there early enough that the tide was still really low, so it provided more opportunity to check places out that wouldn't normally be available to explore.   For me, it meant seeing a ton of sea stars!! For the LBD’s it meant lots of access to edible goodies that they love to graze on while at the beach, and Mr Buddy, well he made sure to find the biggest stick he could again.  Nothing out of the ordinary really, but I had to try to convince Buddy to find a smaller stick because the one that he found today was so big that he had to stop every 15 yards and put it down.  He definitely dreams big, silly dog. 

As I mentioned before there were a ton of sea stars here! I have not seen this many on a single beach in all of the beaches that we’ve been to.  It was incredible, they really were everywhere on every rock we walked around. The motherlode of them was on the biggest rock on the beach, and they were out of the water that I could walk right up to them and grab them if I wanted to.  Obviously I didn’t do that, I just let them be and took pictures for my memories.  There was one that was only partially attached to the rock and you could see the mussels that it was munching on before the tide went out. 

After about a two hour jaunt on the beach, we headed back to the truck just as about 10 people showed up on the beach.  Perfect time to head to the lighthouse.  When I started doing research about Cape Blanco, I noticed that you could do a tour of the lighthouse for $2, which is a steal in my opinion! I thought that it would be great to do the tour, but I didn’t have any cash and I felt like it would be silly to charge $2 on my debit card, so I decided not to do it. I would just walk around the outside and take pics just as I have at every other lighthouse I’ve been to.  As I was walking around, one of the volunteers happened to notice me and start talking about the lighthouse and asked if I was taking the tour. I had initially told him no, I wasn't going to, but he was persistant, reminding me that it was only two bucks, and if I got my ticket now, I would be able to have my own personal tour of the lighthouse because no one else was there yet.  Now that sounded appealing to me.  So I headed back to the truck to see what I could scrounge together. I discovered that I had 1 dollar but that was it.  I searched everywhere in my purse and the truck.  I didn't even have enough change underneath the seats of the truck to make it to 2 bucks. It was ridicilous.  So I grabbed my wallet and headed inside, to check out the gift shop.  I don't know where I got the idea that I couldn't use my card to charge two bucks, but I didn’t feel like I should.  It seems to me that it would cost them more money to run the card than they were actually getting out of it.  I decided that I should by something to justify it all in my own crazy head.  Instead of spending $2 for the lighthouse tour, I spent $20 and got a book too.  I am such a dork.. 

In the time that it took me to rifle through the truck for change, then wander around the gift shop trying to decide what to buy, people started showing up.  As I walked up to the lighthouse for the tour, I noticed a cute miniature sheepdog looking dog outside with his owner.  His name was Truman, and the guy was standing at the doorway listening to the volunteer talk about the history of this lighthouse.  The volunteer was very animated and knowledgeable in his schpeal, you could tell that he really enjoyed this aspect of his job.  He even pulled a 12 yr old kid out of the group and dressed him up like a lighthouse keeper.  It was entertaining to say the least.  After he finished his part of the tour, we were supposed to head up into the tower to check out the actual lens. While listening to his speech about the lighthouse keepers, I noticed that the gentleman that had Truman, actually belonged with the family that was going to be headed up to the lens with me, but he couldn't go because he had to watch Truman. He’d have to wait until one of them came back outside. So I asked his wife if he too had a tour ticket, and yes he did.  I then volunteered to watch Truman for them so that they could all go together.  I don't think they really understood what i was saying at first because they just kind of looked at me in disbelief.  I again said that I wanted them to all do this together, I’d watch Truman.  I feel like it is important to do this together as a family.  I took the leash and Truman and I headed outside.  He must have still been puppyish, it was pretty easy to rile him up.  So I did, and he started playing tug-o-war with his leash, which was really fun and entertaining until he jerked the leash out of my hand and started running.  I scrambled to my feet as quick as possible and took off running after this dog that I volunteered to watch.  I finally caught him by barely being able to grab a little bit of hair on this back before I reached his harness.  It was hilarious.  Im just happy the people couldn't see me chasing their loose dog around from the top of the lighthouse.  How terrible would that be!  

They came outside, said thank you, collected their dog, and then it was my turn to go up into the tower.  The stairs going up into the tower are pretty narrow and steep, just like they were back in 1870.  I couldn't imagine climbing them over 60 times a day carrying all the fuel that they had to haul to keep the light going. I feel like people had to be much more resilient then, than they do now.  It makes me appreciate working without computers, and in harsh conditions that much more.  The inside of lighthouse is so cool, and the lens is HUGE!! In the past it worked like a kerosene lamp to emit the light out to the ocean, but now it is lit by one tiny 1000 watt light bulb, crazy! This lens is a 3rd order Fresnal Lens that is still in remarkable shape considering how old it is.  There is very minimal damage to the lens, so of which was caused by vandals, some by heat, and some just normal wear and tear.  What fascinated me the most was the fact that some of the damage was caused by wind throwing debris through the windows and hitting the lens.  The best part of this tour was the view.  You could honestly see what felt like forever.  I think that you could almost see all the way down to Gold Beach from this height, which is over 80 miles away. The views were just stunning. 

All of the light is filtered to come out of the bulls-eye in the middle

notice how the view of the land and water is upside down in the reflection of the lens

The next stop for the day was at the Hughes House, just down the road from the light house.  Apparently Mr. Hughes was something of a local legend in this area, and definitely was a genius when it came to business decisions.  Mr and Mrs Hughs both separately immigrated from Ireland and met in Boston, when he was 19 and she was 17.  They married and headed out west to find Gold.  Mr Hughes, bought a bunch of mines and searched for gold but never found any.  Instead he leased out all of his mines to other goldminers, and made his money that way.  He then bought a dairy farm on Cape Blanco, because the territory reminded them of Ireland.  When word got out that they were going to build a lighthouse near him, he bought up all the land between town and the site of the lighthouse, so that the government would have to pay him to be able to access the land.  He was a genius.  He also made a deal with them that he would make the bricks that would be needed to build the lighthouse, vs them having to pay to have the bricks shipped from San Francisco. Saved the government quite a bit of money, and put quite a bit in his own pocket. As the Hughes reached retirement, they built the 3000 sq ft home, that is now a historical marker by the lighthouse.  The house was finished in 1898, and Mr Hughes died two years later.  HIs wife also lived out the rest of her days in the house.  This house was beautiful.  It was pretty much my dream house.  The only thing that I would change, is adding a wrap around porch. 

After returning home from my adventures for the day, I noticed that Buddy was limping on his front leg a little and Frank had started to develop another ear infection, so I decided that it would be best for me to just lay low for the rest of my time in Coos Bay.  Which I did.  The problem with me being stuck at home though, is I usually want to do nothing more than bake. Which I guess isn't really a problem, but the last thing that I need to do is eat a bunch of cookies.  I do find so much comfort in baking though, so I made cookies and gave them all away to the neighbors.  I was so proud of myself for getting rid of them before I devoured the 4 dozen cookies that my recipe makes. It worked well though, the neighbors were happy and I was relaxed.  Win-win in my book. 

I will check back in with y’all after Kyle and I start having more adventures and i have something to talk about. Happy 4th Of July to everyone! Stay safe and God Bless! 

Coos Bay - Part 4

Traveling with three labs in a travel trailer can elicit a lot of funny looks,  people looking at you like you might just be nuts.  Maybe we are nuts, but we have found that the best way to travel with three crazy dogs, is to travel with tired dogs.  In order to do this, you have to find fun places to go that they can also go, and where they can run around freely.  You will NEVER tire dogs like ours out on leash walks, trust me, Ive tried.  It does not work..  You end up spending a lot of time at beaches, empty beaches are the best, or hiking around for hours at a time.  We've been very fortunate to be able to find such beaches along our journey, and some of my favorites that I have found have been here in the Coos Bay area.  I have talked about the 7 Devils area a few times,  I do love this beach, it stretches for miles both north and south of the parking area, making it an easy place to get out and wander without too many others around.. I was discussing this with one of my neighbors here in the RV park, and the had mentioned that while 7 Devils is nice, they are bigger fans of the Whiskey Run beach, south of 7 Devils.

After my covered bridge tour, I knew that I would need to do something fun with the pups because they had spent most of the previous day cooped up in their kennels. A beach day was in store for us.  I got up early and headed down to Bandon, it was a rainy day, and I figured it would be a good day to go explore the beach near Face Rock before all the people showed up.  In theory, going early and trying to be on the beach by 8 would be an excellent idea, in reality it didn't work.  Apparently the people of Bandon like to get out to the beach early.  When we showed up at 8 the beach was already flooded with plenty of tourists wandering around Face Rock, which was a bummer because there is a fun sea cave that would have been fun to check out, but it would be a nightmare with three dogs attached to you. The beach to the south of Face Rock was empty tho, so we would still be able to wander around quite a bit.  On our way down to the beach Buddy happened to find a tennis ball, how Frank didn't notice it I have no idea, usually he is all about the ball.  Since Buddy found it first, he picked it up and carried it around like a treasure. He had no desire to play fetch, he wanted nothing more than to carry it.  Silly dog.  We wandered around this area for about 30 minutes before the masses of people started showing up, and I knew that we would need to move on to find a different beach.  I decided that today would be a good day to check out Whiskey Run, if it was anything like 7 Devils, odds were good that it would be empty today.

We pulled into the parking area and found that it was indeed empty. You can drive on the beach in this area, but I have not yet done that.  With my luck I would end up getting the truck stuck in the sand or something and I really don't think I should be taking those types of chances.  We set out toward the water, and notice that there was also a fresh water stream running into the ocean here, which is wonderful to have after playing in the salt water.  I would have the opportunity to rinse them off before putting them back in their kennels. 

When we left the beach in Bandon, I made Buddy leave the tennis ball there for another dog to enjoy. Plus I am not a huge fan of them chewing on tennis balls, they are like chewing on sand paper and terrible for their teeth, and I'm sure even worse when actually covered in sand.  But not to fret, when Buddy decides he wants to carry a treasure, he will always find something.  It only took about 5 minutes at Whiskey Run for him to find his next one,  a giant stick.  This dog is hilarious, he always dreams big, and usually picks the biggest stick that he can carry, much like he did today. He's funny too, because he doesn't always want to play fetch, he just wants to carry something.  And he did, he carried that giant stick for about 45 minutes all around the beach.  It had to hurt his poor jaw.  Luckily after 45 minutes, Frank finally noticed that he had a treasure and decided that he needed to try to take it from him.  Normally this is something that I frown upon, but today he happened to break the stick in half, and they were both content that they each had their own treasure.  The smaller stick was much easier for Mr Buddy to carry too, so he didn't seem too upset that Frank stole the other half.. We spent almost 2 hours just wandering around the beach, which was sufficient to thoroughly wear them out for the rest of the day.  

The next best way to wear them out is hiking.  I enjoy hiking, especially when there are waterfalls involved.  Luckily there are plenty of waterfalls in this area, as long as you are willing to go find them.  I had found a trail with waterfalls called Sweet Creek Falls, which is about an hour away, which seems to be the norm for the distance of my day trips.  I was talking with my older sister on the drive up to the trailhead, and laughing because I was once again driving to go hike somewhere, and I honestly had no idea how long of a hike this would be.  I could drive an hour there and get out and walk a total of 200 yards before reaching the end of the trail, or i could end up hiking for 10 miles. I feel like this kind of mystery makes it that much more fun.  Luckily the Sweet Creek falls trail ended up being a perfect hike! It was about a 3 mile loop that took us about two hours to finish, and there were SEVERAL waterfalls along the way.  YAY!! I was fortunate enough to get there early and be able to beat the crowds, which means the dogs would get to run around off leash.  Even better!

The hike was a really easy hike, and the only reason that it took us as long as it did was because I felt the need to stop at every waterfall and take pictures.  It was beautiful, some of the waterfalls are only 3 feet tall, but others were about 20 feet tall and had giant swimming holes at the base of them, if you would ever be crazy enough to try to swim in that cold of water anyway.  They were perfect for the pups tho.  The end of the trail leads to the biggest waterfall and swimming area.  Once we reached this point we just sat there an admired the view for about 15 minutes.  In the time that we were sitting there, we were joined by a family of hikers from Nevada.  I did not have the pups on leash at this point, so I was frantically trying to get them back on leash but they seemed just as happy to see the dogs and the dogs were to see them, and asked if they could pet them. It was perfect. Frank immediately took a liking to the younger boy and was following him around on the rocks, where as Buddy seemed to like the older boy.  The older boy wasn't so sure what to think of the pups and seemed much more standoffish than his younger brother.  He was sitting on a rock that had a tree abutting it, and Buddy was standing there just staring at him wagging his tail. The kid was funny, at one point he looked at me and asked why he was doing that.  Then I noticed that there was an old broken branch sticking off the tree on top of the rock, that Buddy thought was a stick, and he wanted the kid to throw it for him.  Since the stick was still attached to the tree, the kid got up and went to find another stick to give to Buddy.  It was adorable.  His mom just looked at me and had the biggest smile on her face.  Apparently her son was allergic to some dogs, and in turn has always kind of been afraid of them. This was the first time that she had ever seen her son try to play with a dog, she was so happy. They have been wanting a dog for a long time but never got one because she didn't know if he would do ok with one.  It made my heart smile to know that Buddy was gentle enough for this kid to actually want to be around him.

After visiting with the family for a few minutes we took another trail, not as worn trail up the hill a little further.  I kept the pups off leash for this then I got a little freaked out at the end of it because it came to a dead end on the top of the boulders, where the falls began, and there was nothing but a free fall for about 50 feet to the swimming hole below.  So I made the pups all sit while I ventured out to the top of the rocks to take pictures ;)

We worked our way back down toward the truck, and I started thinking that I am so grateful we started as early as we did, because while we only saw for other people on the way in, we passed several groups of people on the way out, once again I had timed it perfect.  When we got back to the truck the pups were so tired.  The boys willingly jumped into the truck just so they could lay down in their kennels, but Trigger is different when she is tired.  She will just sit there and stare at you, and will NOT jump in to the truck.  I takes some serious persuading to get her in there.

After getting her in the truck I started back down the road toward Mapleton, then to Florence before I could head back south to Reedsport.  Before I reached the highway though I saw a sign that read "Reedsport 37", meaning that the road would go south from the trailhead.  I thought about it for a second, and decided to give it a try.  I love back roads.  Plus we were the ONLY vehicle up there. This road took me up a paved road for about 5 miles further, then turned into a one lane dirt road that meandered through the mountains.  It was stunning up there. We were actually high enough to be able to look out and see three ridges over.  This is not a common occurrence here in Oregon. Usually the trees are so thick that you can't see in the distance at all.  Plus there were several little waterfalls along the side of the road, and wild flowers everywhere.  I love driving on roads like this.  It eventually led to a road along the Smith River, and then would head back into Reedsport.

When I wear the pups out this much,  I like to take opportunities to go do something they can't.  Like visit lighthouses.  I am trying to make it a mission to see all of the lighthouses in Oregon.  Today was the perfect day to hit the Umpqua River lighthouse outside of Winchester Bay.  This lighthouse was the second one on this site, the first one was built in 1857, but succumbed to erosion in 1861.  This one was built and let out its first light in 1894, and emits a distinctive red-and-white automated flashes.  This is the first light house that I have been to that was actually fenced off so I couldn't walk around it much,  but it was still fun to see, plus the view from the grounds were beautiful.  It overlooked the Oregon Dunes and the rock spits in the ocean beyond the dunes.  I met and adorable old couple here while I was admiring. They were on their way home from the hospital after the wife had been discharged, but she decided that she wanted to come here as their first stop.  She loves nothing more than sitting there staring at the ocean.  She told me that on one of her visits here she witnessed whales playing around just beyond the spit. She sat there for three hours just watching them, prompting her husband to go in to a panic thinking she was dead in a ditch somewhere because she hadn't told him where she was headed.  It was adorable. 

After leaving the lighthouse I decided to go down to check out the South Jetty in the dunes.  It was a beautiful day and the beach was calling my name.  The pups were still pretty tired, but they seem to always find energy to go to the ocean.  I think they love it as much as I do.  When we reached a spot where we were away from the crowds, I let them free to run.  Buddy once again found a giant stick that he wanted, but today he didn't want to just carry it, he wanted to play some fetch.  It is impossible to just play fetch with Buddy, so we had to break the stick again and give each one of the boys their own stick.  Then just to keep Trigger from eating everything on the beach I found one for her too.  I took turns throwing the stick for each one of them for a little while before I forced them to take a break. So I found a nice spot in the sand and had a seat for a while.  I had to hide the stick from them, or else they would continue to run until they collapsed.  As we were sitting there Frank could barely keep his eyes open, but you could tell that he wanted nothing more than for me to throw the stick again.  He is such a funny dog.  It was honestly the warmest, sunniest day on the beach that we have had this entire journey, I wanted to make it last as long as possible.

After leaving the beach I drove into Winchester Bay, admired the harbor for a minute,  then went and got an ice cream cone at BJ's ice cream.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

I was fortunate that I was able to wear them out enough that they were pretty much out the entire next day too.  Jackpot! That means that I have more time to just bum around and do something I've never done before.  I decided to go to the movie, by myself.  I have never done that in all of my 34 years.  Not that I mind doing things on my own, I just haven't ever done it.  I love sappy romance movies, and know that they are not always Kyle's cup of tea, so it was a perfect opportunity to go see the movie "Me, Before You" I got there a little late so I missed the previews, but as i went in to the dark theater I noticed something else that was a first for me.  I WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THERE!! I was fantastic! I picked a spot right in the middle of the theater, put my feet up, and didn't worry about if I was chewing my popcorn too loudly or not. I could laugh as loud as I wanted, or cry like a baby and NO ONE would see it! It was the best movie experience ever!