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:
- I’ve never pulled the camper, at all. Kyle likes to be the one driving, he said he feels like its his job :)
- 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!
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