Winchester Bay Sunsets, Sand Dunes, Lake Marie

June 11th, 2016

Let's start the day off with a picture of this handsome chap.  Not that we're biased or anything!!!!  Good to see him looking so well out on the high seas.        
                            

We stayed in and relaxed today and then nearly missed the sunset.  Here's a couple of pictures as we caught the sun setting.

June 12th, 2016 

We went for a drive.  First stop was the sourdough bakery where we saw this buoy that reminded us of a frog.  We also saw some goodies that we will stop for on the way back!!!

These water lilies were at a stop along the way.

We eventually got to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area overlook.  We started to walk a trail down to the dunes and the beach but changed our minds when we saw that it was quite a long trail and we knew we were going to be walking later in the day.

We took these pictures from the overlook instead. The dunes stretch along a 40 mile stretch of the coastline.

We headed back to Winchester Bay, passing these old carriages on the way.

Unusual wood carving in Winchester Bay.

Pretty flowers

Next short stop was an overlook where we could see the top of Umpqua lighthouse

and the Oyster Triangle.  If you look closely you can see the strings of oysters hanging in the water.

Then we drove to Lake Marie, where we were going to do the one mile trail around the lake.
                                      

We started on the trail.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is a Western Red Cedar. Indians stripped and pounded the soft stringy bark to make clothing.

Birds

Cobwebs

Sue

Bryan

Spot the dragonfly

Here's the dragonfly on a dead leaf. Looks like a stick insect.

Tree Roots

Bryan admiring the view

More cobwebs

I covered my head through this more overgrown part as there were a few bugs and I had already got bitten the minute we stepped on the trail!!!  There weren't enough to be really bothered by them though and this was more of a precaution on my part.  In fact, by the end of the walk I still only ended up with one bite.  I have been taking Vitamin B-1, which I heard helps to keep mosquitos at bay.  Since I have been taking it, I haven't been bothered by bites.  The real test will come when we go through the more wooded areas inland on the drive back south.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Bryan catching up

We walked past this family fishing and from the opposite bank we got a picture of them.  Shortly after this picture they decided it was time to go home and pulled their catch out of the lake where they had kept it.  There were a number of good size fish there that they proudly showed us from across the lake.  We gave them a thumbs up.

We finished our walk around the lake and decided to drive to the nearby Umpqua Dunes. There were some riders out there enjoying the weekend.

They were driving up and down this steep bank.  There was a campground close by and it was good to see these families enjoying their weekends out with their toys.  Here is a  VIDEO of them going up and down the slope between the trees.

This memorial plaque was by Winchester Bay.

We decided to have dinner at a local seafood restaurant that happened to be on a boat. Ungers Bay Fish N Chips had good reviews with the exception that it was slow.  As we weren't in a hurry we decided to try it.

                            

Good old fish fryers, like a proper fish and chip shop!!!

The final product was good and we didn't wait very long at all.

We went home full and relaxed the rest of the night.