Bandon, South Jetty, Coquille Point & Face Rock

June 7th, 2016

We went into Bandon  today to look around the small town and port.

On the way we passed this in a plumbers yard.  It was a toilet fountain complete with water overflowing from the toilet and water coming out of the pipe below.  Quite an eye-catcher.

First stop, Bandon Old Town.

This chimney is all that is left from the Bandon Fire of 1936, which destroyed the town of Bandon.

                             

These plants and flowers were outside the small visitor center.

After getting a map of the town from the center we had a walk around.  

                           

They have Tsunami Evacuation maps at several locations along the coast.

                           

There were several ornate woodcarvings

The marina had floating docks that move up and down according to the tides.  This was similar to the ones that we saw in Porthcawl in South Wales, although more basic.

We could see the Coquille River Lighthouse, that we visited on Saturday, across the bay.

There were seagulls

This dead crab was waiting to be eaten.

There were a few of these metal bicycle sculptures

The main street, one block from the dock.

A cute way of disguising the meter.

Henry The Fish was built from trash collected from the ocean and beach.  It is to draw attention to the dangers this rubbish is to the natural habitat and hopefully encourage people not to leave litter.

                           

We found the local ice cream and cheese factory.  Face Rock Creamery. Time to stop for a snack.      

                           

We sampled different cheeses and ended up buying two.  Bryan chose "Face Rock 'n Jack Pepperjack" and I got "Cranberry and Walnut Cheddar".  Of course, we couldn't leave without buying a local ice cream as well. Cranberry Cheesecake for me and Double Chocolate Brownie for Bryan.  I had read that the child size scoop was really big and so that was what we had.  A child portion was two scoops and it was more than enough and delicious.  Well worth $2. We sat and ate our ice creams and declared that was our lunch!!!

Sue and Bryan enjoying their child size ice creams

We went on a drive along the coast back toward the campground.  We saw this bed and breakfast which looked a little dilapidated but had an awesome view of the bay.

The next stop was a viewpoint and beach by the South Jetty, where the fog horn was.

The waves against the jetty opposite, which was the one we had walked along on Saturday.

Looking south from the Bandon South Jetty

We didn't expect to be here very long but saw this fella in the ocean.  This was the opposite jetty from where we saw the seal on Saturday.  This time there were three of them playing.  Of course we were fascinated and spent quite a while watching them.  Here's a VIDEO, spot the seals, ha!!ha!!  I apologize for the spots on the video's.  I need to take my camera in to get cleaned as there are marks on the inside of the lens but I'm not going to do that until we get back to San Diego and so we are stuck with the marks!!!

                           

Looking for fish

This lighthouse model was in someones yard.

Next stop was Coquille Point.

An artist draws in the sand on certain days while the tide is out.  Unfortunately we missed him actually doing this and the tide had washed some of it out before we got there, but it was still pretty clever.  Apparently you can help him do this.  This was a labyrinth in the sand, very clever.  He named it Circles in the Sand.

The following pictures are taken from the cliff top before we went down the steps to the beach.

Bryan on the way down

Down on the beach, here are the steps we just came down.

We spent a long time on the beach, looking at the waves and seals.  Climbing over the rocks and driftwood to see different views from all angles.

Here is a 5 minute VIDEO showing the ocean waves, surroundings and some seals.

Seals on the rocks

What does this look like??

The fog horn in the distance

Eventually we decided to head back up to the car.

                                                                                                                                                                       
We saw these plants on our way back up the steps.

We used to call these "Grandmother, Grandmother Pop Out of Bed" when we were kids.  You would squeeze the base under the flower, and the flower would pop off in the air.  I guess it was a bit destructive but we had great fun doing it and the flowers regrew.  I left these ones alone!!!  Does anyone remember doing that??  Bryan thinks I'm crazy, he could be right!!!

These seagulls were lined up in this stream of water

Having a rest halfway up.

Well, that was a lovely walk on the beach.  At the top we saw a young man admiring the view.  As we got closer, he turned to us and said, how amazing the view was.  He was an officer in the Navy and had just driven up from Los Angeles, to visit his mother who lived here.  He had stopped here first, as they had put a seat here on the cliffs as a memorial to his father.

We meet so many people on our travels and stop to chat, never to see them again but have some wonderful conversations.  Earlier today, we had met a couple, he was retired and she was a school teacher.  We got to talking about schools and teaching.

Anyway, the next stop we wanted to make was a little further along the coast, and very close to our campground.

Face Rock was our next stop.
                             


There is an Indian legend associated with this.  Some claim they hear a maiden's voice in the wind.  From the viewpoint you can clearly see the face defined in the rock.

                             

At this viewpoint there was a park ranger with a viewing scope.  He was looking for wildlife, in particular puffins, but he hadn't seen any today.  He showed us the many birds that were on top of Face Rock through his scope, but no puffins.  Again, we stood and spoke with him for a while.  His job involved going up and down the coast looking for wildlife,  tracking the whale migration and birds, talking to visitors and answering questions.  It was such a beautiful day today, that I told him it must be an awesome job to have.  He said it certainly was.

We walked around the short trail but didn't go back down to the beach.

We drove back home exhausted, but happy after our interesting day out.


Take care everyone.

Oregon - Bandon, Coquille River and Cape Arago Lighthouses, Seals and Sunset Bay

June 1st, 2016

It was our last day at Irelands Ocean RV park and we stayed in and relaxed.  Bryan got things ready for our move tomorrow and we caught up with things around the house.  Click on this LINK to see a picture of Ryan that I found amongst a lot that had been taken aboard USS Decatur.  It's quite interesting looking through the album and trying to see if Ryan is in any of them.  There's a write up under each picture that tells you about it. 

June 2nd, 2016

We left Irelands Ocean RV Park this morning and headed to  Beach Loop Village Rv Park at Bandon.  We will be here a week.  We noticed that we went over the 10,000 mile mark on the way here.  That's 10,000 miles Lily has travelled since we started this trip in August 2013.  Feels like more but remember we have had a couple of breaks in that time.

Here's the view from our front window, not to bad.
                                

Love this picture of Trystan.  He's not 9 months yet and just look at that "attitude".  He's growing up too fast!!!

One of the Blue Angels, #7 Jeff Kuss, crashed today in practice.  Unfortunately, he did not survive.  We saw him practicing while we were staying at NAS El Centro earlier in the year and at the El Centro Air Show on March 12th.   We got pictures of him taking off and landing during the show.  Here is a news report. RIP Jeff Kuss.

#7 Taking Off

#7 Landing

June 4th, 2016

Our first stop today was Coquille River Lighthouse.  Although it was relatively close as the crow flies, we had to take a road around the bay and back out to the jetty which was a little longer.  This lighthouse is a little the worse for wear and you can't go up in the tower as it is not safe.    

                                          

We went into the lighthouse and looked at the exhibits.  It was smaller than a lot of the others we have seen but it had a mysterious air about it.  We spoke to the two volunteers there, who were very interested in our travels and we gave them a card for the blog so I hope they are reading along.  We loved meeting you and are very interested in volunteering in the future, so maybe at some time our paths will cross again.

Outside the lighthouse we walked around the base and watched a coastguard drill as they practiced rescuing a "body" from the river.

                           

We then decided to walk along the jetty.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

From a distance the waves were crashing against the rock walls.  There were people walking along and we commented on how brave they were but as you got closer the waves were not as close as they appeared from afar.

                           

They were still crashing against the rocks though.  It was an amazing sight and we were both mesmerized just watching them.

Lighthouse from the jetty

There was another jetty on the other side of the River inlet with a fog horn sounding at regular intervals.

The waves ran along the side of the jetty crashing over the rocks.

Suddenly Bryan saw a seal playing in the huge waves.  He bobbed up, down and under.  He gave us quite a show, although it was difficult keeping up with him on the camera.  We watched him for quite a while and we were both entertained by his antics.  How awesome it was to see him swimming in his natural surroundings, just a few feet from us.  I was taking a VIDEO and managed to get him in it in three separate places, so be patient and then watch until the end.

                           

                           

Looking for fish!!!

We walked back along the beach to the car park.

Wild Flowers

From the car park

Coquille River Bridge, Bandon

We drove around the campground by the lighthouse.  Bullards Beach State Park Campground is where the lighthouse volunteers stay.  It seemed a very nice campground and we got a wi-fi signal which is a plus.  We wouldn't mind coming back here to volunteer one day.

We continued northwards to a viewpoint where we could see Cape Arago Lighthouse.  This is the nearest you can get to see it as it is on an island.  We walked down a short trail to get the following pictures.  
                             


                           

Bryan looking at the lighthouse

                           

                           

                           

                           

We then drove to Sunset Bay, which was a small cove.  This was quite busy and the small beach was being put to good use by families.  It was very pretty.
                           

We returned home stopping to pick up dinner on the way.

Another fun filled day.