Catching Up With the Blog (But First, a Quick Update and Greetings from Sequim, Washington)

It has been quite awhile since our last blog post and we have much to report. The summer months have flown by; we have covered much territory and seen many sights as we made our rambling way up the Oregon and Washington coasts. As of this writing, we are nearing the end of a two-week stay in Sequim, Washington, and will be moving to our next site along Puget Sound – soon to leave the coastline behind, entirely. Kim & I have both been doing well, as have Jasmine and Pepper. Our vehicles and rig are in good shape and we have not had any breakdowns or major mechanical issues. I hope to catch up on the blog posts for our travels fairly quickly. Now, on to the first installment – Bandon, Oregon.

Our summer travels 2016

Enjoying Beautiful Bandon, Oregon

From Port Orford, we moved on to Bandon, Oregon, for a two-week stay in late June at Bullards Beach State Park Campground. This being our fourth, and longest, stay at this campground we can honestly count the Bandon area as one of our happy-places; we look forward to any opportunity to visit. We really enjoy the spectacular rocky coastline, sweeping sandy beaches and the charming Old Town and Port of Bandon.

Weather was good during our stay, mostly warm and sunny, with some morning fog or drizzle and occasionally windy afternoons. Lovely coastal weather.

While in Bandon, we enjoyed taking day trips throughout the area, from Port Orford and Cape Blanco to the Oregon Dunes Recreation Area, Winston Bay and the Umpqua River Lighthouse. We also enjoyed visiting the Old Town and Port area of Bandon and, especially, having lunches at Tony’s Crab Shack. We enjoy Tony’s for the plentiful servings of fresh seafood and the dog-friendly sidewalk café dining – Jasmine and Pepper can join us for lunch and watch the world pass by along the sidewalk.

Here are a few black and white photos from around the Bandon area:

Day Trip to the Umpqua River Lighthouse

One highlight of our stay was a visit to the Umpqua River Lighthouse and Museum, near Winchester Bay, Oregon. The drive to the lighthouse passes through the historic communities of Coos Bay and North Bend and crosses the lovely and historic Conde McCullough Memorial (Coos Bay) Bridge. The bridge, one of eleven major bridges in Oregon along Highway 101, is an architectural wonder. The bridge, constructed in 1934-1936, features Gothic-style steel arches with Art Deco embellishments – very photogenic.

The Umpqua River Lighthouse itself is still in operation and has base housing around it. The close proximity to the housing makes the lighthouse a challenge to isolate and get an interesting photo of. The lighthouse beacon has an interesting pattern of one red flash to two white flashes. Seeing the beacon at night or in the twilight is very interesting as the projected red and white beams chase each other across the hillside and trees behind the lighthouse – almost like a child’s revolving nightlight. And seeing the beacon in the fog is a really special experience.

Play Time at the Beach

As we’ve noted before, Bandon is quite dog-friendly. The town has a very nice dog park, which we took the dogs to, often. We also took many opportunities to get the dogs down to the beach to play and chase balls in the surf. The sandy beaches provide a long shallow transition into the water with a more gentle surf than other locations along the coast – perfect for a long romp in the waves. The pups always enjoyed the outings and went home tired and happy. (The best part is that they let us sleep in later in the mornings, that way.)

As always, our stay in Bandon seemed to pass too quickly. We hope to return sometime, soon. That’s all for now. Take care and enjoy the journey!