Bob & Cindy's 2015 Travel Web Site
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Oregon Coast
In Trinidad, California, we spent another foggy day hiking around the woods of Patrick's Point State Park. The winds were howling out of the north making it feel a lot colder than the actual 55 degree temperature. Yep, it was time to head on up the coast and into Oregon, hoping to find a more open spot to chill. We were sooooo lucky to end up at Harris Beach State Park, just north of Brookings, Oregon. After about an hour of overlooking the ocean from our campsite, we decided to use this as a "chill spot" and signed up for 9 nights (very unusual for us). It's been everything we hoped.
Ok, I know this is not the Oregon Coast, but thought it would be helpful to update our travels over the past 2 months since we left Indian Wells and Death Valley. We spent almost 3 weeks in the San Luis Obispo area (Santa Maria, Pismo Beach, SLO, and San Simeon), then went to the Santa Lucia Highlands area, then northern Sonoma, followed by Ukiah, Redcrest, Trinidad, and (finally) Brookings, Oregon. This is our turnaround point so we'll be heading south on May 13th and be back in Texas in 2 weeks.
Trinidad
Redwoods
Russian River wine country
Santa Lucia Highlands
SLO & Pismo Beach
Paso Robles
San Simeon
Mendocino
Brookings
This is Harris Beach, just a short walk across the road and down the bluff.
Yep, not crowded ... lots of beach to walk in both directions plus an added bonus of rocky areas for browsing through tidepools. Not bad!
Our campsite ... lots of space and mostly quiet because of being off season and school not being out. Even the weekend was quiet.
View out our front window overlooking the Pacific.
One type of sea anemone.
Interesting features while walking the beach.
Starfish, but not as many as we had hoped to see. Our routine was to go down about an hour before low tide and scope out different areas. After doing that for several days we found the best spots to look. When the tides went negative (only happened a couple of times), it was always the best viewing.
This is Cape Blanco Lighthouse, at the westernmost tip of Oregon. As usual, these places have a ton of history. Volunteers conduct interesting tours.
Driving off the beaten path, we ran into a rancher moving his herd to another field, but down the road. We patiently waited.
This little light (with a backup next to it), can shine a light 27 miles on a clear night. The lighthouse is the oldest continually operated lighthouse on the Oregon coast.
The view is incredible from the top. Also, part of the fresnel lens that has been in use since 1870. The lighthouse is built from bricks that were kilned on the site.
Amazingly, my vertically challenged wife had absolutely no problem going up or down these stairs.
Pictures of the Oregon coast from viewpoints off the road.
Everywhere you go, it's just beautiful. I should mention that we did have one day with the marine layer coming in early and we lived in the fog drifting through the trees for the rest of that day.
More pictures from along the Oregon coast.
More sea anemones.
Cindy's favorite crab. Alway fun to explore along the tide line, rocks, and beaches.
From here we are going to Redding, California to get our oil changed before heading over to Lassen National Park and Yosemite National Park. The drought has had an impact on everything. Lassen usually does not open until after June 1 and opened this year on May 1st. In Yosemite, the waterfalls are barely running and we are thankful for that because by the end of June there most likely will not be any water .. sad.
Lost Coast & Shelter Cove
