August 3, 2012 Day 56/60 Lincoln City to Gold Beach, OR
Today I discovered that the state of Oregon has put Mileposts along Highway 101. I was able to look them up on my phone and could click to links with information about what we were driving past. I think it is a great idea. I wish more areas would do the same.
I should also add that it was a lot harder to use my phone than a handy book. The print was smaller and I had to look away from the sometimes windy road more. It is not a perfect system and I started to lose track of mileage and time. But, hey, I am on vacation.
Our first stop was at Agate Beach State Recreation Area. It is the wrong time of year to search for agates here (best in March apparently). We came for something even rarer. This is where the Japanese pier washed ashore after breaking loose during the tsunami and crossing the Pacific Ocean. It was a long difficult walk through the sand dunes. The DiMaios took the more challenging but direct diagonal route while Mom and Mike headed directly to the compact sand nearer the water’s edge. The beach here was almost completely devoid of animal life. Luca found some bird bones completely picked clean. I saw a sand crab carapace and an empty clam shell or two. There were a few turkey vultures but even the seagulls and sand pipers were gone.
After what seemed like about a half mile walk, we arrived at the pier site. We had expected throngs of people trying to get their last look at history before crews remove the pier. Instead, we found only a handful of curious people like ourselves. There was a skeleton crew of workers using power tools to cut the pier apart into large yet manageable cubes. One cube was already separated and wrapped in what looked like big shink wrap ready to be loaded onto the big flatbed semi parked on the beach.
We saw a video camera on a tripod standing alone facing the workers. I couldn’t tell if it was on or even who it belonged to. I wondered if someone was making a documentary. There was a sunhat and large scarf hanging from the tripod that looked out of place on the overcast day but reminded me of scenes of independent filmmakers ready for anything so they can get the shot.
It is easy to get caught up in the mechanics of the pier and its removal. However, for us it was a reminder of the larger tragedy of the tsunami and the vulnerability of human existence.
Our next stop was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. According to the Oregon Milepost, it was declared one of the top ten aquariums in the country by Coastal Living Magazine. Admittedly, they might have a bias towards towns on the coast. However, towns on the coast may also have an easier time creating a world class aquarium. It is also a member of the American Zoological Association as is Coyote Point and that is how we get in with reciprocal agreement discounts. So we decided to check it out.
There is a little bit of a line for admissions so I check out the Membership Desk where a woman is on the phone. I am content to wait my turn while she takes what sounds like a birthday party reservation. However, she asks the person to hold so she can answer my question. She says rather bluntly that they do not accept reciprocals, sorry. Ok, she was distracted. Maybe she didn’t quite hear me. I am talking about THE Coyote Point Museum membership, the one associated with THE AZA. So I get in the regular admissions line. When it is my turn, the young woman is very apologetic and explains that only two facilities in all of Oregon honor the AZA reciprocal agreement and those are at only 50%. However, there is a 10% military discount and she could get us a free coupon for Luca. While this is very nice, it would still cost almost $100 to see their aquarium. We have all been to some really wonderful, world-class aquariums so we decided to pass. Bummer.
My kids took it pretty well. We will of course have to take them to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the California Academy of Sciences, both world-class aquariums and we have memberships. On the way out, a little girl was crying hysterically because she didn’t want to leave. Makes me wonder what we were missing, but not enough to pay $100.
I was surprised to find out that 101 isn’t really along the coast very much in Oregon. We spent a lot of time driving through little towns just inland from the coast. When we were on the coast, we couldn’t see very much because of the marine layer. One place we were looking forward to visiting was Sea Lion Cave. According to the Milepost, it was the one MUST SEE stop on the Oregon coast. I remember something about it being the world’s largest cave of its type and very colorful.
When we got there, there was no parking in the main lot and the extra lot was across the highway. This is not a good option for the trailers. Just beyond, we found a gravel parking area. We had to walk back along the highway on the narrow strip of shoulder (if you can even call it a shoulder) between the white line and the guardrail. Once we get to the building, we discover it is a gift shop and that you have to pay admission to see the sea lions and the cave. It may be a spectacular cave but we hear the admissions lady telling people that the sea lions aren’t even in the cave right now. They are on the rocks outside the cave. It is so foggy from the marine layer that you can’t even see the rocks below. We don’t hear any sea lions. They want us to pay over $40 for our family of four to see sea lions on rocks that we may not be able to see given the weather conditions and a really big cave. We can see sea lions in SF anytime at Pier 39. We have been in some really big caverns and caves. We don’t like the idea of paying so much for access to our natural resources. We happily pay for access to our national parks but this is a private enterprise making profit from our national resources. It felt wrong. We decided not to go to the caves, thank you very much.
We had lunch in Florence, OR. We found parking near Old Town and ate at a place in the marina area along the river. It was tourist pricing but the boys and I shared a cheese pizza (not great) and everyone else found a lunch special for $9.95. It was a pretty area with outside seating but too breezy for us to sit there. They were selling fresh crab and tuna from the boats in the harbor but we didn’t get any.
More winding through small towns and larger (Coos Bay area is pretty big) and areas away from the coast, brought us to Gold Beach (almost). We are staying at the Honey Bear RV Park just north of Gold Beach. We got here about 5 PM. The place is run by a German couple who also run the Black Forest Restaurant. This is why Mom booked us into this park. They serve a family style dinner at 6 PM. Tonight we had insane amounts of food for only $11.95 each. The boys did a good job trying new foods and even ate enough to be full. We had pork Wiener schnitzel, knackwurst, sweet and sour red cabbage, German potato pancakes, homemade sunflower seed bread still warm from the oven and ice cream for dessert. It was a lot of food and we didn’t even have to unhitch the car.
We left when the proprietor who was also the cook started playing the harmonica with the microphone. Too loud!
August 4, 2012 Day 57/60 Gold Beach, OR to Benbow/Garberville, CA
It was a little like Groundhog Day (the movie not the holiday). Today was overcast along the shore and the highway didn’t always take us along the shore. However, there were a few notable differences.
I finally got to do some shopping. We stopped at a Myrtlewood gift shop. They had a lot of cool things for reasonable prices. I can’t give you details because I got gifts and am setting them aside. I will tell you that Myrtlewood is what we call Bay Laurel. It is a hard wood tree that takes years to grow.
Another highlight for me was driving through parts of Redwood National Park/Forest. There is an inland section and a section along the coast. We did part of the coastal part. The trees are fabulously tall and majestic. They grew right up to the edge of the highway on both sides. I felt like we were driving through tree tunnels. Last school year I assigned a writing project where the students had to choose a National Park located in California to research. Ever since then, I have wanted to visit the parks. I had been to all of them except Lassen, Death Valley, and Redwood. I may have been to Death Valley when I was young and don’t recall. Now I can say I have been to Redwood. I would love to come back for a more in depth visit some time.
Just as we were leaving the park boundaries along the coast, we saw a herd of elk (about 36 or so) grazing in the tall grass between the highway and the beach. A crowd had gathered so it would have been near impossible not to notice them. There were two rangers standing at the northern end of the crowd to answer questions. They had a huge antler to show. There weren’t any large males with the herd since it is not rutting season. I thought maybe the rangers were there to keep the crowd at a respectful distance but just before we left some idiots were not satisfied with the photos from the highway and headed out to the beach along a trail. Maybe there were awesome pictures of elk on the beach to be had. I’ll never know because I gave them their space. However, I saw a calf nudge mom for milk only to be pushed aside as mom walked away. Maybe she is weaning the calf, wanted to eat something herself first, or who knows. It was cool to see. Then some young males rubbed necks and head-bobbed and were joined by a young female. I have no idea what that meant. It was cool and bug-free so I don’t think it was like when horses stand neck to neck to swat flies away with their tails.
The sun came out for a bit and we saw some pretty rocky shoreline views along the coast. It got pretty hot once we left the coast. At one point the car indicated it was 91 degrees outside. It was cooler at Benbow Hotel and Resort where we are staying. The place has a golf course and access to a river (though it is shallow by the RV Park). We saw families swimming in the river as we approached but we opted for blackberry picking (Mike is making more jam) and a swim in the pool. The berries grow wild around the perimeter of the park. Luca and I helped for a little while but he really wanted to swim. So we left the picking to Dominic and the grandparents. Rick is still recovering so he rested up after driving all day with a cough.
Dominic stayed late at the grandparents’ trailer to help Grandpa Mike make jam. I am really glad he got that opportunity. I have very fond memories of baking with my Grandma Fern. These are wonderful memories and skills that will carry with him into adulthood.
At 4 AM I was really glad that I am one of those people who reads the entire rule and information sheet given to us at check in and registration. Why? Item 12 out of 19 – “THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM will operate between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM. DO NOT leave windows open or articles lying around as they are subject to water damage outside.” When I read this section, I thought sprinklers. No, at 4 AM I felt like I was on a Hollywood movie lot. It sounded like they had found a way to make it rain just at the RV Park. I have not stuck my head out the door yet to see what magical device they have that can cause water to come straight down on the roof of our trailer. Item 9 of the same sheet prohibits vehicle washing, but that may not be a problem given their irrigation system. Rick just woke up and said it might have been rain, but rain wasn’t in the forecast and I think a monster irrigation system sounds more interesting.
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