Bandon Oregon…

The day before we left Florence we made a short drive north of our park and stopped at a pullout just north of the Haceta Lighthouse. There we found a short hike to the beach on a trail called Hobbit Trail. We had to mention this as it is a very nice trail where the vegetation envelops you as you descend to the beach ending at a slice in the cliff  onto a beautiful beach. The rocky cliffs have small water flows trickling out along the bluff just under the layer of sand above them… beautiful! We highly recommend this little off the beaten path beach.

Preparing to leave we had an early morning surprise as Pam and Vic of Travelin’ in the Big EZ came by to see us off as they were in the area. After a brief visit with them we said our goodbyes and finished getting ready to leave Florence. The short 80 or so mile drive down the Oregon coast to the town of Bandon was uneventful and the traffic was lighter than I anticipated. Also an added bonus was that the wind was lighter than we expected. Not many peeks at the ocean along this part of Highway 101 but once we got to Bandon we found that we are staying real close to the ocean.

We pulled into Bandon RV Park which by most standards isn’t a “wow” park since the sites are very close together and we are basically in a large gravel lot adjacent to Highway 101 and all its road noise. But we chose this park since we were only going to stay a few days here and from the park we are able to walk all over the town without driving anywhere. However, the main reason we chose this park was it was one of the few with vacancies for this weekend. We hate not having assurances of  a place to stay on weekends during the summer.

We did take some time to drive the Beach Loop here in Bandon but the foggy weather due to all the heat in the valley made it difficult to see much. We were able to get peeks of the lighthouse on the foggy shore it is perched upon. We had also hoped to see Face Rock but we were only able to see some of the other rocks closer to the shore due to the fog. Still quite chilly here along the Oregon coast as temperatures are in the upper 50’s to lower 60’s F. Throw in a 20-30 knot wind and it makes it quite chilly for these two Texans who are more used to 90 plus degree August days.

The moisture rolling in from the surf creates its own weather as it hits the mainland and the fog and low lying clouds develop almost instantaneously creating the appearance of a time lapse moment. The clouds above were moving fast and their shadows imprinted on the sandy beach below creating this illusion of time moving much faster that it really was.

Saying that we realize that summer is nearing its end means two things to us… one, weekends will be easier to deal with soon since kids will return to school and two, we had better get serious about making winter plans…