Coos Bay and the dunes area north

We enjoyed exploring the Coos Bay and Winchester Bay to the south. Coos Bay was once one of the largest lumber ports in the world and evidence of that background is easy to see. The city has now built a very nice boardwalk along part of the old port area with many interesting displays.

This retired tug boat, Koos 2, is such an example. Built in 1924, it was first used as a pleasure boat, but was then converted into a tug. It looked pretty small when compared to the large tugs of today.

North of Coos Bay is the Oregon Dunes area. We were really surprised that these dunes cover some 50 miles of the coast line and are up to 550' tall! They actually look like mountains that rise right from the sea.

We explored the area around Winchester Bay and found this huge dune where folks were riding ATV's on it -- it looked like a great ride! Apparently, as soon as there is some wind (and there is plenty of that), the sand moves and the dune looks like new. Some of the dunes move quite a bit each year as the wind pushes the sand around.


Cody was ready to go trail riding! There were hundreds of people riding in this large area, but it was so big, you only saw a few folks at a time. Some people camped right in the sand, but we decided to stay in the Elks RV park.

Winchester Bay is a very busy, but quaint port featuring all kinds of boats and small shops. While the bay was foggy, there was no rain, so we enjoyed walking around the bay area.

Rick stopped in a small store to get a cup of coffee and ran across this 1950's German coffee roaster in action. The beans were roasted for about 20 minutes, then fresh ground. That was some GREAT coffee!

Overlooking the bay, is the Umpqua River Lighthouse which is still in operation, but offers a great museum covering the lighthouse operations.

Here, Orinda is learning about the Fresnel Lens which give the lighthouse the ability to send light over 20 miles out to sea. These lenses and the lighthouse in general were really remarkable technology for the period.

Up the coast in Oregon, The Chocolate Factory and Print Museum

We traveled north on Oregon Highway 101, a 2 lane road most of the way, but a good road for sightseeing. The big plus on this road is that it follows the Pacific Coast and offers many gorgeous sights. Our Tour worked well and we had no problems, although I would pull on to some of the overlooks and let any traffic that was behind me go by.


The overlooks were great and offers many views like this of the coast. We were surprised at how rugged the coast is in most places.


These large rocks are typical of the coast line and it is very challenging to take a boat into some of these spots. There are also very few natural ports along the coast, so it is easy to see why settlements developed on rivers and the few ports that were available.


We did some exploring in the Coos Bay, OR area, and wouldn't you know it -- there was a real chocolate factory! Naturally, Orinda had to stop.
Through the glass wall, you could see how the various chocolates were made -- very cool. This is a rather small factory, but lots of fun to tour through.

And, YES, they offered SAMPLES! What a deal. We tried LOTS of difference chocolates and of course, had to bring some of the best ones along. What a great surprise this was.

Speaking of surprises, Rick found this small museum -- the Marshfield Sun Printing Museum, which is an original building that was used for printing the local paper starting in the late 1800's. The amazing thing about this is that the building was closed up after the passing of the proprietor and is now a complete printing and newspaper shop of that era.



We were given a"working tour" by our guide who showed how everything worked. Notice that everything is powered by hand -- there is no electricity! All the presses and equipment still work and it was really interesting to see how this took place "back in the day".


Ever wonder where we get all those fonts? Well, here they are -- each drawer is one complete font of metal characters. These all had to be "set" by hand before printing could take place. A very skilled job for sure. This was a great,museum and is very well worth the stop.

The Klamath Camper Corral, where were stayed in Klamath, was a very nice RV park and several fishing guides stayed there and offered services on the famed Klamath River. After Rick found out that Chinook Salmon were starting to run up the river from the Pacific, he was interested in giving it a try.

Dan, a camper who had the site next to Rick and Orinda, suggested that we team up and go out with Wild Rivers Outfitters, which is operated by Dave McLaughlin who was also in the park. Dave had a wonderful boat, seen above, which is 22' long and powered by a 6.0 litre jet drive -- it MOVES!

We fished right where the Klamath River empties into the Pacific -- which was a very rough and high current area. We were glad to have Dave's knowledge guiding us.

Dan was lucky enough to catch two Chinooks, while Rick had a couple of bites, but no fish. Still, the deal was that the boat shared the salmon, so Orinda and Rick still have some beautiful spring salmon for dinner!

The next day, Rick and Orinda walked out on the sandbar between the river and ocean (it was about 2 miles long!) and tried some fishing, but without result. Still, it was beautiful to see the river and ocean interact.

We did see a number of sea otters and seals swimming around as well as all kinds of birds. A beautiful sight.

Traveling on the Big Tree Scenic drive

We started the day with a trip to the Trees of Mystery attraction which features many novel attractions associated with the Redwood Trees in the area. Of prime importance to Orinda was the Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox statues -- in Redwood scale!


Once we left that attraction, we took the Drury Scenic drive which passes through many old growth Redwood trees. One tree, aptly named Big Tree, really lived up to its name. It is about 25' in diameter and 300 feet tall.

Rick and Cody try to show the scale of these trees which are massive.

This tree has survived a forest fire which resulted in the hollow center of the tree.

The Redwoods need constant moisture and a stable climate. This also allows many other plants to grow, especially ferns which are all over. This will give you an idea of the moisture that is present.

The redwood is also very adaptable and can grow on many different surfaces. This large tree started by growing on a downed tree and then spread roots out to the ground. Amazing.

Fourth of July in Crescent City, CA

We spent a great Fourth of July in Crescent City, CA, a small town in northern California. They really put on a great Fourth celebration here and offered a wonderful parade. As we waited for the parade, we found this huge log in the town square area that weighed some 52 TONS! Orinda and Cody were really interested in this.


Next to the log, was this piece of old, riveted steel. It looked like a piece of a ship's hull and sure enough, in front of the hull was this plaque:

It turns out that the steel was from the SS Emidio, a ship that was torpedoed right off Crescent City by the Japanese in early WWII. There is quite a bit of history in this area.

The parade was great and was dedicated to the WWII veterans, which was great. The parade went on for about 3 hours and really was fun to watch.

After the parade, we drive the Jedidiah Smith tour road, a dirt road that traveled through old growth redwoods. These trees stood well over 300', as can be seen in this photo. WOW!

Visiting Eureka, CA

We have been exploring the Klamath, CA area and decided to go south this day before July 4 and check out the Eureka, CA area. As we left, we noticed that several Golden Bear statues patrol the Klamath area. These life size statues patrol both the approach to town and the local bridge crossing the Klamath River.

Eureka is about 55 miles miles south along Hwy 101 which is a beautiful drive along the Pacific coast. It is the largest town in the area, so we did a bit of shopping and exploring. We really enjoyed the Boardwalk area right on the Humbolt Bay area which is a great place to take a stroll.

One really interesting item is the WWII ship LCI 1091, which was sued in both WWII and the Korean War. This is now a museum ship and is still operational.

The harbor is still a working port with many commercial and private boats around. Naturally, we had to try some of the local seafood, and while the seafood was tasty and fresh, we thought our meal at Capt. Flint's, in Ft. Bragg, was better. We have decided to have a Clam Chowder taste test up the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington!

There is quite a history of commercial fishing in the Eureka area and this large statue pays homage to the past. A beautiful sight.

We also went to the small, but very interesting, Humboldt Maritime Museum, shich also owns the LCI 1091. There were many interesting pictures and items in the free museum and it is well worth a stop.

Much of the area is classified a tsunami hazard zone! In 1964, a large tsunami wave hit Cresent City (about 70 miles north of Eureka), killed 11 people, and caused considerable damage. This was the result of the large Alaskan earthquake. Today, there are sirens that warn folks when conditions are right, so we will be sure to pay attention.


On the way back to Klamath, we passed this rock that contained many sea lions barking loudly! These large animals, as well as the smaller seals, were resting on the rock and swimming around it. Lots of fun to watch.

Exploring the Ft. Bragg Seacoast & Drive Through Tree

On our way to the Ft. Bragg area, we saw a sign for the Drive Through Tree and had to stop and take a look. It turns out that this was a very famous tree and we were delighted to drive through the tree which was pretty cool! This tree is 315' tall, 21' in diameter and is 2400 years old! Amazing.


Cody was impressed with the tree but disappointed that he couldn't do the driving through the tree. Here, he is expressing his thoughts!

OK, OK, Cody can pose too! He liked the tree very much.

Once we got to Ft. Bragg, it was lunch time and We went to Capt. Flints, which was a rather plain, but excellent seafood spot. If you ever are in the area, be sure to pay the good captain a visit.


The drive on Hwy 1, also called the coast road, is wonderful. Surprisingly undeveloped, you can see the Pacific Ocean most of the time. It is an amazing site to watch the surf pound into the beach.

Mist drifts in and out of the area, adding to the eerie effect.

During a short walk on the beach, Orinda found out that the Pacific is COLD! I would guess it is about 50 degrees or so.

Finally, look at those trees at the top of the cliff. The wind REALLY blows at times.