Bandon, OR to Crescent City, CA.......Thursday 21st August....

It's wall to wall blue skies as we once again hitch up and move farther south on Hwy 101.....again many scenic pull-outs large enough to accommodate our home on wheels to view more of the stunning Oregon Coast....

The I L Patterson Memorial Bridge over the Rogue River......built in 1931 it was the first bridge in the country to be built with prestressed concrete......at night the arches are outlined with blue fibre-optic lights...

This and next 3 pics are views of the beautiful beaches in the Harris State Park area.........

And hello again California.....

We are staying for the next 4 nights at Crescent City on the edge of the Redwoods State and National Parks.....
Our campsite is set in 10 acres of redwood forest, ideal for a short walk after setting up camp....

Camp Harris at Crescent City and lucky campers as we have one of the best sites in the park......
Tomorrow we shall head into the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.....
All being well more soon from The Happy Campers......

Charleston State Park.......Tuesday 19th August.......

First stop on this very foggy morning is Whiskey Run beach.......

Natural beach art !!!

We braved the cold wind and had a good long walk along the beach....

Fascinating rock formations, the rock is grey and has some of the Cannonball Concretions we saw in Theodore Roosevelt NP back in July.....strewth that seems such a long time ago....

Next stop after thawing out with our coffee and cookies is Seven Devils Wayside State Park........
Called Seven Devils  due to the old winding narrow wagon trail that lead down to the beach and settlement....the main landowner and business man was Charles Merchant, he married Mary Gunn and they had 16 children ! Not surprisingly many of their descendants still live in the area....

Cape Arago....another good whale watching point in Spring and  Fall.......

Wa-hey, what a difference a day makes, it's a beautiful blue sky morning......Face Rock in full sunlight :)

These rock formations are called Cat With kittens...umm 

We have found the mist fascinating but it is nice to have a sunny day at the beach......we had got a bit Hello Mother, Hello Father......
Tomorrow we are on the move again....south on Hwy 101 to Crescent City, California....
Hopefully more soon from
The Happy Beachcombers.......

Ice Cold In Alex !!.........Monday 18th August 2014

The Oregon Dunes stretch along the coast for about 40 miles south of Florence........
I have done my best to try to capture the size and majesty of the dunes but sometimes you just have to be there !!!!

This stretch of dunes is at the Horsfall Beach State Park area....

It's a big ATV and quad bikes area, we saw one other couple walking the dunes apart from us probably because it is such hard work but excellent for the leg and thigh muscles.......

As Yorkieman trudged across the dunes all he could think of was a cold beer...hence the title of todays post.....

Next stop is at Umpqua Dunes Beach Access....

The mist starts to roll in again as we eat our lunch salad.....

The Umpqua Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station. This is still an operational lighthouse..... Opposite the lighthouse there is a good whale watching platform. Unfortunately it is the wrong time of year to see them....

We took a route home through Charleston (we shall come back tomorrow to visit the Beach State Parks) through the mist you can just about see the draw bridge is raised to let a boat pass through.... 

Back in Bandon and the mist has lifted enough to see Face Rock......you have to take what you can get !!

Some of the other rock formations at Bandon Beach state Park....

Another great day on the Oregon Coast....we are still fascinated by the sea mist/fog even though it does make for a chilly walk....
The Happy Beachcombers.....

Lincoln City to Bandon By Sea.......Saturday 16th August....& Sunday 17th Bandon Town....

It's a beautiful blue sky morning as we hitch up and move south on Hwy 101 to Bandon By The Sea.....
Again only 150 miles or so but it will be slow going with traffic and 25 MPH through the small coastal towns, but we are in no hurry.....
This is the "new" Alsea Bay Bridge completed in 1991.....the old bridge built in 1936 is the only Conde McCullough designed bridge to be replaced so far.....

There are plenty of scenic viewpoints on route large enough to accommodate us for viewing and the usual coffee, cookies and lunch sandwich stops......

Twelve miles north of Florence is the Heceta Lighthouse built on the 1000 ft high Heceta Head it sends out the strongest beam of light on the coast.....

Looking south from Florence towards the beginning of the dunes......more from the dunes in a few days...

The Umpqua River Bridge.....again designed by Conde McCullough and is the states largest swing bridge.... 

The Umpqua River Railroad Bridge...open to shipping......

Now Sunday...we are nicely settled in our campsite for the next 5 nights at Bandon By The Sea RV Park....
Bandon is very nice small seaside town....fishing and crabbing are of course major pastimes......delicious fish and chips and   yummy samples of cranberry candy....apart from fishing and tourists it is one of the major cranberry growing areas in the US....Bandon is the Cranberry Capital of Oregon...
According to the literature Bandon Dunes Golf Resort boasts 5 links style golf courses and is one of the best golf resorts in America ! And for a mere $295 you can play a round....no Yorkieman didn't !!!!

Some exercise on the beach prior to fish and chips :)

Although sunny inland the mist again descends on the shoreline......

They say there are rock formations out there, many with names such as Face Rock.....hopefully we shall be able to see them another day !!!

The Coquille River Lighthouse taken from Bandon Harbour Point......
Tomorrow The Dunes....

The Oregon Coastline.......Lincoln City to Newport.......14th & 15th August...

Yorkieman disappearing into the sea mist on Yaquina Bay Beach......well our weather luck had to run out sometime.....
we had rain yesterday while on the move down from Astoria to Lincoln City but dry today and warm with a heavy sea-mist a feature of the coastline....
First stop today was at the Chevrolet dealership to get the truck serviced as we have driven over eight and half thousand miles since we arrived in June...

It's an interesting beach at Yaquina, deep ruts and dunes.....with the mist it's quite erie as we can hear the surf but can't see it..... 

We were passing Yaquina Beach today and stopped to take a photo without the sea mist.....the break-water to protect Newport Harbour is in the background, it is man made this and the sea currents are causing the sand to build into dunes......

Back to yesterday......Yaquina Beach Lighthouse.....

Sea mist over Newport Harbour......a historic fish market area and time to purchases some crab and shrimp......

That Yaquina Bay Bridge taken from the harbour, it is one of the most photographed of the Conde McCullough designed bridges...

And the same bridge next day taken from the beach overlook ....

Near Cape Foulweather (named by Captain James Cook for obvious reasons) is The Devils Punchbowl  a basalt  rock formation....we had to visit this to "compare" with our own Devils Punchbowl in Hindhead......interesting even though shrouded in mist....

The scenic one way Otter Crest Loop Road  to get to The Devils Punchbowl viewpoint used to be  the main Hwy 101
On a clear day spectacular views as it is a long drop down to the ocean....

This and next photo are the dramatic rocks and surf of Whale Cove......

Recent discovered artefacts and historical research suggest that Sir Francis Drake made land fall in this area....

Fascinating mist formations over Boiler Bay State Park....a small freighter sank here in 1910 and it's boiler can still be seen at low tide we are told.....

A s much as it would be lovely to have the sunshine and no mist it does make for interesting views and photos...... 

The sun sparkling on the water at Boiler Bay State Park.....Oregon has the most State Parks of all of the States....

Now Friday and another great day out driving down the coast road on past Newport.....
We are so thrilled we parked at a very quiet viewpoint and look down at the beach and there  ripping some carrion apart is a Californian Condor....it was HUGE although with distance even with my telephoto lens this photograph doesn't really show that......sadly I was adjusting the setting when it took off very quickly and disappeared in to the trees...I would have loved to try to capture size of the wing span...

On a Beach....the trees tell their own story of life on this beautiful coast.....a good spot for our delicious marionberry fruit pies and coffee.......we had not heard of marionberry but turns out to be a bit of a cross in taste to a blackberry and a blackcurrant...

And we can't believe our luck only a half hour or so after seeing the condor we see a Bald Eagle....he had a lot more patience than us as even after our long walk along the beach and back he was still sitting there and no intention of letting me get a photo in flight.....

Seal Rock State park.....

Seal Rock beach, it was actually much warmer than it looks.....we are in shorts and t-shirts....
 We move on from here to lovely Driftwood Beach (sorry no pic) a long sandy beach and perfect for Derby and Joan to take their chairs and sit on a very quiet peaceful beach and have our lunchtime salad (needed salad after the pies !!!)
Well folks another great day.....tomorrow we up sticks again and move farther south down Hwy 101 to Bandon just south of Coos Bay....
Hopefully more soon from
The Happy Beachcombers........