August 27, 2017 thru Sept. 11

Nehalem Bay Beach- the campsites are sheltered behind the 30ft dunes. Miles and miles of white sand that squeaks when you walk on it.

We got Dungeness Crab one day- we could have caught our right off the dock, but didn’t want to wait for two hours- or work for it! 3 crabs weighed over 5 lbs and that gave us just over a pound of meat!
Tillicum Beach was next for Labor Day Weekend- 3 hours south- we had one night reserved and were hoping to score one of the “first come first served” sites for the rest of the weekend. We did, but it is stressful and not fun- we had to keep walking by the non-reservable sites looking to see if they looked like they were packing up, or- re-upping for another night- it’s a crazy system for a busy campground! Here we had an ocean view, even if it meant the camper was in another precarious perch!

50ft eroding soft rock cliffs drop down to miles of beach again. We are back in hazeand smog from the wildfires- air quality alerts and we see the soot on our windows and solar panels and feel it in our lungs when we walk. All of the directions we can head next have wildfires – there are even roads closed through the mountains.

Sunset Bay Beach down near Coos Bay…never saw a sunset- smoke and fog every day, all day, rain one day. The beach looks a lot like Lucia Beach in Owls Head- a tiny pocket beach with tidal pools. Along this same shore is a Botanical Garden- spectacular and a Reef where hundreds of seals and sea lions hang out.

 

On to Bullards Beach in Bandon, OR- trying to avoid wildfire smoke and figure out how to get east in the next few weeks to see Derek. It is the Cranberry Festival here, so town is mobbed- a little bit like Camden during Windjammer Days. We are having sunny days finally, with a touch of fog in the morning.