The beauty just keeps on coming.

Bandon, OR

Today, I only got 106 miles! I planned it that way, though, and it allowed me to get set up at a new location further south along Highway 101 and still have the afternoon to do some exploring.

My stopping spot tonight is a small campground just south of the small town of Langlois. It’s just 15 miles or so from the tourist and fishing town of Bandon on the Coquille River. I was the only camper in the campground when I left this afternoon and they didn’t have any reservations for tonight, so the owner said I may have the whole forest to myself. They are closing at the end of the week for the season so they’re hard at work getting things tidied up for the winter.

The new part of the drive south today was mostly inland, with few opportunities to see the coast but it was pretty nonetheless. Rolling green hills and farmland, fern covered forests, and for the first time, small lakes on the east side of the highway.

Along the way, I did stop just south of Florence and drove in a bit into the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area to see the sand dunes. The dunes stretch for 47 miles along the coast, and some of them are huge. It was foggy and drizzling at this stop. I didn’t take the time to walk in to where the dunes meet the ocean because it was quite the hike and on sand…. yup, being lazy.

I went in off the road at the south end of the park to have another look at the dunes and it had gotten brighter. Unfortunately I couldn’t get all the way in to the ocean on this road but you get an idea of what it looks like.

There were a few towns along the way today, but none were terribly inspiring except Bandon, so glad I had a chance to come back into town after setting up and having a quick lunch in Port Orford. Bandon boasts several golf courses, an Old Town, standard scenic beach, and cranberry bogs! Who knew.

On my way back to Bandon I stopped at another, you guessed it, Lighthouse. This one is situated on a plateau at Cape Blanco. It stands 256 feet above sea level, and is located on the second most western point of the continental U.S. and it’s also the oldest, having been commissioned in 1870. The waves were really rolling in all along the coast today so it was pretty spectacular. The volunteers were closing up and waiting to close the gate by the time I got there but they stayed a little late to let me take a few pictures.

Then I made my way up the Beach Loop Drive taking more pictures and walking along the various beaches until I got back to Bandon. I went out on the jetty and took some pictures of the Coquille River Lighthouse. It’s not a particularly interesting one, and as you can tell it isn’t used any longer as the harbour has been extended and there is an automated marker on the end of the jetty.

For almost the first time along the coast I actually stopped in a gift store as I wandered around town late this afternoon, but I didn’t buy anything. I’m not a very good shopper but I wanted to check out one of the local specialties. Myrtlewood is native to the Oregon coast and there are factories all along this southern portion of the coast with outlets selling pieces made from this wood. I haven’t stopped at any of them and the selection they had in the gift store I stopped at was not particularly inspiring.

For dinner I had the best table in the house at the Edgewater Restaurant (western end of 1st St. SW) overlooking the Lighthouse across the river. After participating in the obvious seafood choices for the past week, I had a craving for something else tonight and I chose a great restaurant as they did a good job of the steak dinner I chose. I’m sure they do a fine job of the seafood and the service was top notch.

I’m sitting in a coffee house, writing this blog and they have the Republican Debate on the TV. It’s quite hilarious listening to the reaction of the locals and toursits. Now it’s back to the campground now to snuggle down with Netflix for the rest of this rainy evening. I shouldn’t run into any bandwidth issues tonight.