Coos Bay Area

First thing on our agenda was to get over to Walgreens to get the prescriptions filled, then over to Walmart so that Marcia could get her hair cut and I could get the few groceries that we needed.  Walgreens will have everything filled by tomorrow around noon...ok, no problem there.  All went well with hair cut and groceries until Marcia remembered that we also needed eggs. (Just as I was getting ready to go through the line, she was finished...so we were reviewing all that we got and picked up some $5 DVDs in case we don't have TV sometime over the next 3+ months.)  Anyway, she drove the scooter way back to the egg section at Walmart, then the scooter started acting up on her.  As of now we don't know what it is, but I am charging the battery and giving it a rest for a start.  Also, after we got back to the motor home, she dropped an egg...well, at least it wasn't the entire dozen that fell on the floor.

After all was put away and the mess cleaned up, we headed back out the door to explore.  The first area was the City of Bandon and the area around it.  This included a few beaches just north of the city that we visited first.

Seven Devils State Wayside was once the farm given by Charles Merchant and his wife to two of their sons, Frank and Albert, as a wedding gift when they married two sisters.  It received its current name not for the kids they had, but because the road to get there was a "devil of a road" with seven steep, sharp turns.  There are members of the Merchant family still in the area today.  Below is a picture of the wonderful grass that Bubba and Skruffy were able to run on (but someone forgot to take the camera with him to get a shot of the kids out there playing and running.)

It could have only looked better if it was not overcast...but that is how it is along the Oregon Coast most of the time.

The painting above is what the area looked like when the brothers and their wives lived in the area.

 Beyond the grass is a nice beach with the view to the south above, and to the north below.

Then we were off to our next stop, and we saw some exotic and not so exotic animals along the way....

A Llama and a lamb in a small pasture together above.

A Doe (above) watching us intently in this cleared out area....and then we saw why she was watching as the little fawn came up to the left side of the fence (below).  We did not dare get out of the car because we did not want to disturb them.  Thank goodness Skruffy did not bark either.

Next was Whiskey Run Beach, where there was a lot of drift wood along the beach.

As we got closer, we came to Coquille River Light (originally called Bandon Light), a lighthouse commissioned in 1895, first used in 1896, to guide mariners past the dangerous sandbars into the Coquille River and harbor at Bandon.  It was shut down in 1939, being replaced by an automated light.

 And below is a drawbridge on highway 101 leading over to Bandon.

Bandon is a neat little town...no really.  In 2010 it was named one of the "Coolest Small Towns in America" by BudgetTravel.

 Lot's of restaurants, tourist shops.

 Murals on some buildings.

 Bright colors in many buildings.

And a view of the lighthouse just across the entrance where the river meets the ocean.

On the south side of the town there are neat rock formations along the ocean shore. And flowers and plant life on shore.  These next 5 pictures don't need any commentary....

Next was the Cape Arago area where there is a State park.  In 1579 Sir Francis Drake anchored his ship, the Golden Hinde, around Cape Arago.  Today you can find an abundance of marine life, and as we found out, some wildlife too. 

 Above the road leading to the point of the Cape...what a pretty drive this was.

Here at the point we stopped to have lunch...another "terrible" view from our car seats as we ate.

Beyond the grass is a dramatic shoreline with this view to the south...

 ....this view to the west...

 ...another view to the west but to the north of where we ate.

 And then we came to "the rock" where all the sea lions were hanging out.

Above is a distance view of "the rock", and what you see in the ocean are lots and lots of rocks.  On the rocks in some places were a few sea lions, and many seals.

 And here, at a nice protected cove, an adult was teaching some young teens how to surf.

Now how cold that must have been!

As we left the parking lot and started back along that pretty road...Marcia yells  "STOP".  That was her deer sighting yell.

 Above is not the best shot...not the best focus.  But this sucker was fast....and Skruffy was barking and barking.  Now you see it, now you don't type of thing....but it is still there in the lower picture, but well hidden.

Tomorrow we plan to move on up the coast about a hundred miles....if our prescriptions are indeed ready.  They had to order one of Marcia's, but they felt it should be in tomorrow.  Time will tell.