September 28 -October 2, 2015 – Bandon, OR

Monday we moved south to Bullards Beach State Park just north of Bandon – another very nice Oregon state park.  After getting settled we went into Bandon and had a great dinner at Foleys Pub – a wonderful little Irish pub.

Tuesday the dogs were feeling a lot better and not coughing as much, the swelling in Camille’s toe has gone down some and she is not limping so we walked dogs to Bullards Beach.    It was about a ¾ of a mile to the beach with a couple of good size dunes to climb but both dogs did fine and they both enjoyed walking on the beach.  This beach is a really clean sandy beach – we didn’t find many shells and Cody didn’t find much in the way of crab parts.

After lunch we went into Bandon and walked around looking at shops and bought some great cranberry wine.  After we were back from Bandon for about an hour we had a visitor at our site.   This turkey was not afraid of us and didn’t even run away when the dogs barked at it through the screen door.  She stayed around for quite a while and then wandered off.  The camp hosts told us that this turkey has been hanging around the park for a few years.   Her mate had also been in the park but he was killed on Highway 101 last year.  It was fun seeing her wandering around the park during our stay.

The dogs are getting better every day so on Wednesday we took them to the beach by the Coquille River Lighthouse and let them play and sniff around – again Cody tried to eat any crab parts he could find.  We visited all the lighthouses along the coast when we toured the Oregon coast four years ago so we didn’t stop at any of the lighthouses on this trip.

Thursday we drove to Coos Bay and took the Cape Arago Highway back to Bullards Beach.  We stopped at Bastendorff Beach where we watched the largest waves we have seen yet on this trip.

We continued our drive to Cape Arago State Park where we stopped at Simpson Reef which overlooks Shell Island.   Shell Island is part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and the largest haul-out on the Oregon Coast for marine mammals such as seals and sea lions.  There definitely were a lot of seals and sea lions on every visible rock and beach it was also very noisy with all the barking.  This is a beautiful spot to sit and watch the seals and sea lions playing and sun bathing.

Another beautiful drive along the coast.

Friday morning we found a laundromat in Bandon and got our laundry done.   After lunch we took a drive on the Bandon Beach Loop.   This part of the coast is one of our favorites with all the rocks along the beaches. 

Again we loved just watching the waves crashing into the rocks.

This is Face Rock with Cat and Kittens Rocks to the right.  The legend of Face Rock is that Chief Siskiyou of the Nah-So-Mah tribe was visiting with his family to trade with the four tribes who lived by the sea.  The local tribes feared Seatka, the evil spirit who lived in the sea.  Chief Siskiyou’s daughter, Ewauna, was enchanted by the sea and was not afraid of Seatka.  One night when everyone was sleeping she slipped away from camp, carrying a basket with her cat and kittens, followed by her dog, Komax.  She wandered down to the ocean where she played and danced on the beach and swam in the sea.  The evil Seatka appeared and captured Ewauna.  Her dog, carrying the basket with the cat and kittens, swam to his mistress and sank his teeth into the hand of Seatka.  Howling, he shook off the dog and threw the cat and kittens into the sea.  Seatka tried to make Ewauna look into his eyes but she refused to look away from the great round moon.  When her father awoke he raised the alarm and everyone rushed to the shore.  There they saw the lovely face of Ewauna gazing skyward.  Her dog was on the beach howling for her, and the cat and kittens were in the sea to the west.  In time, they all turned to stone, frozen forever as they were that long ago dawn.

Another great view of the waves from a viewpoint farther down the coast.

This was another beautiful drive and another great day on the Oregon coast.  We enjoyed our time along the Oregon coast - except for the dogs being sick.  This is one of our favorite areas to visit and we know we will be back again.