The days seem to start all a bit foggy and only later during the morning the fog lifts and bright sunshine
is blessing us. Why the fog ? Humidity created by the ocean over the warm landmass.
With this in mind I started my day by going north first as I wanted the visit the Yaquina Head State Park
with its lighthouse first. Avery rough stretch of coastline with sharp cliffs falling into the sea and forests on top.
The lighthouse, in operation since 1873, was just emerging out of the fog which gave the whole scene very interesting
ambience. The Oregon Park Service offers guided tours and allows the climb the the stairs up to the light.
Impressive especially if one hears that originally there was no street to Yaquina Head and all the building material
was brought by ship and then carried stone by stone up the cliffs. The lighthouse is still in operation but is since 1966
automated.
Now I headed back, in a southern direction again. If I consider yesterdays impressions as the “appetiser” then today was
surely a main course ( at least one of many ). The costal road, the 101, meanders along the coastline, goes up and down
and one wants to stop and look after every bend and curve. I can’t count how often I used today the words: wow, aah or
ohhh. I can only say: the scenery is simply breathtaking. Milling beaches or cliffs and the mountains literally cascading
into the sea.
Almost towards the end of todays travel the route reaches the “Oregon Dunes”. 5-15 m high sand dunes which at the town
Florence stop just at the car park of the local supermarket.
Also today the GPS system calculated 2 ½ hours for the journey but it took me more then double the time not included
the time at the lighthouse. One has to enjoy every view !
I reached Coos Bay, where I am going to stay for two nights, at around 5:30 p.m. This quite sizeable town was one of the
main lumber towns with numerous saw-mills operating. These days lumber is still the top thing but almost all of the
mills have closed down. One of them was covered into a Casino (“ The Mill Casino “), run by the native Coquille Indian tribe.
Shall I try my luck tomorrow evening ? Let’s see.
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