We took our time getting ready and were still at our
destination in the early part of the afternoon. We’ve stayed at the Oceanside
RV Park in Charleston before, and were pleased with the cleanup that the new
owners/managers have done. After a little snafu with our site assignment, we
were safely parked in an extra-long pull-thru. Since we had two weeks planned,
it was time for a “full deployment”: EZ-Up, chairs, dog pens, outdoor cooking,
etc.
As soon as we were set up, it was time for a walk on the
beach. Geri loves the beach and, at this park, it’s only 100 yards away. The
pups love it, too, and they definitely remembered being here before. Merlin
loves the water, but Maya Lynn runs away whenever a wave rolls in.
We had a mixed bag of weather on this stay, which was
expected. We had some sunny days, which made the Park’s flowers look nice, but
also some cooler and wet days. At times, those of us with thinner blood felt
downright chilly! But, like all things cyclical, things eventually cleared and
we were back to nice weather for beach walks.
Lest anyone worry that we were wasting away out here on the
wild frontier, never fear. A “full deployment” stop means outside cooking and
we did our share. Wings and Ritas one night, Tri-Tip and Fries another; you get
the idea. Actually, the deep fryer got a good workout on this stop, up until I
left it outside on the table one time too many. The fryer itself didn’t get
hurt, but some water did get in with the oil. When people say “oil and water
don’t mix”, they could have easily added “in a deep fryer”. A quick drain and
refill was definitely in order!
Since we didn’t have a huge amount planned for this visit,
we got to relax quite a bit. Geri is always disappointed that the pups like to
snooze in the grass (or dirt, or rocks, or whatever) rather than on the outdoor
rugs we put down.
We were fortunate that the site next to us went empty for
much of our stay, giving us a sense of openness. A couple of rigs pulled in for
a day or two, and this trailer had some “extra” stuff that apparently needed to
travel. This kind of thing always brings out comments about The Beverly
Hillbillies, with Grandma strapped to the back.
One of the side trips we did take was a short drive out to
Cape Arago, just past the RV Park. It’s always fun to walk along the bluffs
overlooking the Pacific. One of the little coves along the road is almost a
perfect semicircle and it’s quite interesting how, depending on the tides and
swells, the waves will form the same shape. This is a backward perspective, of
course, since it was the wave action that eroded the cove in that shape in the
first place.
Because we generally stay in Charleston, which is basically
a fishing town, we often forget that Coos Bay and North Bend, the larger towns
in the area, actually have a good deal of commercial shipping traffic. The pups
and I watched an empty freighter get escorted through the channel one morning,
and we saw it fully loaded with finished lumber a few days later down at one of
the mills in North Bend. These aren’t “Walmart” container ships; the lumber was
just stacked on board, almost as high as the four cranes you can see. Another
ship went by loaded with wood chips, all headed for Asian markets. “Made in
USA”!
We did have time for a few “selfies”, just for fun. It’s
always nice to let family and friends know where we are and how much fun we’re
having…
Toward the end of our visit, we headed for beautiful
downtown Coos Bay to check out the Farmer’s Market. It was reasonably well
done, with the usual mix of produce and meats, food vendors, and crafts people.
It was a nice day and quite a few people were out and about, even on a
Wednesday. We also took a walk along the port’s boardwalk while we were there.
And finally, it wouldn’t be a successful visit to the Oregon
Coast without some crab. No, we didn’t rent all the gear and a boat, but we did
manage to get some fresh crabs at the Charleston Marina, and they were very
good. Half for dinner and half for the freezer; woo-hoo! (Not to be outdone by
Geri’s crab awesomeness, I pulled together a quick Ragu with Farfalle the next
night. We make a great team!)
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