Getting to Know Coos Bay

After breakfast we drove south to the three adjacent state parks that occupy Cape Arago. The first park we came to was a Coos County park (Bastendorff Beach County Park) with an RV campground, so we drove in to look around. Very few of the sites were large enough to fit our rig, and with no reservations, we couldn't count on one of them being empty. We drove on to Sunset Bay State Park and looked through the campground there too. Again most of the sites were too small for us . . . We decided to stay where we are another day and then head north.

The next park we came to was Shore Acres State Park, best known for its formal gardens. Louis Simpson, entrepreneur, shipbuilder, and lumberman, built a mansion and had exotic plants brought in from around the world for his gardens. His estate was purchased by the state of Oregon in 1942. Today the azaleas and rhododendrons dominated, along with lots of annuals.

Some of the most striking flowers in the garden were iris.

A monkey puzzle tree caught our eyes.

We stopped at vista points along the way. From one we had a good view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse (which is not open to visitors). At another we spotted some pigeon guillemots swimming around and sitting on the rocks in pairs. The swimming birds were particularly eye catching with their white wing patches and red feet and legs.

Cape Arago Lighthouse

The coastline looking south from a viewpoint south of the lighthouse.

Next driving south we came to the Simpson Reef Overlook, from which we could see (and hear) hundreds of sea lions. We're planning to go back tomorrow with our spotting scope to see the birds and animals closer up.

Sea lions were all over the rocks below the overlook.

The last park in the group is the Cape Arago State Park, where we hiked down to the beach to have a look at the intertidal pools. Unfortunately the tide was in, so we didn't see much tide pool life, but the views were still quite something. One area of the shore was all layered rock that had been thrust up by earthquakes so the layers are now visible on the surface.

Then we drove into the city of Coos Bay and visited the Oregon Connection, a myrtlewood factory and gift shop. After watching a short video about the factory, we walked through it, but no one was working on Saturday. Then we visited the snack shop and turned in our coupons for free (very small) ice cream cones. Ken had Oregon's 150 with huckleberry, honey, and hazelnut flavors, and I had Ol' South Fudge Pie with mocha, chocolate cookie bits, and chocolate chips.

Next we drove to the First Presbyterian Church, which Ken pastored, but the building is now empty--the church has moved to a new location. Ken wasn't sure he could find his old home, but he actually drove nearly straight there. It sits on a hillside and has a deck overlooking the Coos Bay (albeit through some trees).

For dinner we had turkey burgers, carrot salad, and broccoli, onion, garbanzo soup (of course I adapted this recipe--used carrots in addition to the broccoli, since I didn't have that much broccoli, and only one onion . . .). Ken actually agreed that it wasn't bad (and he really appreciated the burger and carrot salad).