BANDON OREGON AND HIGHWAY 101

Bandon, Oregon is a quaint little oceanside town. It has a very nice beach along the southwest side of it, with a marina. We got there about lunch time so asked at the library for a recommended place to eat. At their suggestion we stopped at Bennett's Lounge at a motel along the ocean. It was a nice enjoyable location and with a good window seat, we ate lunch, took pictures of the view and made some phone calls. Cell reception has been so sporadic for us that we have to take advantage of it when we can. These were pictures taken through the window at our table. Upon finishing our lunch and phone calls, we began walking along the ridge above the beach. It was quite windy, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Leavimg the beach area, we promised ourselves to return on a sunny day to actually walk on the beach. It would be interesting to take pictures from the beach, looking inland.

We went on to drive about town and along the marina on the Coquille River. We will show you some of our sights there.

An Austrailian camper, but we did not see the owners.

Coquille River Lighthouse on the jetty.

Time to leave Bandon and journey back down Highway 101 toward home and our lighthouse. On the way we stopped in at Art 101 and visited with the artist who started this business of turning the refuse from the ocean, as found on the beach, into sculptures. She has a real passion for the sea animals who suffer from human ignorance when discarding trash into the water. We really got an education, but failed to take her picture along with her displays. How stupid of us, as we were the only visitors in her store at the time. She has only been in business for a year and already has requests to ship her sculptures around the world for display. She is in awe as to how this has taken off, beyond her wildest dreams!!

What caught our eye when first driving past in the motorhome,even more than the sign, was the jellyfish in the yard. It is made of hundreds of plastic bottles recovered from the sea.

The bird on display is made of many, many different items. It is hard to believe that these end up in the ocean. Take a close look!!

The bird's beak is made up from shoe soles!!

I haven't decided what this is supposed to be. I will let you make your own guess.

And then inside there is a small consignment shop in half of the building and then more displays of art of hers as well as other artists. There is a fish tank as well as a table of sand with items partially eaten by sea creatures that she uses to educate people as they come through.

What started out to be a little outing turned out to be quite interesting!!

Check back with us to see what else we find.

JEDEDIAH SMITH REDWOOD STATE PARK IN CALIFOFORNIA

HELLO AGAIN !! With a day off, it is time to do some sight seeing again. We decided to drive south on Highway 101 from Cape Blanco, Oregon. The highway runs along the coast line, quite close at times. So we had to stop and take pictures of the waves. The ocean is so magnificent!! We could watch it days at a time!! Notice how much difference in the color from one camera to another. We are thinking that we need to get a new one, but we are not running to the store yet. When we drove into Gold Beach we saw this ship wreck near a restaurant parking lot. Gary had to stop to take pictures, hoping that it would make good drawing material. We'll see if he does something with it!! Then after crossing the state line into California, we stopped at a visitor's center to get information on the redwood forests in the area. The guide there steered us to the Jedediah Smith State Park. He said that the blacktop road would turn into gravel and was hilly and curvy, but that it was still an awesome park. So we took his word for it and were not disappointed!! There were times that we wondered if the road was really wide enough for traffic. But looks are deceiving!! There were even pull off spaces to pass oncoming traffic. So we pulled off and started out on foot to take some pictures and enjoy!! Enjoy the pictures!!

Gary even moved the car on down the road so that we would keep on walking. We began to see more daylight. I think that it was as we were nearing another highway on the backside of the park. We were beginning to see more traffic and the way that they were driving, we decided that they were local and using the road through the park as a shortcut to Hwy 101??? But it did not disturb our drive,

Nor our stops!!

The road crossed over Pistol River before we left the park and we wondered about the narrowing of the bridge as we entered it. We wondered if there is a weakness in a pylon under it. Since it was not closed, we braved it!!

This is a view of Pistol River after leaving the park, from Hwy 199 going back to Crescent City,CA

We had a very pleasant day and were blessed with sunshine and no rain!! Check in again soon. Take care.

WORK at the LIGHTHOUSE, CAPE BLANCO in OREGON

Sun is setting off the Cape Blanco State Campground bluff. Some times more beautiful than others. I will try to send you more picturesque shots, when I am willing to brave the wind and rain to go out to the bluff.

On a routine day when going to work, we wait in the parking lot outside of the Lighthouse grounds for other co-volunteers. One of us need to let the workers through the gate, but must remain behind to be sure that no one gets into the grounds before 10 am when the tours begin.

This view of the lighthouse, through an opening in the sign, was possible because of the sign's design by our Park Ranger, Greg. Neat, huh??

Today we began the day working at the Greeter's Center and Gift Shop. Gary gives his little story just outside of the GC in the corner which blocks much of the north wind. While he does this, I continue to greet newcomers.

From this story they move on to the Lighthouse for the next story with another volunteer in the workroom attached to the bottom of the Lighthouse tower. The second story teller then sends them up into the tower, five at a time, for their last volunteer storyteller in the Lantern room at the top. There are 64 steps up, with the last eleven being much like a ship's ladder.

This work day we had Coast Guard visit us off the bluff with their helicopters doing recovery mission practice maneuvers. They are not sitting on the ground as it appears, but are rising from the rocks in the shallow waters below.

Here you see the (stuffed) dummy victim that they are rescuing.

When we are at the Greeter's Center, we not only have the Lighthouse view to the western most point of the Pacific coast of the 48 states. But also looking in the opposite direction, we see the trees to the east where the State Park Campground is (home to us) with the road and a large parking lot between the campground and the lighthouse.

Often there are people flying their model planes and gliders off the ridge on the right of this picture near the eastern parking lot.

The road then is both hilly,winding and pretty narrow with only a couple turnout spots. We had a fifth wheel come clear back for the Lighthouse one day and he chuckled as it would have forced anyone traveling in the opposite direction to back up. He said that since he would not have gone in to reverse they would have had to back up!! If I had been driving the firth wheel and wanted the tour, I would have walked that last mile!!

When we have time for watching the sights around us, this is our view of the shore off the north of our bluff.

It is fun watching the breakers and occasionally hikers. One day a Park Ranger came up to us and asked if we had noticed a hiker on the beach in an orange jacket who he noticed had been sitting down there for quite some time. We had not noticed, but we continued to watch then until he finally put his back pack on again and began to trek further north. The Rangers have stories to tell of rescuing people on these rocks. People who forget that they are not as young as they used to be!! It keeps the Rangers on their toes!!

Now back to the Lighthouse:

A close-up of visitors in the Lantern room with the volunteer guide.

Now to take YOU up into the Lantern room at the top, Gary took these photos.

Looking past the Fresnel Lens installed in 1936, which was the second lens installed in this particular lighthouse.

View of the lens pieces, while looking to the top peak.

Looking in though the bulls eye of the lens to the two- 1000 watt bulbs. One burns all the time and the second one will come on if the first one burns out. This is all maintained by the Coast Guard, cleaning of the lens as well.

Also on this floor, there is one section of outer window that opens for air and for cleaning the outside of all outer glass of the tower.

Then there is the curtain that can be pulled if the light burns out so that the sun can not shine through the magnifying lens causing a fire. Of course, today we would then have to call the Coast Guard also.

Leaving work for the day, this is the view on the south side of the bluff that we can see when winding our way out of the Park.

Not two lighthouses!! Just showing you both the south and the north side of the 200 foot bluff that the 50 ft. Cape Blanco Lighthouse is located on.

Back home in the park, we stopped to take a picture of our neighboring volunteers. They are here volunteering for their ninth year. She wears a pin for 4000 volunteer hours!! Can you tall they like their lighthouses?? Most of them in the window stay there even when they are traveling down the highway, thanks to Velcro. Jack and Pat are very nice people to visit with!!

Stay with us and we will take you to the Redwoods again, but very north California this time.