All is well here on the Oregon coast. We are so grateful to be in this cool climate, with clean air, the forest and the ocean, and lots of fresh seafood. We are enjoying our snowy plover docent job, though, after 9 weeks, it’s a bit repetitive telling people the same information about the plovers. But we’ve also had some delightful conversations with visitors, and I love giving out dog cookies to all of the dogs who are heading to the beach. And I wrote a song about the snowy plovers, which still delights me every time I sing it. (Click here to hear it.)
And we love the area, the campground, and being able to hear the ocean from our campsite. And we both so appreciate that we get to climb the dune and walk on the beach every day as part of our job. We work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, which is a little more than we’d prefer, but it’s worth it.
Our dear friend Judy came to visit this past week, and we took some days off to play and tourist with her. We got up really early one morning and drove an hour and a half south to Bandon for the Circles in the Sand, where a group of people rake and draw in the sand, creating a walking path that disappears when the tide comes in.
We oohed and ahhed at the sculptures made from recycled trash at Washed Ashore, and sampled all kinds of cranberry treats and cheeses. And we went to the Sea Lion Caves, even though we knew there wouldn’t be any sea lions down there this time of year.
We went on a Giant Dune Buggy tour through the dunes (not as roller coastery as the sandrail tour), and we got a better idea of what all of the OHV (off highway vehicle) riders do once they leave our snowy plover beach parking lot. There are miles and acres of sand hills and trails to explore. Because it was midweek, we didn’t see many OHVs, but there was a pair of hotrodding motocross bikers jumping from one sand slope to the next.
We ate fish and chips, shrimp and chips, clam chowder and crab chowder, and one afternoon Judy and I cleaned 3 large crabs so that Marika could make her famous crab cakes.
There was face-hurting laughter, Snickers with almond butter, and nightly gin rummy. And Judy joined us for our volunteering shift over the weekend, climbing the dune, walking the beach, and sitting with us as we interacted with the public.
We’re back to work tomorrow, for four more weeks of snowy plover docent duty. After our assignment ends on September 15, we’ll spend a day or two in Coos Bay, for oil changes, and other pre-road trip prep, then we’ll take our time driving up the Oregon coast on the 101, over the very long bridge into WA. We’ll avoid Seattle and continue along the 101, to the Olympic Peninsula, and eventually to the Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles area, to scope out possibilities for next summer.
While we’re there we may take the ferry and a shuttle to Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island in Canada. It’ll be fall, so not a lot of flowers, but still, a fun day trip. I haven’t done much research about the area, which is a bit unusual, and I like that. Because we’ll have to time to incorporate that kind of researching together, as we’re moving along. And that’s such a fun part of the journeying.
Eventually we’ll head south, the date and route will be dependent on the weather. We may enjoy a week in Morro Bay on the way down, and then, depending on how things are with my Dad, maybe spend some time in Southern AZ before coming up to Phoenix. We’ll see. I love that our plans can be loose and open, so that we can stay or move along at an unplanned pace. And traveling in the off-season allows me to not stress if we choose not to make reservations.
Until then, we’re still here and loving it. All of it. And tonight we’ll be enjoying the last of the crab cakes for dinner!
