We departed Bend on a gorgeous Spring day, and had a beautiful drive over Hwy 22 to our Champoeg “pit stop”. The following day was just as nice, and we were anticipating a warm respite as we drove Hwy 18 into Lincoln City. We made a quick stop at the Safeway for a few last minute essentials... and donuts of course! But, golly, it’s kinda windy here... and cool (uh oh...)
We
continued the drive down Hwy 101 towards Newport and Beverly Beach. Even though the campgrounds were sunny, this
is what awaited us at the shore...
I
couldn’t believe that the short, half-mile walk from the campground to the
beach could result in such a drastic weather change! Unfortunately, the cloud bank that created
this foggy condition remained off-shore all week, blowing in just far enough to
affect the shoreline for most of each day.
I had
fun watching the children, who always seem impervious to what I myself would
consider inclement weather. These photos
beg to be transformed into a painting...the dreamy haziness of the sea and the
innocence, wonder, and joyfulness of youth....
Fortunately,
our first day out rewarded each of us with a nice agate discovery, but that was
the last we would find any. We tried for
the next three days, and got our exercise, but no agates. The wind was so cold on this day's walk that we had
to tuck in beside an abandoned lean-to built by a former beachcomber to get a
bit warmed up...
Each
day during our beachcombing, we would pass this odd structure tucked up against the cliff wall (and even scurried up it once to avoid a
sudden high wave!), but were perplexed as to its origin.
I was
certain it had to be man-made...the design and layout was so calculated. It looked to me like a battle bunker, with
divots for placing weapons or ducking for cover. But Norm thought it was natural, from the sea
battering and the run-off of the water from the cliffs. It looked as though each stone had been carefully placed and mortared in, but they were big
and heavy! --who could do that?!? --besides aliens???
Turns out, according to the Ranger at the park office, that it is a natural grooving of the rocks from
the cliff run-off. Not as imaginative as
my explanation, but a bit more likely.
On
the last day, it was just too cold and windy to even attempt the shoreline, so
we just walked the campground and looked at RVs! We saw some of this same plant-life while we were at Cape Lookout (previous trip), but it was
nowhere near this large.
It’s
call cabbage-weed or skunk-weed because it supposedly has an offensive odor,
but we never noticed any. The ones we
saw at Cape
Lookout had been in bloom, with a beautiful yellow flower reminiscent of a cobra's head.
No blooms here, though. Just
gigantic leaves. I imagine it was quite something to see when all those dense masses of foliage were spiked with hundreds of yellow cobra heads!
The state park entrance to Beverly Beach coincides with the mouth of a large creek. Before reaching the sand, we passed another ancient tree stump like the one we saw
near Otter Rock (previous trip). This sign was posted offering the explanation of their origin...
It
would have had to be a heck of a storm to wash something this large and heavy up to
shore!
Abstract
sea art?... No, just washed up sea vegetation.
You’ll
see these signs at every coastal state park, and all along Hwy 101...
...but
what should you do in an impending disaster? I think this is a great suggestion....
Ha-ha! That’s from Sarah’s blog, and I just had to copy it!! She and Barry photographed it at a museum on the Washington coast, and it looks pretty official to me (my twisted sense of government-at-work). It isn't bad advice, though!
So after enduring another six days of cold and windy beach weather, we headed back to sunny "shampooey" ...and home. Shortly before reaching Bend, we passed Detroit Lake State Park on Hwy 22, another of Oregon's parks that we had yet to explore. We decided to take a drive through, just to check out the layout and get an impression, and were quite pleased with what we saw. So we thought, aw heck, let's stay the night. It gave us the opportunity to get in a long walk, as we explored the camping loops and lake shoreline.
...and Gracie was entertained by the other park inhabitants as she gazed out her camper window!
However, we think this park will make a nicer destination after mosquito season! I'm glad we only stayed the one night.
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