When you leave the rush of 1-5 below Eugene, Oregon and head for Coos Bay on the Oregon Coast, you enter into another zone.  You are eight again, maybe nine, and time has stood still for you so you can see again how it felt to be a child in the backseat of a family car taking the country roads to the ocean..  It is immediately different here on Hwy 38. And so are you.

My sister, Maggie, and I decided we would take an overnight trip to Coos Bay to honor our brother. After his passing months before we decided then we would go in a quest of understanding his life there.  Rising early on a Monday morning, we headed south from Portland on 1-95.  After passing Eugene, Oregon we turned onto Hwy 36 and followed the Umpqua River until it meets the Oregon Coast and turns south to the sister cities, Coos Bay.

The road hugs the river and goes through forest with rarely a place to stop. But you can see out of the corner of  your eye and through the thickness of the trees how the river has grown  wide.  The sun comes in softly through the trees and you spot the occasional home, even a farm house in a clearing.   The forest abruptly ends and opens to green fields as you approach the coast and if you are lucky, as we were, you will see elks.  They were grazing together,  beautiful in the tall grasses.

After arriving to the coast, you take a turn south and head for Coos Bay and Charleston, sister cities to me. This is where you come for sand crusted on you feet and to leave your hair flowing  wild.  The restaurants here catch fish fresh for you. Or if you like, there are boats that will take you out to catch your dinner yourself. https://www.portofcoosbay.com/marinahome/ You can also pick up fresh crab at Fisherman’s Wharf in Charleston the D docks.  They’ll clean them so you can take them with you or you can eat them right there.  

Since we would only be there for the night, we opted for a restaurant.  And always, with my sister, there was dessert.  Three huge scoops of strawberry Umpqua Ice Cream,   The best ice cream ever!

We stayed the night at an RV park that also had some several great little cabins. https://www.sunrvresorts.com/resorts/the-northwest/oregon/oceanside-rv-resort/ . A short path through the tall grasses and we were on the beach with a long stretch for a walk before bed.

There is pristine, untouched land here on the coast and if you are lucky enough to be stay for a while,  there is Sunset Bay State Park, the Botanical Garden, Bastendorff Beach and Shore Acres State Park, all in short distance by following the same Cape Arago Hwy.

We started the day with a drive to the pinacle of the high overlook of Bastendorff Beach.  Below  you could see all the campers along the beach.  Still early in the morning we visited Sunset Bay and walked out on the rocks that are exposed during low tide.  There are several lookout points at Shore Acres State Park and walked some trails.  These are the familiar trails of Western Oregon that canopy you with high trees and thick vegetation and make you feel like you might be all alone.  All alone, except for the loud sea otter that far below on the rocks.  Later, now in the open, high above the waves, we sat on picnic benches watching the whales come out of the sea.

We later drove up to several lookout points at Shore Acres State Park and walked some trails.  These are the familiar trails of Western Oregon that canopy you with high trees and thick vegetation and make you feel like you might be all alone. Lowd sea otters were down on the rocks, not so close at all, but they seemed to be they were so lowd.  We sat on a picnic bench high over the ocean and watched the whales come out of the sea.  

There is surfing, kayaking, whale and bird watching , scuba diving if you arrange it.

We didn’t realize until the next morning that we had been walking on Breckenridge Beach. There is pristine, untouched land here on the coast and we wished we had planned on at least two days for our visit, even more. We spent our day, in a short distance all along the same Cape Arago Hwy, visiting Sunset Bay State Park, the Botanical Garden, Bastendorff Beach and Shore Acres State Park. There is surfing, kayaking, whale and bird watching , scuba diving if you arrange it.