Day 3 started out very lazily. We slept in. Really slept in. The outside temp was a very brisk 55 degrees, so we kept the window open in the miniscule bathroom and the fan running on the air conditioner to keep the air circulating and for the white noise. I woke up at 7:30 and since no one else was stirring, went back to sleep until 10. Glorious vacation. When I woke up at 10, Dear was awake, too. We turned on the TV and watched a comedy with Matthew Perry, but we never did figure out the name of the movie. I’ll have to look it up on imDb.
#3 finally woke up and we all got ready to go exploring the Coos Bay/North Bend/Charleston area. We had lunch at the Blue Heron in Coos Bay – it’s a German bistro right on the main 101 drag beside the bay. I had a salad and a cup of clam chowder. #3 had an Oktoberfest combo with bratwurst, knackwurst and sauerbraten. Dear had the sauerbraten with mashed potatoes and red cabbage. The food was very German (obviously) and very good. It was #3’s first experience with German food and he was pleased with the choice.
After lunch, we stopped by the local visitor’s center to find out what the must-see’s in the area were. One of the ladies at the center was extremely helpful and she gave us brochures and a map on which she highlighted the recommended route for our explorations.
She was right. We followed the yellow highlighted road right to the ocean shores of Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Cape Arago. We saw the Cape Arago lighthouse, the marine mammals sunbathing on a little rocky island a few hundred yards out into the water, took a hike down a bluff to a windy observation point, and then Dear and #3 hiked down the cliff toward the rocks as far as was possible without being mountain goats. I’ve added the southern Oregon coast to my wish list of places to build a vacation home. Sigh.
We stopped at one of the swimming beaches – no one was swimming because the ocean temp this time of year is probably 65 degrees – to walk along the shore just to say we did it. After shedding our shoes and socks, we plodded through the shifting sand to the more compact beach sand where it was much easier to walk. We spent about 90 minutes on that beach walking up and down, playing in the shallows and warming our feet in the tide pools. I picked up a couple of rocks and got a zip-lock sandwich bagful of Oregon sand to take back home. And we took pictures.
About 7 p.m., we drove back to Coos Bay to an Italian restaurant we’d seen earlier in the day. The place is Benetti’s and is only open for dinner. Yummy. It reminded us of the food at Maggiano’s in BigD. We brought some leftovers back to the room, but forgot to get a spoon/fork with which to eat them, so they’re in the refrigerator. Note to self: get plastic ware the next time it’s available.
Back in the room, the wifi is finally working so I can post my blogs from the past couple of days and upload the pictures we’ve taken so far.
And the morning and evening were the third day!
ttfn
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