September 1, 2009 – Coos Bay, OR

Hi, folks! Sorry I missed posting last night, but it was kind of a nothing day anyway. We pulled up stakes at Seven Feathers, fueled up and headed west across the mountains to Coos Bay. Once we arrived and got set up, the activities were mostly housekeeping and food (not that the last is not important). We all crashed pretty early.

Today was pretty high energy for Don and I, at least the morning was. Geri took the day off, and Don and I headed for the State Parks on the coast. We stopped first at a little cove with a nice beach, that was sheltered from the surf by some reefs outside the cove. But there were still some small waves washing ashore, which I found strangely stimulating. I don’t know what got into me, but I got the urge to do crazy dog runs up and down the beach, venturing a little into the water occasionally, and retreating rapidly when one of the little waves broke. I even found myself barking at the waves! I’d run down the beach just in front of the water line, until I heard Don yelling at me to come back; then I’d head for him at full speed, threatening to collide with him, but veering off at the last second. I think I really scared him. Ha! Ha! I finally wore myself out, and Don took me back to the truck, where I could barely jump in. We went up the road to an outlook area, which had a fine view of the ocean and a lot of rocks offshore. The rocks were all inhabited! There was a huge number of big, grey animals laying around on the rocks, and they were all making barking sounds, but not dog barking. It’s like they were all talking at the same time, like women on a TV talk show! Not that I regularly watch those. Don told me that they were sea lions, and they were all male. They leave their wives down south this time of year and come up north for a male bonding kind of thing, and I guess they all have stories to tell each other. I’m glad dogs don’t have to do that. We got back in the truck and went a little further down the road, where we found a path that took us down much closer to the water and the sea lions. The path was very steep, and Don had to restrain me on the leash going down. After listening to the sea lions for awhile, we headed back up the path; it was steeper going up that it was going down, and I walked next to Don all the way.

We headed back to town, making a stop at Yoakam Point, which is a mystery to Don as to how it got it’s name. He gave me some lunch there, which pleased me terrifically. We stopped in the little fishing village of Charleston, where Don bought some smoked salmon for his lunch, and went back to the rig. After he had his salmon, he invited me to come with him for some further adventures, but I respectfully declined; nap time was definitely a priority. I got my napping in, and hung out with Geri while she did some housekeeping work. Don came back around four, loaded with fresh oysters and other ingredients. H e had gone to a little village on the north end of the bay, called Glasgow. He had to check it out, because that was his Grandmother’s maiden name and he is always on the genealogy kick. He talked to a clerk in a grocery there, who had no idea how the town got its name, but told him that they were visited this year by a Scotsman who was touring the U.S. to visit every town called Glasgow. I guess that’s kind of interesting.

So, Don cooked up some tempura-style oysters, green beans and zucchini, which they seemed to enjoy. I must admit that the plates were tasty, and I even got part of an oyster; could be habit forming. I provided my input to the blog, and went to hang out with Geri, who was enjoying the evening outside, while Don slaved away at the computer. We’re out of here tomorrow, hear we’re headed for Lincoln City, another place we’ve not been before. Might be interesting!