Thundering water......

7:54 am - Sunday - October 25th - Seal Rock, OR - 36° F, 56% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the northeast......clear, blue, very chilly skies this morning with a forecast high of 50° F.  On this date in 2013 we were in Idaho Falls, ID brewery hopping......↴ 

The falls

Snow Ealgle Brewing

Idaho Brewing Company

I woke up during the night to hear rain on the roof of our room, but 7 am it had stopped, leaving us with a dreary, foggy Saturday morning as we exited our room to walk 50 yards to Bandon Brewing Company for breakfast......

.....there was no one else sitting outside due to the wet tables and chairs, but we got our barista to wipe ours down for us........

Yes, we are still enjoying ourselves!

.....we wanted to be home by noon time so we were in the VW heading north on US-101 around 9:20 am.  We have visited many of the Oregon Coast Lighthouses over the years, but have never stopped at the Umpqua River Lighthouse until Saturday.....this lighthouse is about a mile off US-101, and there is no hike to reach it....you simply park right across the street from it.....

.....Umpqua means 'thundering water'......the purpose of the Umpqua Lighthouse is to mark the entrance to the Umpqua River.  It has a red First Order Fresnel lens for that purpose.....

The entrance to the Umpqua River

....unlike Cape Blanco, this lighthouse is open for tours, and had we known that in advance we might have left earlier from Bandon to do just that, but we didn't so we took some pictures, read the story boards about the lighthouse, and resumed our travel north on US-101.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, but beautiful as the farther north we travelled, the clearer the skies became.  We were home just before 12 pm, had everything put away by 1 pm, and began relaxing from our 'vacation from our vacation'.  

Once again we were treated to a spectacular sunset, and moonrise.....

Half way to a full moon....

...and the sun kisses the western ocean once again

......life is good!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

On the town.....

 6:54 am - Saturday - October 24th - Bandon, OR - 53༠ F, 93% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north.......overcast today with a forecast high of 57⁰ F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were watching the sun set over Lake Tahoe......↴

We slept in until close to 7:30 am at the Bandon Marina Inn awakening to mostly clear, very cold skies.  Once I had finished posting my latest missive we walked down to Bandon Coffee for bagels and Americanos.....this coffee house is about 50 yards from our lodging.....

Waiting for our order....

.....while I waited for our order TLE snagged an afresco table....while it was chilly, it was very sunny......no umbrellas for us this day......

.....there is a lot of funky artwork in the lot next to the coffee house.......

.....after our leisurely breakfast we walked over to the local Verizon store to check on buying TLE and new Mini iPad....her current one is about 6, or 7 years old now and it needs to be updated.  Unfortuntely, they would have to order the new one, and it would not be here for 3 days.....the nearest store with one in stock in in Las Vegas....lol....so we'll have to either order it online, or have one ordered from the Verizon store in Newport.

On our way back to Old Town we ran into some more funky lawn art.....kind of like the stuff we saw in Borrego Springs back in February.......

.....we browsed through a couple of junk shops, but didn't find anything without which we could not live.  By the time we returned to our room it had warmed up considerably, so we sat out on the deck reading in the sun for a couple of hours.

Around 11:30 am we took another walk eventually ending up at the loca Farmers' Market where TLE found another bottle of the cranberry syrup we love....hope it doesn't have to last another 5 years.....

......by this time it was well after 12 pm, and time for some Tony's Crab Shack fish tacos (for moi), and a crab cake sandwich for TLE.....I chased my amazing fish tacos with an Alaskan Amber Ale.....just as I always have when visiting Tony's.  Their fish tacos are still the best I have ever eaten......

Those amazing, magical, world famous fish tacos!

.....after lunch we continued our meanderings around old town.  I found a new sweatshirt, and a rain jacket, which I really need.  The only water proof jackets I own are winter jackets, and are way to warm for this time of year when I am working.  This one is very light weight, and I think will work much better until it really gets cold in Seal Rock....

Yes we are!!!

.....we were home around 2 pm and spent quite a while sitting outside on our deck reading, but around 3:30 pm walked over to Facerock Creamery to buy some ice cream.  Igot a cup of their Bordeaux Cherry, and TLE a cup of their Coffee....we have eaten gallons of their ice cream over the years, and next to Wilcoxsons

's it is the best we have ever had.....

......after a quick stop at the local Ray's Supermarket  we were home around 5 pm.  What a great day of revisiting some of our favorite Bandon locations!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

A-Bandon

 7:53 am - Friday - October 23rd - Bandon, OR - 41⁰ F, 95% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the northeast.......clear, cold, blue skies today with a forecast high of 60༠ F.  On this date in 2011 I was preparing to officiate 5 soccer matches at the San Bernardino Soccer Complex....↴

Thursday was the day of our much anticipated weekend trip south to Bandon, OR where we had spent much time in the Fall of 2014 and 2015 while volunteering as lighthouse hosts at Cape Blanco.  It's been a while since we spent a couple of nights away from the Newell, and this is the perfect time of year to drive down the Oregon Coast.  

We reported for work at 10 am, and the time seemed to fly by quickly.  Soon we were ensconced in the VW Beetle heading southbound on US-101 to Bandon.  The air was crystal clear, and the views along the coast were stunning.....it took us just under 2 hours to reach our destination, and check into the Bandon Marina Inn.  We had reserved a room with a view of the river and marina for two nights.  After stowing our gear in our room we got back in the car and headed further south to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse......

......as is often the case in October the winds were blowing out of the north at about 40 mph.....it was difficult just getting out the car.  On this day, due to the winds, the gates were closed, so we had to take our pictures from about 1/4 mile away.......

There she is....as beautiful as ever

......the temperature with the windchill factor had to be in the low 40's, and after 5 minutes or so we had to retreat to the car, but it was beautiful.......

South Cape Beach.....we have spent a hundred hours walking up and down that beachline beachcombing...it is still stunning.

North Cape....

.....back in the car we saw that it was approaching 4 pm and we had not yet decided where we were going to partake of an early dinner (we didn't eat lunch).  TLE had been checking different places in Bandon, but nothing seemed to grab our imagination.  Suddeny TLE said "Why don't we drive into Port Orford and eat at Redfish?"......of course!  Redfish is one of our favorite Coastal Oregon eateries.  We ate there numerous times in 2014 and 2015, and had actually celebrated our 44th anniversary there.  We were there in 15 minutes seated at our favorite table with a view of Battle Rock.......

 

Battle Rock

.....we arrived right in the middle of their Happy Hour so everything was discounted pretty heavily.....we both ordered a pint of a craft brew called State of Jefferson Porter, and a bowl of their Clam Chowder.  For our entrees TLE ordered their Egg Rolls, and I their Fish Tacos. Everything was just as we had remembered it....great foot, brews and views.

We were home around 5:30 pm with big smiles upon our faces.  It is rare to you can return to a favorite place and it retains the same magic you experienced 5 years ago.  We spent the evening reading, relaxing, and looking forward to Friday without wind!

The view....

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Stay home......

 7:46 am - Thursday - October 22nd - Seal Rock, OR - 37° F, 93% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the east.....clear, cold, blue skies today with a forecast high of 55° F......BRRRR! On this date in 2017 we were hiking numerous trails in Bryce Canyon......↴

Wednesday was a delightfully sunny, but cold day.  I was prepared to go to work with TLE at 2 pm, but got a text from Terry telling me I didn't have to work.....cool.  Since I had the day off work I decided to make a run into Newport by myself to mail a package, and a letter, as well as drop off an Amazon item for return (I ordered the wrong item!).  The local UPS location is on the north side of Newport, and is actually a transfer station with a customer service window.  The nearest UPS store is in Corvallis, which happens to be 60 miles away.  If you can find a UPS Store to return an Amazon item they will package the item for you, and send it back to Amazon.....no cost for anything.  Since this was not a UPS Store I had to buy a small box ($1.85), and box it up myself.....they provide the label, packing material and tape.  At any rate I quickly boxed it up and was on my way back home.

At home I decided to give the Beetle a good washing, which it has not had since before we left Wittmann back in early May.  To be fair, I have wiped her down following a heavy dew numerous times during that time, but have not vacuumed her out, nor detailed her wheels.  After about an hour I had her looking good again.......

....since I had the vacuum out I decided to vacuum the floor of the trailer, which had an accumulation of detritus built up from 5 weeks of ingress and egress here at SRRVC.  By the time I finished with that it was almost time for TLE to go into the office for her two hour stint.

After eating a nice lunch TLE had prepared for me prior to leaving for work I headed back out to dump the black tank.  We've been here 5 weeks, and I think that is only the 3rd time I have dumped.  I spent the balance of the time TLE was gone reading another 'Preacher' book by William J. Johnstone......I've read 8 of the 24 book set so far.

For the 3rd time in as many nights we were treated to an interesting sunset.  There was a cloud bank on the horizon which caused the 'set' part to occur a little earlier than normal, and I also got another clearer shot of the crescent moon......

....every sunset we get this time of year is a blessing, and we endeavor to enjoy each of them.  Once again the afterglow went on for 30-40 minutes.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!