More from the South (Oregon) Coast

Same ocean, same trip as last week…. but we didn't spend quite all the weekend gazing at the beautiful Pacific.

 

 

 (A lot of it though — and who could blame us?)

 

Shore Acres State Park is where I took most of the ocean view pictures last week (and the one above).  We also walked through the acres of gardens at this park.  We were kind of between seasons for flowers, but there were still a few perfect ones (either early Fall blooms or late summer ones still hanging on.) 

 

 

This is one of our favorite places to visit on the Coast and I've written about it before.  (You can Click right here for a link to a post I wrote a few years ago that gives more information on the history of this park.  

 

 

Just a couple more from the Gardens.  

 

 

And next for a complete change of pace, the more industrial side of Coos Bay, the seaside town where we stayed:  

 

 

 The ship is in port to load wood chips that will probably go to Japan.   Coos Bay used to be strictly a lumber and shipping town.  It still has those things,  but tourism is probably catching up as a major source of income for the area.   When we first moved to Oregon, there were really no places in the city to enjoy nature.  It was always interesting to see the action at a busy working port.   But since people go to the Coast to walk along the beach or gaze at the Ocean,  Coos Bay was just a drive-through place.  They've been working on it lately and there are many more places now to do the things most tourists want to do.

Everybody also wants to eat, drink and shop of course and the area has added  several of those places:

 

This is not the fancy birthday dinner.

 We had a lovely dinner in a  "fine restaurant" the first night — the above pictures are not from that night. 

I don't usually take pictures of what we eat, but couldn't resist this interesting ambience.  And the food was delicious too.  The pictures are from Claussen's, a commercial  Oyster Farm.  It  has a small deli serving the crop they grow, plus a small menu selection.  We shared a plate of oysters on the half-shell,  along with Caesar Salads and Oregon wine.  All while sitting outside, practically on the piles of discarded oyster shells.  Our meal couldn't have tasted better.   

 

A view of one of the Coastal Lakes — along the  Highway as we drove home.   Beginning to end, it was a beautiful blue-sky weekend.  

 

LINKS this week — thank you to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS