Winchester Bay, OR March 4 - 6

Saturday morning we woke to torrential rain and some wind. Fortunately by 7 am it settled down and the rain mostly stopped. As today's drive is just over 2 hours, we were in no rush to get moving.

Jacks up, car attached and on the road at 9:30. Most of the 2 hour drive consisted of sun and the odd sprinkle except for 5 miles before Coos Bay, we encountered an ice/snow storm. Glad that didn't continue, as it caused our windows to start steaming up.

Coming into Bandon, OR

Snow!!!!

Down the hill and into Coos Bay, we did a short stop so Ray could take a couple pictures of these old trains.

Oregon Coast Historical Railway Museum

Back in the coach and carried on down the highway.

McCullough Memorial Bridge

Coos Bay Causesway

Only the sand dunes have sunshine lol

First glimpse of some Oregon Dunes

Stopped for propane just outside of town for $2.99/gallon which is the cheapest I've seen in awhile. We've been going through so much propane as it's cold and we are running the furnaces instead of the heat pump.

All settled in at Winchester Bay RV Park by noon. 

Our campsite #109

View from front window.

We dumped off the coach and headed to the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park so Ray can get some pictures as the sun came out briefly. Fortunately it's just up the road from where we're camped. While Ray wandered around with pictures, I stayed inside the gift shop to stay warm. Very blustery outside. We were going to have clam chowder at the gift shop, but realized their only seating is outside and we just saw one of their chairs go flying in the wind! Within 15 minutes it's back to rain and wind so we jumped back in the car and headed to one of the restaurants in the harbour. Hopefully we make it back here in the sunshine.

Umpqua Lighthouse

One of those chairs went flying.

We first tried Crabby's Bar, however it's apparent after waiting10 minutes for the poor waitress she needed help. She's actually dishing up the food, running the bar and seating guests all by herself. I noticed almost every table is waiting to have their order taken. 

They had this guy inside to welcome you. lol

We decided to leave and go across the parking lot to another restaurant called Griff's on the Bay. We were served quickly.Their chowder is just ok as is the meal, but we were fed. We did stop at the seafood store and picked up a cooked crab for our dinner.

By the time we left and got back to the coach to get setup, the skies opened up again. We decided to just sit and enjoy the weather out the front window. lol

Hail!

Sunday morning it's still showery outside. Fortunately no white!  Well at least until we looked across the harbour, the snow level is only about 50 feet above us! The weather is supposed to improve by lunchtime, so we will do a tour later in the morning to the Coos Bay area.

As predicted the sun came out at 10:45 am so out the door we went. What a mixed bag of a trip. We experienced sun, rain, sun, snow/rain showers and hail. Ray managed to still get some great shots. First up the Cape Arago Lighthouse, south of Coos Bay.

Completed in 1866, it was the second lighthouse in Oregon. The first was a lighthouse tower on the Umpqua River north of Coos Bay, which was built in 1855–1856 and toppled in 1863. Cape Arago Lighthouse is on Chiefs (or Chief's) Island, named by the Coos, whose homelands include the headland across from the island.

You can only view it from various "vista points" in the Sunset Bay State Park areas, as the local First Nations tribe purchased the and closed it to the public. This also closed the beach that used to be available to the residents that lived close by. They are not happy as they have signs up everywhere to "Free Lighthouse Beach".

Here is a picture in the other direction of the Cape Arago Lighthouse overlook.

Further down the road is the Shore Acres State Park with Botanical Gardens. What a view of the thundering waves against the rocks. Absolutely unbelievable. While we were there, the rain began, then hail, then it stopped for a bit, then we had snow/rain and finally the sun broke through for some final shots of the waves. First up is the waves from various view points. For the two pictures below, Ray just lifted his camera and a huge waved crashed up and soaked him and the camera.

As the hail began we headed into the trees hoping that would help ... not. lol Got some more pictures and then found the gate into the Botanical Gardens. 

Sunset Beach in Shoreline Acres SP

This garden will be gorgeous in a few more weeks. Some of the shrubs were just starting to flower. In the summer their rose gardens would be beautiful. There's some massive Rhododendron bushes as well.

Visitor Centre and Gift Shop

The magnolia tree flowering!

Rose Garden a little dormant at the moment.

After finishing up in the garden the sun came out so we quickly went back to look at the wave action with some sunshine.

Look at the height of the spray.

A bit of a rainbow in the spray.

Heres a little video to hear the power of the waves crashing in.

Back in the car we headed back to Coos Bay to have lunch at the 7 Devils Brewing Company. A nice view of the water even though it started pouring again.

Once we were "fed and watered" it was now 2 pm so time to head towards home but first Ray wanted a better picture of the McCullough Memorial Bridge. We drove to 3 different places to get the right shot. lol

Heading back home we decided to check out the Umpqua Sand Dunes, even though the rain is going sideways and the wind quite brutal. Someone's actually riding on the dunes in this awful weather. 

Pussy Willows

There is another road down to a jetty ... we tried to walk down to the beach but got "blown away" so didn't bother going further.

We did get another picture of the Umpqua Lighthouse from a different angle.

Finally pulled in beside our motorhome at 4 pm. Another great adventure inspite of the weather.

Monday morning it finally quit raining for a bit. No snow at least on the hills across from us. It wasn't raining, so at 8 am Ray headed into nearby Reedsport for a look around while I baked in the MH. He informed me 2 days ago that it was National Pound Cake Day ... wink, wink, wink. So today I baked him a pound cake ahe he procured the strawberries while in Reedsport. I made it mostly as it uses a lot of eggs and I have a dozen so need to use them up before crossing the border in a week. It turned out just like the picture below. Also I baked another loaf of bread.

Here's a few pictures Ray took this morning. First up he took a quick drive up the road to the lighthouse to get a few pictures of the Crab Pier where people can drop their traps.

Crab Pier

The a trip across the bay to the Salmon Point Harbour looking up to where we're camped.

After this he drove to Reedsport.

Here is the Umpqua River Boardwalk, downtown Reedsport, OR

Big Fish Cafe, made from a ship superstructure

There's an Oyster farm in the bay and Ray bought 12 (small according to them) oysteres as well as a pint tub of shelled. He came back home just in time for lunch and cake lol. After stuffing our faces we decided to get out and walk the point, as it wasn't raining and so I could get some fresh air after being in front of the stove all day. Later Ray shucked the oysters and they were no smalls as they were 3 - 4" long. Nope, too big to slurp those down. For dinner I did a pork belly in the Insta Pot. Wonderfull according to Ray.  

The rain began again around 4 pm and that was our day. Tomorrow off to Tillamook, OR.