8/20 - Around Bandon

This morning's weather was beautiful and clear so we did go back to Coquille Point for another look at it.  

Needless to say, the view was quite different from last night. It's easy to see why Bandon is known for its rocks.

We spent the day roaming around Bandon, checking out the town and Bullards Bay State Park. The park consists of the area bordering the north side of the Coquille River as it flows past Bandon and into the sea. 

Bandon is on the south side of the river across from the lighthouse. It's nothing like the bustling town it was 100 years ago when it was the main port between San Francisco and Portland.

The town has had two disastrous fires, one in 1914 and the other which destroyed nearly everything in 1936. The economy now is based on tourism, fishing, timber and agriculture. They have 1600 acres devoted to cranberries and produce 5% of the nation's crop. Ocean Spray is the cranberry processor here just as it is in New England.

The Coquille River Lighthouse, built in 1896 and operated until 1939 when it was abandoned and replaced by an automatic light on the south jetty across the river. Oregon State Parks and the Army Corps of Engineers restored the lighthouse in 1978.  The hills in the background are the southern end of the Pacific Coast Range which starts at the Columbia River near Portland. The range ends at the middle fork of the Coquille River. The elevation isn't much this far south, but it's enough to keep the heat of the Willamette Valley on the east and the coastal cool on the west. We've talked to a number of people who have moved to the coast from the valley and say they'll never go back to that heat.

The north jetty goes out quite a distance from the lighthouse and beach. The tide was coming in but we walked out to the end anyway. Water across the jetty is a pretty good indication that we needed to watch out. There were a lot of trees washed up along the jetty with one whole tree on top of it. It's obvious water covers the jetty at least during storms and perhaps even during very high tides.

Jim went all the way out to the end of the jetty even though he'd already been hit by a sneaker wave. It required jumping over a large gap so I didn't even have to think about doing it. We learned later from a local about a family that came out here with their two children, one of whom was hit by a sneaker wave. She was washed off the jetty and drowned. This is no place to fool around.  It's surprising there were no warning signs.

We found a great place to park on the south jetty where we could eat lunch while watching the wild water at the river's mouth along with boats and gulls. A couple of people had brought bread to feed the gulls whose antics are always entertaining. 

Next up was the Bandon Historical Society Museum, a small but well organized place with an interesting volunteer manning the reception desk. We were the first (and maybe only) people in there all day. Our $6 admission wasn't enough to keep the lights on. We learned a lot about the area, from the 1914 and 1936 fires to the development of the cranberry industry and the comings and goings of the cheese business. The volunteer has lived here for 43 years and is very knowledgeable about the area. She told us about how the Tillamook Cheese Factory bought up Bandon's little factory and promptly shut it down, putting everyone out of work with not one day's notice, just so they wouldn't compete with the Tillamook operation. This is information we wouldn't have heard any other way and it, plus a few other things Tillamook did, gave us a very negative view of Tillamook Cheese. The volunteer said the small amount of cheese made in Bandon could never have hurt Tillamook's business so putting Bandon Cheese out of business and costing all those jobs was selfish and mean.  

Henry the Fish on display in Bandon

The last place we visited was absolutely fascinating.  It was the Washed Ashore Gallery and Workshop where Art to Save the Sea is created. The Washed Ashore Project was started by Angela Haseltine Pozzi, an internationally exhibiting art teacher who became increasingly disturbed about the plastic marine debris being washed up on Oregon's beaches. The project was born out of her research and determination to do something to help clean up the trash and bring the problem to public awareness. Marine animals and birds are suffering and dying every day because of our plastic trash which never decomposes.

With the help of hundreds of volunteers who scour the beaches and collect and clean the trash, Angela creates massive sculptures of the marine life which suffers from this pollution the most. These sculptures are a traveling art exhibit which goes to places like the Smithsonian, Sea World, the National Zoo, major aquariums and others. They are reminders to everyone to "reuse, recycle, reduce, refuse" to get plastic debris out of our oceans.

These are some of the pieces on display right now at the gallery in Bandon. Anyone who is interested in learning more about this and seeing more of the fantastic sculptures, check them out on Facebook at the Washed Ashore Project or online at washedashore.org  

Now we know why we haven't seen a single piece of trash anywhere on the beaches around Bandon.  

Old Town Bandon's main street on Saturday afternoon. It seemed busy and there were more cars on the road than it looks like here, but the town is small and easy to get around.  We have thoroughly enjoyed being here.  If it weren't 3,000 miles from home we'd probably come back every summer.

Tomorrow we move another 110 miles south to Crescent City, California, for our last three nights on the coast before heading for the inland heat.