March 10, 2013 – Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area, Horsfall Lake, Old Town Bandon

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It’s going to be a bright, bright sunshiny day!   Explorations with the pups today now that we haven’t found any more water dripping from one part of the ceiling or another.

Small towns are fun to explore and I’m craving a browse through a resale shop but unluckily it is Sunday and most everything is closed, excluding restaurants.  Good thing Oregon has dozens of state and national parks spread up and down the coast.

RV Park walk behind LilyPad View of the harbor Behind LilyPad

First stop is behind LilyPad to watch the tide crash into the rocks along our sidewalk.   I kept moving to catch a shot of the spray and the waves would move down.   After 15 minutes of standing with the camera stuck to my face looking like an old lady frozen in place, the waves cooperated and were just shy of soaking me.

Eel Lake Dock Discovering new smells  Eel Lake Eel Lake Park Geese at Eel Lake

The pups were happy to hang with us wherever we were going and the first park was along Eel Lake.  The dock and shore were scattered with occupied bird houses and they weren’t happy that we were invading their space.  It was peaceful until geese flew in and began their loud conversations.  Not wanting to interrupt or have the pups receive a threatening peck if we got to close, we continued on our way.

ATV's on the dunes Ocean by the dunes Dunes beach, John and pups Top of the boardwalk on the dunes Dunes on Hwy 101

Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area and Horsfall Lake were next up but the lake turned out to be a swampy area that meandered around the huge sand dunes so we drove on to the ocean.  You could only reach the ocean by climbing up and over a huge sand dune so we all climbed to the top of the ascending boardwalk to watch the ATV’s zoom over the dunes.  Even their buzz was drowned out by the crash of wave after huge wave rolling into shore.  John and the pups climbed over the dunes to the beach while I stayed on the highest point of the boardwalk to breath in the salty air and enjoy the cool breeze.

Dunes at Horsfall RV by trees dwarfed by dunes Sand Dunes at Horsfall Horsfall sand dunes

On the way back to 101, I stopped to take a few shots of the dunes.  It’s hard to believe how monstrous these mountains of sand really are until you see a huge RV dwarfed in their presence.

Bridge to North Bend Old Town Bandon  Recycled Seal in Bandon Recycled fish in Bandon

Once more over the cathedral bridge to backtracked across to Coos Bay and Bandon to walk through Old Town Bandon and have lunch.  Another fantastically fresh Dungeness crab sandwich and a bowl of smoked salmon chowder before poking around in the gift shops.   Tried some of the cranberry fudge and bought a small chunk…yummy stuff. Beautiful wood items for sale and some interesting recycled material statues in the park.

Stopped at Safeway for some supplies before heading back to the LilyPad.  What would have been a beautiful sunset was smothered in fog.