October 1, 2002 - Florence, OR
Remember back a few when we went to visit friend John who was being visited by Ray and Kay and we all took a trip to Seattle? Well, as friend John was reviewing the website, he brought it to my attention that friend Ray, in the picture on the left, must really get serious with his "HOT" mail program. (Hotmail is a program that Microsoft provides for free e-mail) The reason John thought that was that there are not one, but TWO fire extinguishers standing along side of Ray's computer monitor! The big red one, and right alongside it, a smaller black one. Hummm. Something I'll be asking him about when we see them the 9th of this month, if plans come together the way we hope. And on the right are a bunch of rocks in the ocean a little south of Coos Bay (Sunset Bay State Park at the Simpson Reef overlook). Covered with sea lions. I don't know if they're the Stellar Sea Lions, or if they're California Sea Lions, but they're big, brown, and very, very noisy.
There. If you squint real hard at those rough spots on the rocks and use a little imagination, you'll see lots of sea lions. And there's Claudia-the-tour-guide, and her two "dudes." Poor Marc had to go to work, Rachael had to go to school, and we had to go goof off! Yippee!! Claudia had asked the evening before if we'd be interested in seeing the sea lions. Notice to the right of Barb (her left) that thing on the rail. It's our spotting scope with a fancy-schmancy mount I put on it for occasions such as this. And for hanging on the partially rolled down window when we want to identify a bird or something. 25 power little rascal, and we could count the whiskers on the sea lions with it (well, maybe not). There were also a whole bunch of harbor seals on their own rocks that I should mention, even if you can't see them.
A rainbow -- yes, we got drizzled on while enjoying the view -- we're at the Oregon coast, after all. And that line of surf in the distance? Well, we saw several migrating gray whales just beyond it, to boot. Surprise for all three of us. Another couple had come up to enjoy the view and as we shared binoculars, cameras (she was kind enough to take the picture of the 3 of us), she mentioned she hoped she wasn't too early for the whales, so we began looking for them immediately, and Barb spotted one right off (they were a distance away, but we could see them blowing and see their backs roll in and out of the water). And here we are snuggled into our space at the TTN park in Florence, OR, for a couple of days. Now even with all these trees, we were able to finally (after nearly a month) get satellite TV again! Trees in the Northwest are a good news/bad news deal for me.
On the left is the road we came into our space on, and if you look carefully you can see our neighbor's satellite dish on its tripod. Ours is mounted on our roof, so I can't very easily haul it out to the edge of the road. Very private and quiet in this campground. So quiet, we decided to liven things up a bit, make some noise, and kick some sand. We're right on the edge of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (a one-of-a-kind in the world), and there are several rental agencies that do a booming business during the summer. Today, we had the whole area to ourselves. That's Barb with the big grin just before we started our hour. Turned out that the 2 seater we'd originally planned to rent was the same cost as two of these little guys, and those of you who know Barb, know she's perfectly happy driving herself, thank you very much.
And what happens after Barb takes a picture of me spinning doughnuts? Yup, I embarrass myself by getting stuck. Fortunately, the guy who was supposed to come check on us happened along, and I let that young guy get me un-stuck. He had lots of respect for his elders, yessir. Didn't even snicker too loudly at my predicament.
These dunes weren't slouches, either. They can get as high as 500 feet, and pretty steep on the downhill side, as Barb is so delicately demonstrating. We were glad we brought our own helmets, but we could have rented some if needed.
Is she having fun or what? Well, here's a little sand in your face in case you were seriously wondering!
I don't know why you have to squint and use your imagination so much this time, but there on the left is me standing up with my arms spread out wide to indicate just how big our sandbox really was (and it was ALL ours!). And even then, Barb only shot about 25% of the area available to the rental units. Great fun! We now know first hand why they are so popular. I think we were secretly wishing we had more time to play, but budget restraints being what they are, it's time to go sightseeing. And the bridge into Florence, over the Siuslaw River was real pretty. I liked the graceful towers especially.
A quick shot of the small boat harbor, which had mostly fishing boats in it, and then a view of one of those towers I liked at the entrance to the bridge into Florence. Double ugly road sign, but I couldn't move it.
BJ is standing on the steps to BJ's ice cream parlor. They were out of bananas, so I missed my split, but the hot fudge sundae was close enough for today. And between the pilings over the boat, is a Great Blue Heron. It had been resting peacefully on the pier, but I frightened it off and it retaliated by frightening me by hollering as it flew away--ever heard one of those things holler?. They have the most raucous call of any bird alive I think. Oh, yeah, we're walking the docks looking at the fishing boats, and a 1942 Captains Gig that was being restored. Exactly like the ones I used to maintain the electrics on when I was in the Navy. Brought back lots of memories.
In the window of one of the commercial fishing boats, "Looking for 1st mate must be (Christian) female, do windows, cook, clean, be content, truthful, small, no bitching, hard working, honest, no pukers, hair color or length no issue, must be clean, no stinkers. (owner)" Now, if that woman exists.......well, I don't think she'd want to go fishing with this guy. But then again, maybe the owner is a woman, eh? You think? Naw....... some guy put the sign up as a joke, right? Commercial fishermen are a jovial lot, after all. And then it was off to the jetty protecting the mouth of the river. Sorry about the slanting horizon, but it was an attempt to show a wave in the making from an angle not usually seen. Unless you're a very tall surfer!
Ah, a better shot of a wave running up the river. That tower in the background, on the north jetty, must be for some kind of rescue operation observation. It's bristling with radio antennas, has windows all around, but was unmanned both times we saw it. And on the right is the jetty we're walking out on to see what's to be seen out there.
And here's why we're walking. Barb insisted the Jeep wouldn't fit between these little rocks. And to think she accuses me of being narrow-minded! Harumpff. Narrow minded indeed. And on the right, (squinting again, of course) smack dab in the middle of the picture is a guy with kayak paddles and a funny sort of surfboard thing. He'd paddle all the way out and then ride (in a sitting position) the board all the way back. It had to be more fun than it looked like, because it sure looked like a lot of work. Particularly when a wave would knock him off the board and he'd have to climb back up quick like before the next wave would knock him off again. We also had fun watching the seals frolic in the froth. We're looking south in this picture, the river behind us to the north.
In the Arctic, the native people would build these obelisks in the middle of nowhere to indicate to future travelers that another human had in fact been this way before. Sort of to give comfort to the person. Here, I'm not sure of its significance, but it was pretty well built, and as you can see, it was taller than Barb. But then, lots of things are taller than Barb. I'm looking seaward on the left, and shoreward on the right. I guess you could have figured that out for yourself. There are two jetties here, and we're on the south jetty.
On the left (squinting again? maybe if you all get tired of squinting you'll take up a collection and buy me a camera with interchangeable lenses, eh?) is a fishing boat heading out to sea, and you can see the north jetty as well. The waves were breaking and the wind was blowing--hard, and my heart went out to the crew. And on the right another one heading out.
Maybe it's because I still miss my little brother who spent 25 years as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, or maybe its the memory of the movie (and we read the book) Perfect Storm, but I felt a sudden deep sadness as I watched these boats leaving the security of the snug little harbor about 5 miles upstream. Then I remembered that Jesus ran around with a bunch of fishermen, and there was a time when they woke Him up because they were afraid the storm was going to drown them, and He calmed the storm and grumbled at them for not having more faith. And that made me then wonder about the depth of my own faith. But I wonder about that often, and am comforted only when I think about Him telling us that His strength is sufficient for us. Makes me wonder how people who don't know Him can face this life with all its challenges. Who do they praise when they see a spectacular sunrise or sunset? Who do they thank when they wake up in the morning and, in spite of aches and pains, can function for another day? Who do they talk to at 3 AM when a nightmare has been so horrible they're sweating all over and gasping for breath? Who can they go to when everybody seems to be ignoring their plea? Faith is a wonderful thing! Amen? Amen!
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