The Coast on The Real Oregon
If you’re of a California frame of mind, consider this: The Oregon coast is not the beach. It’s not even close. The beach is sunshine, warm water, rock ‘n’ roll and girls in bikinis. The coast is weather: wind, rain, fog and more wind. You wear your parka to the Oregon coast even in summer. You’re more likely to find a sunny day here, in fact, in December than in July. Only once in more than two decades in Oregon have we managed to lie out on a towel and sunbathe on the Oregon coast, and even then it wasn’t very comfortable.
So why come? Well, there’s that fog: mysterious, soothing, almost mystical some days the way it covers over the pounding of the ocean. There’s the sense of quiet and isolation you can find strolling on a deserted beach. There are a few good restaurants, though not necessarily the ones you might expect.
The Oregon coast is more crowded the farther north you go, and gets better the farther south you go. Our favorite spot is Charleston, a small and unpretentious fishing town on the south coast near the ocean port of Coos Bay, which has few big ships anymore calling at its deepwater harbor.
If you find yourself in a bigger town — Florence, say, or Newport — have lunch at Mo’s and enjoy a bit of Oregon pop culture. If you’ve got a big honking RV, hook up at Honeyman state park near Florence.
Read on for more info about the Oregon Coast:
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
OK, this is one of our favorite places to stay. Quiet, unpretentious, clean and comfortable, the River House is on the Siuslaw River in Old Town Florence, within walking distance of Mo’s and all the tourist junk. And right next to the beautiful McCullough bridge.
Like a lot of places on the coast it offers a written card with instructions for what do do in case of a tsunami (run like hell).
Best of all it has a rubber duckie guarding the bath tub in every room. Rooms have high-speed internet but you need an ethernet cable; bring your own or borrow one at the office.
Get an upstairs room on the river side for the nicest view; cost is a little over $100 for a one-queen room, depending. No smoking, no pets; call 888-824-2750.
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Sunday, May 27th, 2007
A few miles north of Florence on Highway 101, you come to the bureaucratically named Darlingtonia State Natural Site, which is, as it happens, the only place in Oregon dedicated to the preservation of a carnivorous plant: the Darlingtonia californica (wouldn’t you know it would be a Californian).
Audrey this is not, though these bull-head ferns — also known as cobra lilies — can be a true little shop of horrors for your passing house fly, which is lured by nectar to swoop in for what turns out to be a last peek down the plant’s sticky gullet.
Nice, easy and weird walk from the car.
Posted in Best things to do, Nature stuff, Strange places, The Coast | No Comments »
Best of all it has a rubber duckie guarding the bath tub in every room. Rooms have high-speed internet but you need an ethernet cable; bring your own or borrow one at the office.