Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Today was another nice sunny day but the temperatures were still unseasonably cold for this area – we saw a high of about 44F (6C) but as soon as the sun starts to go down it gets really cold!

Today we went to Coos Bay to Wal Mart, this is the first Wal Mart Super Store we have seen since crossing over from B.C. in mid November so we spent some time browsing and buying shares – LOL! John and I also got haircuts so hopefully we will be in good shape now until the new year.

The area from here to Coos Bay is all sand dunes and ATVing on the dunes is the highlight for this area, of course there aren’t any out at this time of year with the cold temperatures, but I imagine this place is just a-hopping in nicer weather. The drive from here to Coos Bay wasn’t very scenic as it was pretty well inland away from the ocean.

On the way back we stopped at the Umpqua Lighthouse lookout and got our first view of the lighthouse,

then we drove down to it to get pictures up close and personal. There is a platform across from the lighthouse that is apparently a great spot for whale watching but we didn’t see any whales today.

Coast Guard Lookout

The lighthouse is on a 65’ tall tower and stands at the entrance to Winchester Bay at the mouth of the Umpqua River, its red and white lights can be seen 20 miles out to sea.

We toured around Winchester Bay when we got back and stopped at the General Store/Post Office to mail a couple of cards. It was a really old general store and it was fun to browse around, we were surprised by the variety of goods they sold in there – they even had some yummy looking fresh baked brownies but I shut my eyes and kept moving – boy was I proud of my willpower!

We had bought a cooked chicken at Wal Mart for dinner – you can’t go wrong for $4.99 and it was delicious. While we were eating the camp host knocked on the door to say they had another water leak so they were turning off the water. John had put some water in the tank this morning but went out and put some more in so we will be good for a while.

Tonight is another quiet evening of TV and a good book if the TV gets boring.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, and hopefully warmer, day tomorrow.