We started our Friday beach tour before 10 AM. We weren’t sure where we would end up at the end of the day, but we had another Elks Lodge in mind. We continued our route down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) through the picturesque town of Bandon.
We of course stopped at most of the pull-offs to enjoy the views. The weather was nice again, but a little windy.
We wanted to stop at Oregon’s westernmost lighthouse, so just South of the small town of Sixes, we turned West.
This is the road to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a 5 mile side trip off the PCH.
Notice below how I utilized my keen photographic skills and managed to capture the lighthouse inside the hole at the top of this sign 🙂
We were able to park the Urban Escape Vehicle in the large turn-around parking area located a little ways from the lighthouse.
It was a decent hike from the parking area to the lighthouse as you can see from this photo with Stilla in the foreground.
When we arrived at the gift shop/greeting area that is separate from the lighthouse, I immediately recognized Chris & Cherie from their full-timing RV blog, “Technomadia”. I have followed their blog for quite a while and especially enjoy their tips for staying connected on the road. They are volunteer hosts here at the lighthouse. And guess what – I found out that another couple is also volunteer hosting here at the same time – Paul & Nina from “Wheelingit”. I also follow their blog, they were up at the lighthouse whereas Chris & Cherie were down at the gift shop doing the meeting & greeting. Here I posed with Chris & Cherie in front of the lighthouse. It was neat to finally meet them in person after reading their blog all this time.. it’s like meeting celebrities!
Here is Chris & Cherie (above). Their website is: http://www.technomadia.com/2014/09/new-views-on-cape-blanco/Windy…. Check it out!
Dogs aren’t allowed in the lighthouse, so Stilla walked Coach around the grounds while I went up for the lighthouse tour.
This is the light at the top of the lighthouse. Cool pic eh?
I zoomed in on the Urban Escape Vehicle back at the parking area. Good to see it was still there.
Here’s Paul from “Wheelingit” explaining the inner workings of the lighthouse at the top.
And this is Nina from “Wheelingit” giving the tour in the downstairs area of the lighthouse.
Nina graciously posed with me for a pic. Must be nice to be a celebrity 🙂
Paul & Nina’s website is: http://www.wheelingit.us
Another view of the Cape Blanco Lighthouse which was built in 1870.
Here’s a view of where we are on the Rand-McNally.
We snacked in the Coach before we continued on down Hwy 101. It was nice to get out of the wind here. Then we motored on.
Here are some views down around the town of Port Orford.
Sometimes little Coach doesn’t want to get out of the Coach, he’d rather just watch us silly humans take pictures.
Sometimes there weren’t any pull-offs for pictures, so I just took pics from the cockpit.
Near the town of Gold Beach we pulled into the parking area for the Prehistoric Gardens.
Have you ever had this view outside your window?
They wanted too much for admission. $12 per person just didn’t register on my value-meter, so we passed. Coach was more interested in the chipmunks and bluejays anyway..
I took advantage of a photo-op along a wide pull-off just North of Gold Beach to get a possible new Cover Photo for the blog or maybe Facebook.
Another historical bridge leading into Gold Beach.
More over-the-road pics:
This was a nice rest area with a hiking trail – Arch Rock.
Located here:
A couple artists were using watercolors to capture the view.
Then, we drove over the highest bridge in Oregon – at least, that’s what the sign says.
We ended up at the Elks Lodge in Brookings, OR. Total distance traveled for the day was a little less that 90 miles. The Lodge RV Park, located in their parking lot, had full hook-ups with the exception of sewer. A dump station is on site. They had a suggested donation of $18 per night, and it was Friday which at most Lodges we’ve visited, means they serve dinner. Tonights menu included Fish & Chips or Hamburgers. Stilla had the fish and I had a cheeseburger that was undercooked. It must have been a bad day for the waitress, I think she quit while we were there. (Hopefully not because of my undercooked burger). Stilla played a little on the slots. I forgot to take pictures of our RV site and the lodge.
After our dinner, we drove around town and checked out the harbor and then decided to drive a couple miles South of town to a nice beach where we could enjoy the sunset. The beach happened to be just across the California border. So here’s the sunset from sunny California… it looked the same to me as the one in Oregon. What do you think?
Tune in tomorrow to see where we are…