Bye Bye Beautiful Bandon, OR…For Now…

One of the many steps to the gorgeous Bandon beach

Tony’s crab shack has good, casual seafood

We’re down to our very last day here at Bullards Beach State Park which also means our very last day by lovely Bandon. We’ve been totally swept away by this place, not just for its natural beauty but also for its soul. Call it a good vibe, a homey coziness or just plain cuteness, this little town of just over 3000 has fast become one of our favorite on the Oregon coast.  It’s the kinda town is just the right bit of in-between -> it’s got the whole basket of a small-town feel yet still boasts a wealth of restaurants and cafés, miles of stunning beach, an artsy boardwalk, old-fashioned downtown, weekly farmers market and so, so much more. Whether you’re tide-pooling by the sea-stacks, horse-back riding on the beach, crabbing in the river, sampling local chocolates, enjoying the local cranberries, hunting history at the museum (the best $2 deal in town!), eating fish taco’s at Tony’s Crab Shack or dressing up for a gourmet dinner at Alloro there is really something for everyone.

Paul poses on the Bandon river boardwalk

We’re not the only ones who think so either. In 2010 Budget Travel named Bandon one of  top 10 “Coolest Small Towns in America” and our RV buddies Lu & Terry definitely agreed when they rolled through last week (and that’s not just because they got to spend time with us….although I admit our company is particularly charming). Everyone who comes here seems to fall for the vibe and the more time you spend here you more cool little corners you discover.

Polly plays on Bullards Beach….she’s ready for golf too!

Oh and did I mention the golf? With Paul’s back issues he’s not been out hitting balls, but has been drooooling at the opportunity. There are no less than 3 great golf resorts right here including the top-rated Bandon Dunes, relaxed Bandon Crossings and the cherry ontop of the gooey chocolate cake Old Bandon Golf Links where you can bring your dog to play. YES, golf with doggie!! Paul fluttered and swooned in heavenly love when he discovered that one, and we’ve sent several of our RV neighbours out there to enjoy the fun.

We’ve LOVED this job!

And our month here? It’s been awesome! Not only do we love this area, but our lighthouse job was fun, interactive and ever-stimulating. We’ve met folks from all over and all kinds of interesting characters -> a real (honest-to-goodness) lighthouse keeper from the Alaska boonies, locals who’ve lived in the area for generations, a Mormon family from Utah who spoke Danish, a lighthouse-lover who travelled all the way from India, a guy who survived a near-fatal accident (and was told he would never walk again…he made it up the tower BTW). Oh, the list goes on. I’m always fascinated and inspired by these folks. It’s like seeing a slice of life each and every day, and I get to absorb a piece of this wonderful human spirit just by being here!

Yup, we’ve been seduced and fallen hard, so much so that we’ve already decided to come back. We signed up to host again next year same job, same time, same place. So although we may be saying bye bye Bandon, it’ll really be adieu because baby…we’re most certainly coming back!

A view of mosaic on the artsy boardwalk

The cute Bandon port

Old town Bandon street-light

Horse-back riding by the beach sea stacks on Bandon beach

Cranberries are a local speciality…and you can taste at least 50 versions in here

A great sunset out the RV window at Bullards Beach State Park

SP Campground Review – Bullards Beach State Park, Bandon, OR

The lovely Coquille River Lighthouse at Bullards Beach State Park

Another gorgeous Oregon State Park complete with fabulous beach and cute lighthouse on the S.Coast near Bandon, OR

Link to campground here: Bullards Beach State Park, OR
Link to map location here: Bullards Beach State Park, OR

1. Site Quality = 4/5 Very nice site quality here. You have a selection of either full hookup (30 or 50 amp/water/sewer) or water/electric (30 or 50amp). Sites are flat, paved back-ins with picnic table, fire-pit and good access throughout. Only slight ding is that inner-loop sites (facing towards middle of loops) tend to be at right angles to the road, so they are not really suited for big rigs. There are 3 loops with and slightly different feel:
   -> A & B loops are older, more forested loops with generally very good separation and lots of trees/greenery, but can be darker (and support more mosquitoes in summer).
   -> C loop is newer and slightly tighter, but more open with some very sunny sites especially in back corner (C48-C52). This is our preferred location.
2. Facilities = 3.5/5 Good facilities here. Large flush toilets and warm showers with good pressure and kept nicely clean. Only ding is showers have those annoying timer-buttons and spray-heads. On-site dump station.
3. Location = 5/5 Great location here. Campground is set well back from the road with ~1 mile paved bike/hike trail to a gorgeous (and almost endless) beach. You’re also right next to the lovely Coquille River Lighthouse and only 5 miles from Bandon (an excellent little town with another stunning beach). Boat ramp (for river), plenty of picnic areas and horse camp on-site. Lots of space and green. Our kinda place!
4. Pet Friendliness = 5/5 Great location for doggie. Lots of space to hang out in camp, good hiking and miles (and miles) of free open space to roam on the beach (~1 mile from camp). Poo bags provided on-site.

Overall Rating =  4.4
BONUS ALERT: Miles of gorgeous beach and Coquille River Lighthouse on-site!

Summary: Well this is just another great Oregon State Park! Set only ~5 miles north of Bandon it is a lovely state park with miles of excellent, wild beach and the cute Coquille River Lighthouse on-site. Campsites are well-sized flat, paved back-ins with selection of either full hookup or water/electric (mix of 30 & 50 amp), good separation and lots of green. A & B loops have more trees/privacy, but can also be a tad moister & darker. C loop is tighter and more open (less privacy), but is also more dry/sunny. The only complaint this place ever seems to get is mosquitoes (and they can get active in the woods on still, humid summer days) so we personally prefer the more sunny sites, but all are nice. Location is excellent with ~1 mile pleasant hike to the lovely Bullards Beach, ~5 mins drive to Bandon (which has restaurants, farmers market, shopping, tide-pools, stunning beaches etc.), ~1/2 hour drive to Cape Blanco (in the south) and 1/2 hour to Cape Arago (in the north). We enjoyed lots of sun and pleasant days  during our stay in July, spent many hours hiking and romping on the gorgeous beach, thoroughly enjoyed the surroundings and would most definitely come back!

Extra Info: Good 3G on Verizon (2-3 bars). Total 185 sites , 104 full hookup (either 30 or 50 amp/water/sewer), 81 electric (30 or 50 amp)/water. Sites cost $24/night in summer season, $20/night in off-season, all reservable on-line. On-site dump station.

Typical site view (#A24 shown)

Another site view (#C61 shown)

View down beginning of A loop. Site A8 on right.

View down more open section of A loop (RV in #A11 with empty space A10 on left)

View down forested section of A Loop (RV on right in A53 with A51, A50 on left)

View down end of B loop (RV in B53 with B52 on left)

View down middle of C loop. Site C16 on right with our RV in C15 behind it.

View down very sunny section of C loop corner. Site C52 on right with C50 behind it.

View down end of C loop (RV in site C62 on right with C60 behind it)

View of facilities

Gorgeous Bullards Beach…so many miles of beach!

Rocks In Rocks – Discovering The Cool & Wacky World Of Concretions

Oh thou art SOOooooo coooool!

Sometimes you discover something that is SO ÜBER COOL you just have to find out everything about it. This happened to me a few weeks ago as I was writing about our visit to Cape Arago and discovered this post about concretions. I had never heard about these things and was immediately intrigued. A rock that grows inside another rock? The creation of outlandish spherical bulbs of all sizes? Rocks that contain fossilized matter inside? Rocks that grow to be as big as a person? Landscapes of giant rocks that look like outer space?

OMG…this is the most totally cool thing EVER! I was hooked and absolutely, positively needed to find these things and see them for myself.

Lu & Terry pose at one of “the giants” in Fossil Point

Thus began a 2-week expedition of “concretion hunting” with some fun exploration and exciting pictures to boot. Not only have I discovered the best local hiding spots around Charleston and Shore Acres, but I’ve learnt alot more about these unusual and fun geological structures.

Concretions come in all sizes

So what exactly IS a concretion? Structurally they are compact masses of mineral matter embedded in a host rock of other matter. They typically start to form around a “nucleus” of some sort (a shell, a crab, a leaf whatever) and grow inside cracks and cavities of other rocks or get buried in sediment that then hardens. The net effect of all this is a rock within a rock….or more specifically one type of rock inside another type. Surprisingly they are actually really common, but for a non-geologist like me finding these things is akin to the discovery of chocolate sauce on ice cream -> a totally delicious revelation!

Concretions at Yoakam Point -> AWESOME!

So now that I’ve got you all hot and bothered to see them, where do you actually go to find these hidden gems? The area around Charleston & Shore Acres actually has 5 excellent spots with concretions of all sizes, two of which I discovered with my cousin and one (“the giants”) that I scoped out yesterday with our RV buddies Lu & Terry (Paint Your Landscape) who just rolled into town. They are ALL worth visiting and these are my top picks (map at bottom):

1/ “The Giants” at Fossil Point -> Humungous man-size concretions that are best seen at absolute low tide. Going north from Charleston, cross the bridge and drive ~1.8 miles along Cape Arago Hwy. Park at the first turnout on your left after Fossil Point road. Hike around the point to the south until you see the monsters. This is also a great spot to hunt fossils, as you’d expect. Be prepared for mud!

Walking around the giants at Fossil Point

Part of “the wall” at Yoakam Point

2/  ”The Wall” at Yoakam Point -> A spattering of softball-size concretions on a cool wall that juts into the ocean. These are also best seen at low tide where more of the beach is open to walking. Going south from Charleston along Cape Arago Hwy, drive past Oceanside RV Park and take the first turn-out on your right a little ways up the hill. There are several poles and the entry to a trail, but no signs. Follow the trail to the beach and go right from there to see the wall.  The beach here is also, incidently, one of the best places to get a view of closed-to-the-public Cape Arago Lighthouse.

“The line” at Simpson Beach

3/ “The Line & Seat” at Simpson Beach -> A really cool line of ground concretions and interesting wall-set big enough to sit on. Simpson Beach is reached by trail directly from Shore Acres State Park. Simply take the trail to the beach and walk to the south end to see the concretions.

All in all a good few weeks hunting with a darn good set of catches. The cool and wacky world of concretions is just as fun in person as they are in print, so if you haven’t yet been seduced by these rocks, I’d recommend letling yourself go and giving it a try. Fun, discovery and rocks to write home about. Priceless!

Beauty of giants at Fossil Point

My cuz on “the seat” at Simpson Beach in Shore Acres State Park

Hanging at Simpson Beach

One side of “the wall” at Yoakam Point

Fossils at…you guessed it Fossil Point!

A partially revealed concretion at Yoakam Point

Map of Charleston area with best concretion hunting spots

Exploring Nature’s Ocean Theatre -> Tide Pools Of The OR Coast

Green anemone above water. Gotta love those colors

I’ve always had a fascination for the small and hidden things in life. Little gems that you find on the road, beauty in the minutiae and discovery of the wild. Nothing quite brings the three together like tide-pooling. Give me a good set of tide-pools and my trusty camera and I’ll be happy as an ocean clam basking in the low-tide sun. Indeed, if I could color myself purple and crawl into the rocks with the starfish I’d be THERE baby.

Mini barnacles

Thankfully there are easier ways than starfish transmorgrification to enjoy the tide-life of the sea. All you need is a few good lenses, inside info on where to find the spots and a timetable on when to go, all of which you can find right here on the Oregon coast.

Seaweed tufts left by the tide

Now for those not “in the know” tide-pools are small rocky pools filled with seawater that “reveal” themselves at low tide. They contain a unique set of ocean life specifically adapted to the changing tides. The Oregon Coast abounds with tide-pools and the you can find both a map of locations, and daily tide-tables at any of the State Parks. Plan to arrive around an hour ahead of low tide and then enjoy the performance unfold.

Starfish wall

There are no less than 8 excellent spots within a short drive of our home here at Bullards Beach State Park and I’ve been hitting several of them over the past weeks, basking in the wonder of life that lies right beneath our feet. When my cousin was in town we explored the excellent pools at Cape Arago (lots of mini-crabs and anemone), and this morning I loaded both Paul and Polly in the car to roam the extensive pools at Coquille Point right around the corner in Bandon (masses of starfish and seaweed).

Anemone captured in low water

Each site has hundreds of hidden gems from weird seaweed to fascinating barnacles and colorful starfish. The fact that all these creatures survive both the changing tides and exposure to air, wind (it’s alwayswindy on the coast), sun and rain only make them all the more fascinating. Top it all off with the fact that you get to enjoy a splendidly sunny day on a truly magnificent coast and you really can’t get much better than that.

A lone shell

Alas my words do but poor justice to the picturesque splendor of these wonders and my camera merely manages to grab a fleeting look. All I can do is share what little I brought back in pictures and encourage you to come over here and see for yourself.

After all this is free ocean theatre and no-one should ever pass up a good performance.

Gorgeous “baskets” of nature

An orange beauty

Starfish close-up

Unusual growths in a crevice

Easy RV Mod -> Oxygenics Shower Head

I’ve always got about 20 blog post ideas knocking around in my head, but don’t always get around to all of them (too many posts, not enough time?). One of my long-term ideas is to do a bi-weekly (every 2 weeks) or so ”easy RV mod” post. The idea behind this series is to highlight super-easy, inexpensive and hopefully super-useful RV mods which anyone can do. My other idea is to make this an interactive series too, one where I invite readers to send in their own mods to highlight in future posts. After marinating on this idea for a while I’ve decided to kick it into action and we’ll see where it goes. So….here it goes….

Oh showerhead, let me count the ways I love thee….

One of the best all-around easy mods we’ve done to our RV in the past year is to switch out our factory-installed shower head with an Oxygenics head. Now, I’m usually not one to gush about showers, and even though I’d seen the mod on RV forums (with super-rave reviews) I resisted it for a long time. I mean how much real difference does a showerhead actually make? Well this winter we finally relented and I have to admit I absolutely LOVE this thing.

The Oxygenic technology

Oxygenics uses a cool technology that accelerates and injects oxygen into the water flow which does two totally awesome things -> it increases water pressure while decreasing water usage. What this means in practical terms in the RV is that you get a more powerful shower, especially in low-pressure areas (e.g. low-pressure water supply or while using the RV water pump) PLUS you get to take longer showers for the same amount of water (excellent for boondocking!). Even though our shower came with a pretty decent head we immediately noticed the difference and have been totally hooked since we installed it.

Here’s how we put it all together:

The Body Spa showerhead. I installed our new shut-off valve at the base of the head.

1/The Shower Head:  We bought the Body Spa Oxygenics ”kit” from Amazon since this was the best deal on the net when we looked ($26.21 with free Prime shipping at the time). The hose and fittings that come in the “kit” are horrible (really poor quality plastic) so we just used the head and tossed the rest. The head fit directly into our existing hose and holder so all we had to do was screw it on and go.

Shut-Off valve

2/ Shut-Off Valve: When we’re boondocking we take “navy showers” and like having an easy shut-off for the shower. I did not like the included on-off valve that came with the shower head kit (it’s a collar on the bottom of the showerhead that you turn which I found waaaay too fiddly in the shower) so we got rid of it and installed a cheap (~$5) thumb-operated shut-off valve from Home Depot. Much faster and nicer system to use.

The final result? A great shower that feels exactly like the one we used to get in our “fancy” bathroom at our old stix house, even while boondocking. Plus hot water and water tanks that last a much longer time. The head is heavier than our old one so we make a point of taking it off the holder and placing it on the shower floor when travelling, but other than that we’ve made no other changes. Awesome mod for a pretty awesome price…I recommend it

Got a cool RV mod of your own? Feel free to e-mail me with photos and details and I’ll highlight on the blog in a future post. Full credit will be yours!