Pacific Coast Wanderings

After leaving Olympic National Park we slowly made our way south, exploring the wild and winding Washington coast towards Astoria.

Golfing with Julie at Peninsula

We spent two nights near Aberdeen, one at a very hospitable winery and the other at an RV park. It is unusual to see an RV park on Harvest Host but it seems like a reasonable way to use unsold inventory. They got 10 bucks and change from us for showers and a grey water dump.

I golfed at the very mediocre Highland Golf Course, the first I’ve ever seen that has permanent preferred lies in the fairway. They likely have no budget for effective grass growing and trimming other than on the greens. Still a nice walk.

A special tree on Long Beach

Next we moved to the end of the Washington coastline on Long Beach peninsula. We’ve been here many times over the years; in the early 2000s Cape Disappointment State Park was a regular camping spot for our family. We stayed at the Peninsula Golf Course, a short walk from the beach. They also have a nice restaurant.

We spent four nights in Portland, two in northeast where I was reunited with friends and boardgames. Honestly it was too short; we usually spend at least a week. Allen and I wanted to play golf but got rained out, and with more buffer we could have rescheduled. We prioritized the national parks and golf (hehe I prioritized the golf) so we pre-loaded our preferences. Maybe we’ll take the short flight back up sometime this winter.

The Florence dunes

After an tasty Saturday breakfast in McMinnville with my division chair at WOU we turned south and west and drove to the Oregon coast. We stopped in Florence just past the south jetty to hike up to the top of the massive dunes and look over the area we took the boys to back in the 2000s. Back then we took a ride on a giant dune buggy and did some lake fishing for trout.

A stroll on Bullards Beach

Our destination was Bandon and the Bullards Beach State Park, familiar territory for us. I spent 90 minutes or so practicing golf at the resort, including playing 7 or 8 holes of the recently renamed Charlotte’s short course situated in the practice area. The beach walk before dinner was magical: low tide, a lonesome California gull, agate rocks, and partial sand dollars.