After our thrill-ride morning on the dunes, we had more excitement in the afternoon:  Paula and Carolyn were arriving to visit!  We were so excited to see them that we camped out at their hotel and awaited their arrival.  Their day had started WAY earlier than ours;  they had been traveling for 20 hours by the time they got to the hotel.  We gave them huge hugs, helped them to their room, and made plans for the next day.

On the drive down from Newport to Florence we had seen several terrific ocean sights and after all our marveling at the Pacific Coast, we couldn’t wait to share it with them.  So, we set out on a drive that showcased some of the best we’d seen….curving roads barely hugging the sides of the hills overlooking the coast with dramatic views of waves crashing on the boulders down below.   By the time we got to Devil’s Churn, I think they felt the same amazement for the coast that we did.  

Devil’s Churn is a chasm in hard rock that comes inland about 100 yards, and has been gradually widened by the water over hundreds of years.  As the waves come in, they power through the narrow crack and create all kinds of dramatic splashes and booming noises.  It’s mesmerizing to watch.  The mouth of Devil’s Churn, where waves crash high up on the boulders, is almost as good.  I know we are beginning to sound repetitive in our marveling over the pacific coast, but you just can’t get enough of it.  We hung out about an hour before we could tear ourselves away.

Our next stops were overlooks only about a mile down the road, with two cool features:  Thor’s Well and the Spouting Horn.  Part of another dramatic, rocky bluff, Thor’s Well is a big hole that fills and empties with each wave, and the Spouting Horn is a blowhole that sprays when the waves come in just right, also during high tide.  We pulled over a few more times to ogle the coast, and had a picnic lunch on a smooth beach cove under the beautiful Haceta Head lighthouse.  As we got back to town, we checked out the most unique stop of the day:  a bog of carnivorous plants!  

For our second day, we wanted to try to catch the “other” side of the tides, and see some tide pools at low tide.  We went back to Haceta Head and didn’t have luck with tide pools, but did walk up to the lighthouse for yet another amazing view.  We kept an eye out for whales, but no luck. 

We were excited to show Paula and Carolyn the dunes too.  Where we had gone out on ATVs was basically sand, sand and more sand…kind of like what you would think a mini-Sahara desert would look like.  Problem is, they are only accessible by ATV, and Paula and Carolyn didn’t seem really keen on us driving them out in a dune buggy…maybe they had heard a few too many stories about Maya’s driving?  So, we went to a state park further south which had a good overlook and trails.  The dunes here were beautiful too, but with far more vegetation and far less severe hills.  We walked out a good ways and enjoyed them while the kids played football in the sand.  Then we got up to come back, and asked, “do we take the long way back, with easy, gradual grade up the hill?  Or do we take the short route that is straight up this big dune?”  Well, we decided to take the hill, and I can assure you that climbing a hill of sand is WAY harder than climbing a solid hill.  Let’s just say it took us more than a few minutes and a good rest stop to make it happen.  

After all that effort we deserved a good dinner out.  Florence has a really cute old downtown full of restaurants and shops.  We had scoped it out the day prior and found a delicious coffee shop that roasted their own beans.  Just as Dennis is drinking only local beer, we are also trying really hard to only drink locally roasted coffee.  He’s been more successful with the beer, but we’ve mostly been enjoying local beans in our french press each morning.  So good.  Anyway, after our exertion that day we ate out at the Zebra Bar and loved it.  While we were in Florence we also had amazing pizza at a cute little cafe called 1285 RestoBar just a few spots down.  

Our original plans were to move to Crater Lake at this point, but many of the roads were closed due to an early snow and it was COLD up there.  So, we regrouped and decided to hang out on the coast a bit more.  Our campground was full so we went about an hour south to an even smaller town called Reedsport…honestly it wasn’t as cute as Florence, and once we drove through Coos Bay, we wish we had known to keep going about 30 more miles and set up there, but these are the things you learn on the road.  No complaints about the campground at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, though…we overlooked a pretty little lake and the bathrooms were only 2 months old.  Definitely the nicest showerhouse we’ve seen.

Coos Bay has a scenic drive with a series of three connected state parks and I had been told there was a good overlook for seals at the furthest one so we set off to see if we could spot any.  There were hundreds.  Seals and sea lions were covering rocks that were just offshore and we could hear their barking over the waves.  Even though it was really cold, we stood there and watched them for almost an hour.  They are almost like big dogs, and it’s fascinating to see them jostle for space, bark at each other, waddle around, and struggle to haul themselves out onto the rocks.  At one of the other parks, we looked for whales (still none) and toured an amazing garden that was initially part of an estate that belonged to a timber baron.  

Our final day together we went to a Roosevelt elk preserve on the edge of town.  It’s the home to a large herd and we hoped we could get a glance at a few.  We pulled up and there were a few with nice antler racks standing right in clear view!  We could also spot two groups of several dozen each further back in the far fields, but the boys up front were great to watch.  We then visited the lighthouse by our campground, which is the only one in Oregon with both clear and red glass, and while we were there we stood on the bluffs and had a little prayer service in thanks of our time together and the beauties in the world we had seen.  We ended our visit with a delicious dinner in town, but the prayer service earlier in the day was really a perfect little wrap up.  We all felt blessed to have family come see us, and we truly enjoyed the time we  spent together, and  getting to share the sights of the Pacific that we have been loving so much.