I Heart Oregon

July 15, 2009

Oregon coast, Brookings and California redwoods

Category: Oregon Coast
Tags: Brookings, redwoods

Date: July 15-17
Location: Oregon coast & California

This is our first drive down the central and southern coast of Oregon. The farthest south we’d been before then was Depoe Bay, so this was a chance to see more of the beautiful Oregon coast.

The weather wasn’t cooperating on the way down, however, and most of the coast was fogged in. There were times when we could barely see in front of us, and the ocean to the west was completely invisible. We found out that this is partly due to the heat in the Williamette Valley, which pulls fog into the coast. Fortunately, the rest of our trip was less foggy and we were able to see many ocean vistas.

We were staying near Harris Beach in Brookings, so we spent time on the beach at low tide in the morning and then again at sunset. The beaches in Brookings feel quite a bit different from the northern coast in Oregon… they felt more calm and lagoon-like and were filled with sea stacks, rocks, black sand and wildlife. We saw two sea lions playing and another basking on the rocks, and there were two jellyfish laying on the beach.

We also went to the Jedediah Smith State Redwood Park on the Smith River. We had been planning to go see the redwood groves, so this was a perfect day.

On our trip back, we stopped at Whaleshead Beach at Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Cape Sebastian, Cape Perpetua and Bandon.