We made it up to Oregon to see some friends and enjoy the summer along the McKenzie River. This would be an ideal for us if we could spend spring, winter, and late fall in the desert, but summer would need to be in the Northwest. We spent the next few days doing activities locally including visiting Kelsey and Nick who we used to work with in Zion. They were living in Roseburg and are right in the child raising stage along with us. Zyla got to spend time with her best friend while we spent some time with our good friends the Meisters. We went to see high school graduation to see the seniors graduate that I taught for 3 years at McKenzie High School. We had some people over to the Meisters on Sunday to hang and then on Monday we went to our old house and island to see it, while also visiting the Hot Springs and gardens where we never visited when we lived out there. Along the way I snuck in a few runs along the McKenzie River trail including one with Corey like the good ol' days.
On Tuesday, while the rest of our friends were still teaching school, we planned a trip to the coast. So we drove through Springfield, Drain, and Coos Bay until we eventually made it down to Bandon which was right near where we were staying at Cape Blanco. I rented a cabin for a few days, which was ideal because the Oregon Coast can sure be unpredictable. The weather had not been entirely warm lately and we had just endured a wet weekend staying with the Meisters. It wasn't incredibly expensive either. When we got to it, we were pleasantly surprised because it was pretty nice. It had plenty of room to spread out and the kids were stoked about the bunk beds.
We spent the first day just playing on the beach. It was a comfortable day being just a bit chilly with the wind. Our great hikers were not too thrilled about walking down the beach and I guess I got their point. It was easy to see where we were going, but we did need the exercise. I got them going with the soccer ball, which was fun to kick because the wind would just blow it right back to you. When we were coming back, I just had to give it one good kick and there it went rolling down the whole beach. We spent a few hours out, but since we had been driving, too, it was already getting to be dinner time. So we hiked back to the cabin where the kids enjoyed eating the salmon berries growing everywhere.
We went out to see the sunrise in the evening. As we were looking for a good spot to see it, Jacqueline got stung right in the butt by some ground hornets. It would smart for a few days afterward. We did find a nice place to be where we could see the sunset just on the edge of the cliffs. A good day and we had a fairly comfortable night, though in the future I would definitely bring a few sheets because it was fairly uncomfortable sleeping on the crappy mattress in the cabin. We awoke to misty rains though, so it made me pleased that we chose to get a cabin rather than a tent as everything would just be wet and uncomfortable. Instead we leisurely made breakfast and then jumped in the car for a trip down the road.
It wasn't a long drive because our goal today was to hike to the top of Humbug Mountain. It was not an easy undertaking because we had to gain 1700 feet over 6 miles with the kids in the drizzly rain. Jacqueline was not too sure about this, but the trail turned out to be great. It fine in the weather because this is the Northwest where trails can handle some rain. There were a lot of different flowers, plants, insects, and slugs out in about. Zyla was especially stoked about the slugs and snails as she had taken a liking to them. Conrad was just blazing away, taking the lead almost all the way up the mountain. I was proud of how everyone did because this trip was not easy. There were plenty of opportunities for someone to say that they couldn't keep going and fall apart, but we just continued upward.
We did see one group entirely of school age girls with a couple of adult chaperones heading down as we were heading up, but other than that, we seemed to have the whole mountain to ourselves. The trail was a loop, so we went one way up with the goal of going back a different way. We could tell it was early season because there were plenty of downed trees along the way to slow us down. The views were not entirely that great, but sometimes the trees would open up and we could see the coast way down below.
We plodded along through the mists until we finally topped out. We had some lunch up there and though the views were not great and the seating was rather wet, we still felt good about ourselves for making it up with really fairly few complaints. The way down seemed to go so much faster as it likely was, but we sure enjoyed seeing the wildlife around where we even got a few salamanders and many millipedes. We were soon back at the car and everyone had done just awesome. We left the trailhead where we were able to get some good clam chowder in Port Orford before another relaxing evening at the cabin.
In the morning, we went out to the lighthouse for a quick tour since we had not done that before. It was interesting and it just made me feel like I am glad I never had to be a lighthouse keeper in rural Oregon in the 1800s. Now it was just a drive back to the McKenzie area for a few more days of hanging out with friends before the next round of adventures.
On Tuesday, while the rest of our friends were still teaching school, we planned a trip to the coast. So we drove through Springfield, Drain, and Coos Bay until we eventually made it down to Bandon which was right near where we were staying at Cape Blanco. I rented a cabin for a few days, which was ideal because the Oregon Coast can sure be unpredictable. The weather had not been entirely warm lately and we had just endured a wet weekend staying with the Meisters. It wasn't incredibly expensive either. When we got to it, we were pleasantly surprised because it was pretty nice. It had plenty of room to spread out and the kids were stoked about the bunk beds.
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