Touring Oregon Day 03

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

We wake up and have breakfast. Heading up the coast, we first stop at Whaleshead Beach where I take some fun surf photos. The weather is quite brisk and we put on our sweatshirts and hoodies!

The scenery is quite different from home as the forests are thick and the pines are tall. We see a sign for the “Natural Bridges” State Park and we pull in for some more breathtaking views!

We can’t imagine how it was for mariners back in days of yore to navigate this coastline. Modern mariners have their work cut out for themselves even with state of the art equipment!

We stop in Gold Beach for a bite to eat for lunch and then on to Cape Blanco where we start our collection of lighthouse photos!

We are told there is a view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse on an island and is easily accessed from an Indian Reservation. It turns out that accessing the Reservation is nigh on impossible because the residents are tired of all the tourists and have made parking impossible. We finally are directed to a spot where, with a good zoom lens, you can get a glimpse of it!

Moving on, we cross one of the 8052 bridges in the state. We’re told that 439 bridges are ‘structurally deficient’ and are causing a ‘looming crisis’ for the state. Luckily for us, this was not one of them! We come to “Umpqua River Lighthouse” and notice this one is a good quarter mile from the shore.

We find lodging for the night at the Winchester Bay Inn with a view of the ocean. It is rustic yet comfortable and specifically designed for beach goers.