Tuesday, July 19, 2011: Agate a kick out of you
Another gray morning. I woke to the distant roar of the surf and a seagull choir serenade. I imagined being back on Playcation bobbing in the water with the water gently slapping the chimes. Ok, so we are on ground... I can still imagine can't I?
We decided to get the boys up for a walk on the beach. I talked to some of our neighbors and they told us about finding agates on the beach. I wondered what a raw agate looked like until I saw a man pick one up. He showed me and I walked one step and found one that was larger than a quarter. Well, that was easy, this ought to be fun. AGATE FEVER HAS STRUCK! I got my gait going, keeping my eyes on the ground. Hey, where are they? We kept walking and I showed Spouse and the boys the object of my quest. The sand is not really sand in many places. It is little rocks. We watched a few people combing through the surface. One lady showed me her bag of dozens of small agates. I showed her my big one and she was totally impressed. It was then that I realized my big one was an oddity. Okay, I will get over that. Crew began to dig and he found some. Spouse went back while Dallas and I started to dig. We found some here, we found some there. Crew left and Dallas and I continued. The tide was low, we dug some more. We finally decided to head back. A few times we stopped and dug some more. My fingers were now hurting as was Dallas' knees, so we picked up our pace towards home. Then it started to rain. None of that drizzly stuff, this was real rain! Needless to say, we got wet! Water was dripping off of my visor, but I got some prizes! And Spouse found a great fossilized rock. Pull me out of here... we need to head home!
We cleaned up and readied Hannah for her journey south. As we left, the sun started to shine!
It took us quite a while to make any kind of distance. We stopped at this view, marveled at that view. A spouting whale there, and roosting bald eagle there. I could easily spend weeks just cruising the coast here in Oregon. We stopped for lunch at the Driftwood Beach turnout. False advertising! There was no driftwood! They tricked me!
The one thing I love about the towns is that there are not a lot of strip malls. There are tons of mom and pop stores. There are quite a few glass art studios to which I could easily attach myself! Art galleries pop up in the middle of nowhere. Lots of character and personality complement the raw beauty of the rugged coast, woods, and rivers. Even Coos Bay, which is a moderately sized port town had character. You can smell the raw lumber as you near Coos Bay. Logs are being loaded on ships. Logs are being milled. Logging definitely supports the area.
We passed through an area of large dunes. It seemed odd that the forest trees were growing out of the dunes, but that is what we saw!
We settled for the night in the town of Ophir, which is about 40 miles north of the California border. They have a fire ring. Spouse better not burn the few pieces of driftwood I got out of the lakes earlier on the trip...
Another gray morning. I woke to the distant roar of the surf and a seagull choir serenade. I imagined being back on Playcation bobbing in the water with the water gently slapping the chimes. Ok, so we are on ground... I can still imagine can't I?
We decided to get the boys up for a walk on the beach. I talked to some of our neighbors and they told us about finding agates on the beach. I wondered what a raw agate looked like until I saw a man pick one up. He showed me and I walked one step and found one that was larger than a quarter. Well, that was easy, this ought to be fun. AGATE FEVER HAS STRUCK! I got my gait going, keeping my eyes on the ground. Hey, where are they? We kept walking and I showed Spouse and the boys the object of my quest. The sand is not really sand in many places. It is little rocks. We watched a few people combing through the surface. One lady showed me her bag of dozens of small agates. I showed her my big one and she was totally impressed. It was then that I realized my big one was an oddity. Okay, I will get over that. Crew began to dig and he found some. Spouse went back while Dallas and I started to dig. We found some here, we found some there. Crew left and Dallas and I continued. The tide was low, we dug some more. We finally decided to head back. A few times we stopped and dug some more. My fingers were now hurting as was Dallas' knees, so we picked up our pace towards home. Then it started to rain. None of that drizzly stuff, this was real rain! Needless to say, we got wet! Water was dripping off of my visor, but I got some prizes! And Spouse found a great fossilized rock. Pull me out of here... we need to head home!
We cleaned up and readied Hannah for her journey south. As we left, the sun started to shine!
It took us quite a while to make any kind of distance. We stopped at this view, marveled at that view. A spouting whale there, and roosting bald eagle there. I could easily spend weeks just cruising the coast here in Oregon. We stopped for lunch at the Driftwood Beach turnout. False advertising! There was no driftwood! They tricked me!
The one thing I love about the towns is that there are not a lot of strip malls. There are tons of mom and pop stores. There are quite a few glass art studios to which I could easily attach myself! Art galleries pop up in the middle of nowhere. Lots of character and personality complement the raw beauty of the rugged coast, woods, and rivers. Even Coos Bay, which is a moderately sized port town had character. You can smell the raw lumber as you near Coos Bay. Logs are being loaded on ships. Logs are being milled. Logging definitely supports the area.
We passed through an area of large dunes. It seemed odd that the forest trees were growing out of the dunes, but that is what we saw!
We settled for the night in the town of Ophir, which is about 40 miles north of the California border. They have a fire ring. Spouse better not burn the few pieces of driftwood I got out of the lakes earlier on the trip...
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