Bend, OR

This past weekend I went to another of my pirate gatherings as I do each year and it was at a place I didn’t know that existed, a place called Horning’s Hideout. What a cool place. Over 100 acres, some treed, some grassed with a 2 streams, a 5 acre stocked fishing pond and a separate breeding ground to keep the fish continually stocked. Three separate playgrounds for all the kids, an island in the middle of the lake, all kinds of wildlife and about 100 colored & albino peacocks & peahens. This area is absolutely stunning and no one knows where you are and would ever even know this place existed if the owners didn’t allow public use.

Florence seems to be my own central point of my coastal trips as it is always the 1st coastal town I come to. Maybe because Florence is the central location for Hwy 101 on the Oregon coast. I go to Florence mainly for 3 reasons, to travel to other destinations on 101, to visit the casino once a year and to hit the sand as often as possible as Florence has probably the biggest area of dunes in which to play on as well as long beaches in which to walk or ride horses.

Down on the bay front of Old Newport are the docks which house mainly commercial fishing vessels. These vessels are what bring the fresh seafood to Newport. During the day, wandering among these ships, which seem bigger than life due to its size is one thing but at night it is a totally different world and atmosphere. I found this out quite by accident. While in town I chose to have dinner on the bay front and when I was done I wasn’t ready to move on down the coast to my next destination and so I wandered and somehow or another I wandered among the docks, past these ships that seemed so quiet when just an hour before they were full of life.

Across the way from Cooks Chasm is the Heceta Head lighthouse. The lighthouse some of you may remember, was in the middle of a controversial subject of demolition not to long back. So far Heceta, built in 1894 still stands and still shines as one of the Oregon Coasts brightest and farthest reaching lights out upon the sea.

Local Ocean Seafood sits across the street from the commercial fishing docks, down on Newport’s old bay front. Doesn’t the name just sound so appropriate considering it’s location. I wonder what it is that you think Local Ocean is? Honestly Local Ocean is a restaurant/café. I had never been to Local Ocean but it came on a recommendation and so instead of going to my normal haunt of Mo’s and eating chowder, I came here.

Waldport seems to be a town frozen in time as much hasn’t seemed to change since I went to school there over 20 years ago. This is still a tiny little town that sits between Florence and Newport. Waldport sits at the mouth of the Alsea River, once famous for it’s steelhead and salmon fishing and still famous for its’ beauty. This little area seems to keep time well with the earlier periods of the late 1900’s and on the surface, technology doesn’t seem to have caught up with the rest of the world.

As a young child I well remember Agate Beach. We used to camp right on the beach for days on end and my brother and I would spend much of most days exploring and playing in the surf. Today I do not believe camping on this particular beach is allowed but nonetheless I still visit; sometimes for the memory, sometimes to see the changes, sometimes to find the famous agates that this beach is named for.

I should have written about Sumpter before now as I have been there before and summer is vastly different than winter. Maybe it is something about old mining towns, on the verge of becoming a ghost town that intrigue me. This time that I went was just recent and with a group of friends from John Day so that we could go snowmobiling. Sumpter in the summer gives much more access to what is really there, what you can’t see beneath the snow.

Bandon is part of Oregon’s southern coastline. Though small Bandon thrives and has its’ own bit of history. Originally it was a gold mining town though that didn’t last long. What Bandon is famous for are the commercials that have been filmed there by Budweiser and their Clydesdales, Chevrolet and Jeep, all ocean scenes, as well as a few other companies.

In my posting of Central Oregon at Large I mentioned Kokanee Café. The little know café yet large with reputation. While being only 45 minutes from Bend on W. Hwy 20 it seems as if few local residents make the trip here. In the summer there are actually thousands of patrons, mostly from out of town. This café sits on the Metolius River and is the most esteemed river for its’ fly fishing and is a challenge to fish even for the most seasoned fisher person, as I call those of us who fish.