Out West Adventure: Part 2--Getting to the Oregon Coast

Thu. June 6: It was pretty much all downhill leaving Diamond Lake campground and we averaged over 20 mpg. Hwy. 138 followed alongside the tumbling North Umpqua River for many miles of beautiful scenery. We crossed over it a few times and made a couple of stops to take pictures of the gorges and rapids, fisher people (one group taking pictures of their five 18-24 inch trout), and rock outcroppings. The road gradually leveled out and the river broadened and became the South Umpqua River. We stopped at the Anindor Winery (the two owner’s names, Rod and Nina, spelled backwards) for a fun wine tasting with our pourer, Maryanne, and ended up buying a case of three of their whites. Later we stopped at a sand bar in the river, hiking down a steep trail to enjoy our picnic lunch sitting on the rocks beside the famously green river. Hwy, 38 took us through the gently rolling Coastal Ranges to Reedsport. Just before we turned north on Hwy. 101 we stopped to watch a herd of Elk browsing in the meadow beside the road. Then we followed the coast up to Florence and the Honeyman State Park on the edge of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The campground is two miles from the ocean across towering sand dunes much like those at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. After picking out a campsite we rode our bikes back to the self-registration booth and then to the day use area on a small lake surrounded by the dunes. On our return to the campsite it was getting chilly. Leftover chicken and rice helped warm us up and then we thoroughly enjoyed watching “The Big Year”, a comedy about three men (Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black) competing to see the most birds in one year. The most amazing thing was that they visited so many of the places we have been this year including Patagonia State Park in Arizona, Joshua Tree, Mount Shasta, and Coos Bay; turning north to Honeyman on 101, if we had gone south instead, we would have been in Coos Bay.

The very green Umpqua River

No "Fish Stories" required!

Anindor Tasting Yurt

Our server, Mary Anne