Shore Acres State Park

Last Saturday Clay and I finally got away on one of our little daytrips.  For some reason, we just haven't managed to get out of town this summer, at least not since our anniversary at the end of May.  We wanted to go to the coast because it was supposed to get up to 90 degrees in Eugene, and we decided to go south this time instead of straight over to Florence or north of it as we usually do.  We ended up going a little south of Coos Bay to the Shore Acres State Park and Botanical Gardens and a little further beyond that to Cape Arago.

We got to Coos Bay just before noon, and after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed towards the lighthouse and state parks.  It was quite foggy.  We couldn't see very far out on the ocean at all.

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We stopped at the Umpqua River Lighthouse, and toured their museum. We declined the lighthouse tour because it cost money, I think $3 each, or maybe it was $5. But we really enjoyed looking at the museum. We thought it was very well done. My favorite room was the Coast Guard of the1960s (they had 1940s through 1970s in addition to lots of information and artifacts about the lighthouse and the area in general).

This Coast Guard guy was kinda cute, don't you think?

I spent way too long in the gift shop at the museum.  I was tempted by many many things, but only ended up buying a pin for my collection (because I just don't have any place in my house for a bunch of knick-knack type things that I really wanted).  I might have bought this t-shirt if they would have had it in my size.  I think this should be my new philosophy in life:

This is the view from a lookout spot in the Shore Acres State Park which was once the grand estate of pioneer timber baron Louis Simpson, complete with lush gardens and even a tennis court (the gardens have been restored but the house is long gone).  It was still quite foggy when we arrived, but it eventually cleared up in the late afternoon.  There are some really unique geological features to this part of the coastline.

Clay is posing in front of the roots of a tree that had blown over years ago.  There were several of these along the hiking trail.

Here we are in front of the Japanese-style garden.

It really was a very peaceful place.  There weren't too many people there when we were, and it was very relaxing with the sound of the ocean in the background.

The rose garden was surrounded by high trees and bushes on all sides and felt especially tranquil.  And the roses were beautiful!  It wasn't a really big garden, but very well cared for.

They also had big patches of dahlias in other parts of the garden.

A small greenhouse had mostly begonias, which were also beautiful.

Clay likes the monkey puzzle tree.

By late afternoon it was quite sunny, but still a pleasant temperature.

We hiked a little bit north of the gardens because we wanted to see the Cape Arago Lighthouse, which is on an island out a little ways from the coast, and hadn't been visible in the fog earlier.

It was my goal to see all of the lighthouses in Oregon, but I guess this is as close as I can get to this one.

Just south of the botanical gardens is the Cape Arago State Park.  I read that you can hear the sea lions from a mile away, as there are large groups of them out on the rocks in that area.  Here is one that was serenading us.  We could actually hear them more clearly in the parking lot above than we could when we hiked down to where we could see them, since the noise of the ocean hides the sound somewhat when you get down closer to them.  But they were still pretty loud!

On our way home, we stopped for a few minutes at the Dean Creek Elk Preserve which is right off the side of the road a few miles east of Reedsport.  It was just before sunset and there were a lot of elk in the meadows there -- I'm guessing maybe at least a hundred, but I'm not very good at guessing. 

It was a very pleasant trip, and we have vowed that we need to make the effort to do this more often. If we lived closer to the Shore Acres park, I think we'd spend a lot of time there.  It seems like a nice spot for family picnics and activities, and very well taken care of.

The Sleep-Over

Mira (and Melissa) had a sleep-over last night because Rob and Danica went camping with part of his family, and Melissa was afraid Mira would not do well in the "primitive" campsite they were going to, not to mention the long drive to get there.

She slept on a toddler bed air mattress in the toy room.  She actually fell asleep when Clay was holding her while watching a movie, but luckily she did not wake up when he put her into the bed.  She slept all night until about 9:30 a.m., which is a miracle if you know her poor sleeping habits!

Grandpa made his famous "french toast with red stuff and white stuff" (strawberry jam and whipped cream), but Mira was not as enthusiastic about it as Danica has always been. I don't think she's quite awake yet in this photo?

She helped Grandpa do his exercises on the Total Gym (at least I think pulling a little extra weight would be helpful, right?)

She helped on this exercise too (I don't think the "ride" was fast enough for her -- she got bored quickly).

Maybe Grandpa got a little too much help from Mira?  He seems a little tired.

She thought it was really funny when she stole my spot on the bed when I got off of it.

We decided to do a little hike up Skinner's Butte.  It's a very short hike, but we got a late start and didn't want to have to drive very far. Skinner's Butte is basically right in the middle of town.  We told Mira we were going to climb the mountain.  She was proud of herself when she climbed these steps, but they were only the steps leading up to the hiking trail. 

Mira did most of the hike on Grandpa's shoulders.

She thought it was funny when she tried to cover up his eyes with her skirt.  Luckily it wasn't long enough to really block his view.

When we got to the top (which only took 10 minutes since it wasn't a very long "hike"), Mira climbed up on the bench to admire the view.

The view from the bench was actually Grain Millers, where her Uncle Neil has worked.

The view looking south.  I love all the trees in Eugene.  I'm not sure you can tell from this picture, but Eugene has A LOT of trees.

Looking east to Autzen Stadium and the mountains beyond.

Mira wanted to climb, but with the concrete below, that wasn't such a good idea and her mama said no.

A picture on top before heading back down.  (I turned down a suggestion that I should be in the photo also. A picture of myself red-faced and windblown is not what I want to remember, or share with the world).

On the way down.

The butte is right by a huge city park with a great playground.  Grandpa took Mira to the playground while Melissa and I took a brief walk by the river, then met up with them later.

Mira really likes swinging.

Then off to Arby's for a late lunch.  Mira loves the roast beef sandwiches, and so do the rest of us.

This was before she discovered how much fun it was to slide the straw up and down in the cup until the water splashed out.

There is a lot of joy in simply "hanging out" with family.  That's all the excitement I need in my life.