Oregon Coast – the final chapter

On the 7th we continued working our way south down the Oregon coast. It was slow going since we stopped at nearly every scenic overlook, but we weren’t in a rush. Eventually, though, we worked our way down to Umpqua Aquaculture, one of the many oyster farming companies on the coast.  Joe and Elica gave us the heads up on this place. They grow their bivalves suspended on chains so that they don’t ingest sediment from being bottom-feeders. Something about the alternating fresh and salt water as the tide ebbs and flows at the mouth of the river is also supposed to make them that much more delicious. You buy them straight from the packing plant; I grabbed a pint of oysters and some fresh cod before we kept heading south. After that, it was more neat coastal towns, road-side coffee shacks, lighthouses, and of course, scenic overlooks. We found a nice campsite at Bullard’s Beach State Park, and quickly realized that evergreen huckleberry bushes bordered our entire site. Cooper and Brooks helped us pick a million of them before running off with Jennifer to play with a little boy she met. Cooper met, not Jennifer.

On the 8th we again continued following the coast as it meandered south towards California. We stopped to let the kids play at an 80’s vintage playground, to see more rocks out in the water, and to take more pictures. Just like in Yellowstone, the endless beauty of the Oregon coast became a bit routine after a while. We took it all in nevertheless, knowing that our time there was coming to an end. We made it to the campground at Harris Beach State Park in the early evening. The kids were happy to play on the playground there while I paid for our site and dumped the RV tanks.

See!

We then walked down to watch an amazing sunset with some fellow campers. We were talking to an older couple from California who gave us some suggestions on other parks to check out as we continued our trip. They turned out to be in the campsite directly across from us so we continued our conversation back in the campground. Their kids are in college now, but when they were younger they travelled in a van (an awesome Ford diesel 4×4 van with a bed inside and a tent on the top) up and down the Pacific coast.

 

 When the chatting was over, I filled up our cast iron skillet with oil and set out to deep fry the seafood we picked up the day before in Umpqua. First though, I tested the oil temp with some cheese curds. The oil temp seemed to be spot on and the cheese curds were delicious. The oysters and cod were also the best we’ve ever eaten. Not bad for having never fried seafood before.

Not to be outdone, Jennifer cranked out some from-scratch pancakes and huckleberry compote the next morning. It was a ton of work removing the tiny stems from the huckleberries, which stained our mouths nearly black. They tasted pretty good, though.

  

After breakfast, we threw the kids in the bike trailer and headed down to the beach. The kids loved playing the wooden tee-pee shelters that someone made on the beach; we loved watching them play. After 45 minutes or so a misty rain rolled in and chased us back to the campervan, where we would be stuck for the rest of the day as the rain continued to fall. We were really fortunate to have made it so far without a rainy day. The timing was a bit ironic, too, since this was our last full day on the Oregon coast, which is supposed to be a misty rainy place.