...or day 4 of our vacation:
July 22:
The Southern Oregon Coast: Cape Arago, Shore Acres & Sunset Bay!
We made an online reservation for the campground at Sunset Bay State Park, and we were really glad that we did! It is a lovely location on Oregon's South Coast, with a kid-swimming friendly beach and access to Shore Acres State Park & Cape Arago State Park {which are all very close to the campground and are all included in the camp fee}.
a lovely morning at camp
For the first time ever on our adventures, we decided to go on a ranger guided tour. It was AWESOME! Our guide was a retired history teacher from Utah, and he took us up to this WWII bunker up the road from our camp ground. He told us loads of WWII history and things that the Japanese did, which impacted primarily the west coast of the US. For example, I did not know that Japan sent thousands of weather balloons with bombs attached to them across ocean on the the jet stream. There was only one fatality in Oregon, but many of the bombs have never been found. We were told to be careful if ever hiking off trail in Oregon. And not to touch an unidentified objects found in the woods.
This four room concrete bunker housed a secret radar station. During WWII the roof had been camoflauged in dirt and bushes so it could not be seen from the air.
At some point on this hike {apparently} I accidentally switched the setting on my camera to the wrong setting, resulting in many funky pictures throughout the day {the pictures that look normal are probably from Brent's camera}. I don't know why it took me so long to realize this error, but the effect is somewhat cool:
hipstamatic ferns
Next we stopped at the sea lion view point on shell island:
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20x zoom: sea lions!
shell island and fireweed
Cape Arago:
Brent's camera///////////////my camera with wrong setting
Kate and Brent at Cape Arago in June 2000! The first of many adventures...
Next we walked around at Shore Acres State Park:
Shore Acres is a lovely garden located on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The garden once belonged to a wealthy business man {timber baron, I think} who bought this property and built a summer home & garden here. After time passed, the property and garden were donated to the state. This garden is really a wonderful, marvelous place on the coast. We had no idea it was there! The only reason we stumbled upon it was because Sunset Bay happened to be the one campground on the south coast that still had openings, and like I said...Shore Acres was included in our camping fee.
bad pictures...lovely garden!
an absolutely gorgeous pond area to sit and reflect
breathtaking!
There's something about being in a garden. And then there's something about being in the woods. Now put those together and you've got a garden in the woods, and it's by the sea...and I don't believe I had experienced such a wonder of nature in my whole life.
But WAIT! As if that weren't enough, there was a rose garden. In a clearing in the woods:
Which is why I say "remember to take the time to stop and smell the roses".
Toby's favorite roses were the orange ones, of course!
I was absolutely taken by this rose. Normally I'm partial to the yellow roses, but this rose really stood out because of its size, unique color pattern and the interesting backdrop.
Some of the roses smelled absolutely sickeningly sweet...and all I could think of was Hunger Games. If you've read Hunger Games, are you a bit less partial to roses now than you were before? Especially extremely fragrant roses? I tried not to think about that too hard because I do enjoy roses.
In my meanderings, I stumbled across this little bed of roses that made me think of my Elsa. Lady Elsie May. Elsie may have been one of Elsa's nicknames. My freshman year at BYU, I stayed at a dorm named Elsie C. Carroll Hall. That was where I first got the idea for the name Elsa. Something unique, but not made up...however I preferred the name ending in an "a" instead of an "ie". Anyway, the most curious thing about this row of roses was that it was the only variety in the whole garden that had yet to bloom. Just as my little Elsie has yet to bloom. She's waiting in her corner of the garden for her turn to bloom. I really can't wait to see it happen! I am sure I will anticipate it my whole life.
After we left the garden, we went back to Sunset Bay to cook and eat dinner on the beach and enjoy the sunset. A perfect ending to a pretty much perfect day:
I adore this shot of Ollie
and the below sequence of him playing with sand and having his first official taste of sand!
yum?
perfect.
{photo-bombed by a guy who thought he had to
stand in front of everyone else to take his pictures of the sunset}
sunset over Sunset Bay...could my life be any more fulfilled?
going...going...gone.
Joshua jumping the small waves.
evening silhouette.
4 comments:
Fun!! That garden looks way cool. You should go to Indian Beach (by Ecola Head)....there are some cool tidepools there and a nice little beach. Aah, the Coast.
Gorgeous!!! Now I want to plan a trip there for next summer. Looks Heavenly. And you're always so good about taking lots of fantastic photos and documenting it all. I need to be better!
You always have the most amazing photos. I love reading your blog!
That looks like an absolutely magical place, like fairies and elves could be running around! Oh dear we must plan another trip up to see you!