Oregon Coast

After leaving Eureka, we headed up the coast to Turtle Rock RV Resort in Gold Beach, Oregon.  We had passed this rv park many times and finally had decided to spend a couple of nights there, especially since we were just sort of leapfrogging up to the Salem area and did not intend to spend a great deal of time along the coast this year. 

The sites at Turtle Rock were spacious and there was a little pathway where you could walk right down to the beach.  Unfortunately, the weather was doing its best to be typically Oregon, which is to say.... rainy, cold, and windy.   Murray did not like the sand blowing in his face and it wasn't much fun looking for shells when the sand was stinging where it hit us.  Notice the big heavy sweatshirt that I am wearing, this is typical beach gear for Oregon. 

But one of the reasons that we were doing a short stop in Gold Beach was the Gold Beach Book Store. We have been stopping at this bookstore for many, many years now and it never disappoints.  Downstairs is a coffee/bakery area where you can get fortified with a cappuchino to drink while browsing the bookcases.  They also feature local artists downstairs which is always interesting and then upstairs are all the used books including a rare book room which has cases of old books, letters, and memorabilia from famous authors.  I purchased a book about Corot written over 100 years ago with ink plates of his paintings.  Allan found a book on the American Impressionists with color plates of paintings on every other page for only $7.00.  Of course we left there with bags of books as usual, not all as special as the two I mentioned, but of interest nonetheless.  So after two days in Gold Beach, we headed a little further up the coast to Coos Bay.  We usually stay at the harbor marina in Charleston but because we were only staying for two days, we decided to stay right in town at the Mill Casino RV Park.  This is a very nice rv park and looks out over the river to the coastal mountains beyond. 

On Wednesday we drove to the farmers market in town and for such a small market, there were a surprising number of bakery items and produce.  I got the best looking (and later tasting) bunch of variegated swiss chard ever.  Every leaf was perfect, not like the swiss chard you see in the grocery store where it looks mangled or wilted.  This was superior and it was especially good with a little olive oil/chopped garlic/bouillon cube sautéed and a meyer lemon squeeze to finish.  After leaving the farmers market, we drove over to the Charleston Harbor Marina where there is a little shed in the back parking lot.  This is the best spot to get Halibut and Chips and a very good reason to come to Coos Bay.  Since the weather was threatening more rain, we decided to eliminate our next coastal stop and cut directly over to the Salem area where we will stay for 10 days.   We are hoping that the weather inland will be a little nicer and we haven't stayed in the Salem area ever, so it will be new territory for us to find more bookstores, farmers markets, and art.