Sand dunes and Mo's clam chowder

Departed Pacific City mid-morning on Wednesday, 19 September, headed for another TT campground, this time in Florence, Oregon, about 100 miles and three hours away down Hiway 101.  The drive was simply wonderful, although driving a 35-ft motorhome on the edge of the road overlooking the ocean – which, according to Lynette was sometimes straight down – made it rather interesting, to say the least.  We drove through a series of small towns along the Oregon Coast that just begged us to come back for a future visit – which we will surely do.  This whole part of the Pacific Northwest is simply quite breathtaking – simply beautiful.  Again, if any of you blog readers ever get the opportunity to visit this part of our great country, do it.  You won’t regret it.

We arrived in Florence around 12:30 and found a comfortable campsite, albeit without any TV reception.   But you know what, I’m really not missing TV that much.  I’m getting caught up on some reading I’ve wanted to do for ages, including my many magazines, and enjoying listening to music in the evening.  Although I do admit, I could use a NFL fix once in a while.  Hey, I’m a long-time jock!  Anyway, we drove into Florence’s historic Old Town district for lunch and found Mo’s Seafood House, known for its wonderful clam chowder (at least according to my brother).  We each had a cup of it, and, by golly, Laren was right: it is some of the best clam chowder we’ve ever had.  Very thick, good flavor.  Good call, brother.  

After lunch we headed out to the sand dunes that are famous around here, ending up at the Oregon Dunes Recreational Area just south of Florence.  The wind-sculpted sand dunes tower to almost 500 feet above sea level and provide numerous recreational opportunities including off-highway vehicle use, hiking, photography, fishing, canoeing, and horseback riding and camping. Visitors can enjoy thick “tree islands”, open dunes, marsh-like plains and beaches. We drove out to the end of the park road, parked, and climbed a trail up and over the dunes to reach the Pacific Ocean beach.  What a stretch of beach it was!  As far as the eye could see, a virtually deserted beach strewn with driftwood of all sizes and shapes.  From Florence to Coos Bay, the Oregon Dunes extend for 40 miles along the Oregon Coast. Formed by ancient forces of wind, water and time, these dunes are like no others in the world. They are the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America and hold numerous opportunities for adventure and solitude.

We spent maybe a half hour there, just admiring the breaking waves and enjoying the solitude of the moment.  There’s just “something” about a beach.  Had me thinking about the several summer vacations we spent down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with our family.  Boy, we had so much fun with the grandkids; sure do miss that. 

Since the weather was overcast and the skies were grey – meaning no sunshine – we decided to skedaddle back to our campground.  The hike back over the dunes and thick underbrush wasn’t nearly as long as the one going out.  

  
Maybe it was the “refreshing” experience we’d had out on the beach.  We are now back at our campsite and catching up on our blog entries and reading.  Tomorrow we sadly leave the Oregon Coast and head inland toward I-5.  We’ll spend one more overnight stay in a campground in Yreka, California, and then it’s on to the Sacramento area for a few days’ visit with my brother, Laren, and his family.  More later….Cheers!