DART part 3

Thought I would start with my favorite photo from the trip - the Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon, OR. 

We had a nice dinner in Roseburg- at the train station... since we hadn't had any train stuff for two days. But I missed photos of the food itself, only got the ceiling and the dessert. 

The next morning we went to breakfast at Elmer's and then headed to the coast via Coquille - so we could stop by the gravesite of Buzz Holmstrom  

Haldane "Buzz" Holmstrom (1909–1946) was a pioneer of running the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He was the first person to float all the way from Green River, Wyoming to Boulder Dam solo. He built his own rowboats, often of his own design, to run whitewater rivers.  On October 25, 1937, he began his most famous feat, his solo run of the Colorado from Green River, Wyoming, down through Cataract Canyon, Glen Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. At the end of his run through the Grand Canyon, the motorboats refused to give him a tow across Lake Mead, so he rowed the distance in four and a half days. Symbolically, he touched the newly built Boulder Dam with his boat at the end of his journey on November 20. Despite the ground-breaking nature of Holmstrom's feat, his river-running was characterized not by bravado, but by humility and awe at his surroundings.  When the United States entered World War II, Holmstrom enlisted in the Navy, where he served in the European Theater and Kiriwina Island in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge in 1945, he went back to work for the Bureau of Reclamation, where he had worked for two years prior to the war. Source: Wikipedia

So we arrived in Bandon by lunch time - we checked into our hotel and went to explore the "city" with a first stop at Face Rock overlook and beach access.   Along the coast that day, we had mixed weather. The sun really tried but never quite won the battle with the clouds.  Light rain and drizzle all afternoon.

 

Then we went into town for some lunch- CRABS GATHER HERE sign was too good not to get a photo of TB and me. And excellent crab cakes and TB reports "very good" on the sandwich.

Dinner in Bandon. Post Labor Day many things close early, many things are not open on Tuesdays, and the first two places on our list of three choices were unexpectedly closed. Despite the Google info otherwise. So we luckily ended up at the Wheelhouse Grill which was very good with terrific service. The bowl of chowder was giant and hot, so I made TB share it with me. The salad was excellent and huge! The halibut came recommended by locals exiting the restaurant and TB has no trouble taking it down. A lucky break for us, as I think we ended up with the best meal. Everyone who travels knows that flexibility is key to having a good experience and sometimes it's the "accidental" places that we remember the best. Extra photos (above) of the waterfront along First Street which was the view from our table.

The last day on the road for us- we got up and headed out for photos along the coast before stopping for breakfast later- along the way to Lincoln City.

Some favorites from this day. We were out early to the Coquille River Lighthouse, so I got gorgeous morning sun for those shots! Not so lucky with the coast guard lighthouse which was only accessible from the west (hence in the shadows). The bridge by the Heceta Lighthouse was also in the shadows but AI helped to show its cool architecture. We had changing light all day, along with changing weather. So some blue skies, some gray, and a bit of fog. We took the Oregon Coast Highway from Bandon to Lincoln City. We did our last stop at Road's End Beach. The following morning we headed straight from here to PDX putting another DART into the books.

Our last dinner on the road was near Road's End Beach- we ate early as we would be heading to the airport for an arrival by 11 am. Dinner was at a casino.

The end of the trip came faster than usual - it was just a bit shorter than our usual 10-14 days, but this is good for our aging bodies, as well as our overloaded calendars... I arrived back home in Chicago ten days before leaving for Spain. TB and Rose had a busy schedule ahead as well between travel and buying and selling houses this summer. 

We hugged each other at the airport and went to our separate concourses.  The E concourse is more than a ten minute walk from security. This airport is not United friendly. Below is the new hall to the E gates. It used to be a turn to the right just after security. No longer! A lot of grousing from those hiking down the hall. So it was not just senior citizens like me. And there was absolutely no notice of this before we landed.  The rental car center is another ten plus minutes walk. While the new airport is beautiful it is not user friendly.

we go on.... up next our last nine days in Chicago - lots of dinners with friends and a few entertainment events... say tuned