I have a few pictures from October 27 when we were at Sunset Bay that I wanted to add today.


While we were there enjoying our RV Burgers, hot off the stove, Scrabble Queen noticed this little girl playing in the surf. She looked a lot like Grand-Daughter #2 so I got a couple of pictures. Here is one of them.


We went a little further south toward Cape Arago and stopped at Seal Town at Simpson's Reef. There were hundreds of seals/sea lions and assorted birds flying around.


From a distance it just looks like some pretty scenery with huge rocks in the water but the sound of the bellowing seals is almost deafening.


Back at Coos Bay and the RV park we noticed a large area, about a mile or two long that was fenced off near the water. On closer inspection I could see an old worn out/falling apart boardwalk.


It runs parallel to the bay from north to south or vice versa (whichever you prefer) and was probably all of the old Mill's property, complete with several docks and short piers.

You can get some idea of the beauty along the boardwalk in these pictures. All it needs is a secure boardwalk and some landscaping and it will be a beautiful place for a walk.


Several old valves appear out of the weeds a sign of past prosperity.


There is a lot of work that needs to be done.


Looking South East we can see another pier.


There is still some traffic on the Bay, like this tug boat named the David Brusco pulling ......


... a barge full of logs (dead tree bodies) to the working mill just south of the Mill Casino.


So what is that behind the barge?


It's the Captain Louie a smaller tug used to help guide the barge.


I walked a little south toward the Casino and to get a better look at the boardwalk and the gulls that call it home or maybe it's their resort, sheltered from the ocean wind.


They seem to like the pilings for resting between scaring up food from the bay or tourists who toss them leftover French fries and hamburger buns.


The boardwalk is far from being completed.


But the gull could care less as long as they are free to plop and rest.


The old boardwalk and structures make for some nice pictures. I really enjoyed snapping picture after picture.


I look directly south and see the Mill Casino a very nice place for entertainment from fine food to a great buffet or playing the slots or even a great nights stay.





I walked back to the Musemobile with a camera full of pictures.




Pictures I really liked for the character of the old boardwalk and the blue of cook Bay.


rivers are a really cool bunch of people. This cabaret of Happy faces belongs to a couple from Eureka, California who own a bar. Nice people who enjoy traveling and meeting new people.


Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 295 - The Contender 321

Quote of the Day ~

"“He is a glorified gutter rat from a dying New Jersey town who walks with an easy swagger that is part residual stage presence, part boardwalk braggadocio. He nurtures the look of a lowlife romantic even though he does not smoke, scarcely drinks and disdains every kind of drug."” ~ Jay Cocks from a Time Magazine article about Bruce Springsteen.

Jay Cocks is a film critic and motion picture screenwriter.

He is a graduate of Kenyon College. He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, amongst other magazines, before graduating to film writing.

He worked with Martin Scorsese on The "Age of Innocence", as well as "Gangs of New York". He also worked with James Cameron on "Strange Days".

Coos Bay

Well we are off in the Musemobile again. This time it's to North Bend, Coos Bay, Charleston, Midway Sunset Bay and Cape Arago. We began in North Bend at the Mediterranean Cafe. This middle-eastern cafe was visited by Rachael Ray on her $40 a day tour so we had to try it. Tasty food (not like mother used to make) with a slightly different taste from what I had growing up but very good.


Then we hit the RV park at the Mill Casino. The RV park overlooks Coos Bay where the Coos river comes west to the Pacific Ocean and forms the bay. Members of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, Siuslaw and Coquille tribes lived, hunted, fished and gathered food along the bay and its estuaries, area rivers, and in the forests and meadows. Now they own a casino on the ocean like Donald Trump.


The sunrise here is spectacular. This is looking east across the bay from our RV spot.


Early morning and a tug is pushing a barge north on the bay and on the barge is a rather large crane. There is a little construction between us and the bay while they are renovating the boardwalk.


The colors at sunset are very nice for picture taking good light and deeper colors.


This is just before sunrise the second day again looking across the bay to where the Coos river joins the bay.


South of North Bend and Coos Bay is Sunset Bay State Park. And just a little south is Cape Arago. British and Spanish sea captains made the first approaches to the South Coast Coos Head at entrance to Coos Bay beginning about 400 years ago. Sir Francis Drake is said to have sought shelter for the Golden Hinde somewhere near Cape Arago in 1579, but few white explorers visited the region by land until the 1820's. Legendary trader and adventurer Jedediah Smith journeyed through the region seeking furs and Hudson's Bay company dispatched Alexander McLeod to search for an inland passage.


This is an especially beautiful spot and was actually the first place we visited when we started RVing with our Flagstaff trailer pulled by the Mini-Musemobile. There are roots of trees embedded in the sand of the bay we found out about at low tide when The Mad Scientist and Writ Woman visited us earlier this year. This is one of those root relics still showing despite the mid tide bay.


This seaweed looks a lot like a discarded bouquet languishing in the sand.


Sometimes the seaweed flotsam is very nicely arranged and other times it is a tangled mess


I really like this spot at the bay where the creek comes in mostly for the gentle curves and deep blue reflections.


This log in the creek gives an eerie tone looking like a giant croc with mouth open (mirrored image) ready to devour anything around.


This log being hollowed out almost looks like a shark complete with dorsal fin and open jaws.


So here is the Musemobile resting after the short drive and a great hamburger lunch.


No that's not a shadow of the seagull it IS a Raven/Crow/Blackbird - oh heck - it's some kind of black bird.


The seagull hung around for a closer picture. I wonder if he's related to Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Jonathan Livingston Seagull as written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice.

First published in 1970 as “Jonathan Livingston Seagull - a story”, it became a favourite on American university campuses. By the end of 1972, over a million copies were in print, ReaderÂ’s Digest had published a condensed version, and the book reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list where it remained for 38 weeks. It is still in print as of 2006.

Bach said the book was inspired by John H. "Johnny" Livingston, a barnstorming pilot during the 1920s and 1930s. ~ Source Wikipedia


Can you hear me now - cute and that's exactly what Scrabble Queen is saying after exiting the Musemobile for open air and a better cellular connection.


Then there is the Kayak Guy who, after donning his wet suit, set out for the bay. At first I thought he was an ocean Kayak kind of guy but he just hung out in the bay catching waves and surfing in toward shore.


It's probably a good thing he stayed in the bay because the waves in the ocean were pretty fierce and the path to the ocean was very rocky.


He seemed to be having a great time and it looks like a lot of fun. I'm sure it's something Mattme would like to try some time.


Scrabble score ~

Scrabble queen 317 - the contender 295 - (Well yea but I won last night and should have done a blog then)

Quote of the Day -

"And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it" ~ Neil Diamond from the song Be from the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Golfing on My Birthday (October 20)

Okay, so today is my birthday and a big party is planned for dinnertime. Before dinner Ed and I went to play golf at Middfield in Cottage Grove. Ed always remembers this course by the statue at the clubhouse. It's a pretty interesting statue made mostly of fencing wire (kinda like barbed wire [bobwire in Texas] and something sheet metal.


It is Autumn here and the leaves are red, gold, purple and green a pretty sight much like when we lived in New England.


This is looking back down the 9th fairway where we will end the round today.


Ed's tee shot off of the first tee. You can see the ball to the left of the white rock if you click on the picture to enlarge.


I put the camera away for the 2nd and 3rd holes but here is Ed's tee shot on the 4th. To see the ball in this picture enlarge the picture and look above the hood of the red 18 wheeler on Interstate 5 behind the green. Nice shot Ed, but the best is yet to come.


When we moved to Oregon Andrew called this the Taco Bell hole because the billboard to the left of the green was a Taco Bell ad. Now it's the Carl's Junior hole. It's 123 yards with traps to the left and right and a pond to the right as well.



Well Ed proceeds to take out his 5 wood, a Calloway Big Bertha 5 wood, and hits the yellow ball he's using on a path to glory. Straight, low and hitting just a little short of the green. But that's not the end of the story. The ball proceeds forward along the green for about 20 feet, up a rise on the green another 16 feet and ...............................into.................the ................Hole!!! For a hole-in-one. Well I ended up with a 4 and lost 3 strokes after being ahead by two. It's an amazing thing to see a hole in one personally. For Ed it's nothing new I think he's had about for of them in his golfing past (50 or so years). I haven't heard of many 84 year old golfers getting a hole-in-one.

Way to go Ed!!

Looking at the fall colors in Oregon is too cool and to be able to play golf on a beautiful day with Ed was very special. This is the sixth tee, it's a long straight hole and I breathed a sigh of relief that Ed would not get a hole-in-one here.


Ed hit his one bad shot of the day on this very short (74 yards) hole you can see the ball veering to the right just above and to the right of the stake to the right of the green. I got a par 3 on this hole to catch back up with Ed.


The eighth hole is another long par four and we tied this one.


The last hole we played is this long par four beautifully maintained and lined with fall colors.


Ed's last tee shot was long and straight but I beat him on this hole to eke out a one stroke win for the round (Ed says he let me win for my birthday). Well I reported Ed's one shot on the fifth hole to the clubhouse and they put Ed's achievement in the newspaper - and Ed ended up with a trophy as well.


I was a big winner though with a wonderful dinner of home made lasagna and wonderful cake and time with those I love who could be there and notes or calls from those that couldn't show. Life is good!!!!!!

Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 345 --- the contender 324 Boo Hiss

Quote of the Day.

"I'm 46; I don't really feel 46. I didn't hit the ball like I was 46. I putted like I was 66." ~ Fred Couples Professional Golfer has won 15 PGA tour titles. Fred was born in Seattle just north of our home in Oregon and Lives in Santa Barbara just south of here and Attended my Alma Mater, University of Houston. He is one of the most liked of the tour pros and always has a smile.