Camping on the Coast

So I made it to another coast! Well, actually, it's still the same coast, but another area- I'm in Oregon! Monday night my dad, "his friend" Barb (Aren't you past the "friend" stage when you have a house together?), and I went camping on the coast. This is one of my favorite activities to do in Oregon because it combines three of my favorite things: the coast, camping, which I really enjoy, but do very infrequently, and marshmallows, which I experience a lot more often than camping.

Our usual camping spot is the Tillicum campground a little south of Waldport. It is not a state park, but part of the national forest camp community, in case anyone reading is interested in the classifications of campgrounds. It's not one of those campgrounds that is just parking spot upon parking spot with a little picnic table and a plug for a massive RV. At Tillicum, each site has enough room that if you need to get up and relieve yourself in the middle of the night, you can do it in the privacy of your own grounds without being on someone's doorstep. That's not the main reason we choose this campground, but it is a perk. We're out in the wilderness, acting as one with nature and the animals, right?

Anyway, we stayed for one night and actually had beautiful weather. At one point while roasting marshmallows, I stepped out of the site for a minute to look up through a break in the trees and was awestruck by the stars. Oregon is known for its constant cloud cover and mist, with the coast trying to best the rest of the state by adding wind to the usual climate. That night, however, it was so calm and clear, I could see the outline of every little star winking down on us. It was one of those moments that caused me to wonder what was on the other side of that huge blue blanket covering the earth. Seeing something so vastly unknown and out of our grasp is pretty refreshing in a world that seems to be shrinking at an increasing rate.

The next morning proved to be just as clear as the previous night had been. I crawled out of my tent to clear skies and the sun trying to poke its way through the trees. The ocean was a beautiful Caribbean aqua and if it wasn't for the 60 degree temperature, I might have thought I was back in Cuba! If Robert had been there, he probably would have wished he had brought his surfboard (and a wet suit, of course). The waves were moderate and clean, not that I know what I'm talking about, but the lack of wind made for a beautiful coastal setting.

After a delicious breakfast of coffee, bacon, omelets, and of course, bagels, prepared excellently by Chef Bob, we all went for a walk on the beach. On our beach scavenger hunt we found a sand castle fit for the Hugh Hefner of sea creatures, complete with moat and grotto, a few starfish, some washed up jellyfish, a sea lion (are they following me?) and a bunch of little sand crabs that scuttled into the sand with the last of the receding tide.

I also noticed that sea gulls on the Oregon coast seem to take after their human counterparts as far as diet (Oregon is consistently rated the fastest state west of the Rockies, although not to be too harsh, there aren't that many states to choose from.) Oregon gulls are very robust and well fed, probably due to their diet of delicious crab. They scour the shallow waters for crabs and when the time is right, they dive, snatch them by the claw, drag them up to the sand and pull them apart with their beaks until the crabs can no longer run away from them. It's equally as disturbing as it is fascinating. And really, I can't blame the gulls because they get to eat crab all day! Delicious! If I had a beak and better eyesight, I would do the same. So we came across a sea gull that had nabbed a monster crab and was trying to eat his meal while also guarding all the dismembered parts from the other gulls. Of course my dad being the Republican that he is, he wanted to step in and distract the gull who caught the crab so that all the other gulls could get a fair share of his catch. Oh wait, that's not how capitalism works, is it, Dad?

After we all enjoyed a good read and snooze on the beach, we ended our trip having clam chowder and a locally brewed Rogue at Mo's. Dessert at the local candy store and we were on our way back to the valley.