Camping? What camping?

I was so hopeful in July that I would be having a summer filled with camping. Silly me! Between summer school, friends moving, home remodeling and much moving/chaos at my school... it just hasn't happened. For instance... my classroom hasn't been painted in over 10 years and the walls are downright nasty. When I asked my principal if my room could get painted, she replied "sure it can - if you do it!". So, I spent this weekend "camped out" in my classroom, painting. Check out the mess I made:

My plan is to bust my tush this week and finish the room. Then... I will spend the weekend on Mt. Hood and have some real camping adventures to post. Until then, I'll be spending my time at Camp Painting Sucks! But it only took me 20 minutes to figure out how to post a video onto this blog tonight. So even if I'm not camping... I am accomplishing my goal to be learning about how to do this. :) And by the way, my principal is NOT a fan of the color I chose to paint my room but the kids in my summer school classes love it. Wait till she sees the trim color (green) and the furniture color (dark purple)... she'll regret letting me do this!

Sunset Bay State Park

The drive from Bandon, Oregon to the Sunset Bay state Campground is about 24 miles on a twisty, turny road that you're supposed to do 25mph on. Ha ha ha! The campground itself is pretty standard for state campgrounds, but the sites are actually kinda small. My tent, which is only 10' by 10', barely fit on the site. However... the hot showers are REALLY hot and you don't have to keep pushing the little button to get water the whole time. It's an actual turning faucet, just like a regular bathroom! I know... hot showers feature way too heavily into my choices... sue me!

The day-use beach area is awesome though. It's sheltered, shallow and a tiny bit warmer so it is perfect for dogs, families, kayaks, rafts, boogie boards, etc... I spent hours laying on a big towel listening to giggling children, people watching, reading, snacking and drinking iced tea and then made the fatal mistake of relaxing so much that I fell asleep. Of course, when I woke up I didn't reapply sunscreen like an intelligent person would. Nope... I was hot, so I went walking through that nice, shallow water. It wasn't until that evening that I realized that I had burnt the back of my legs and arms to a crisp!

There's a series of trails from that day-use area that lead to several more small bays and their beaches. The trails also lead to Cape Arago and to Shore Acres State Park. Since my sunburn was bad enough that I didn't dare expose my arms and legs to more sun the next day, I donned jeans and spent the day hiking the trails. After sleeping in late, of course!

One of the more interesting trails was the Pack Trail. The trail is steep but it's in the shade and was beautiful to hike. It follows part of an old wagon road that led from Shore Acres to Bandon. I'm no athlete, but am in decent shape and was sweaty as all heck within a few minutes of walking UP, Up, Up this trail. I can't imagine the poor horses pulling a loaded wagon along this trail. As I was hiking, just about a half mile in, I came upon 3 teenage girls in pajama pants and sweatshirts (what is it with teenage girls and sweatshirts? On hot summer days!) who immediately stopped all conversation the minute they saw me. But they were NOT happy campers! LOL Another half mile up the trail I ran into mom and dad and brother. They were in shorts and tees and were enthusiastically picking up garbage from the forest alongside the trail. I had a hard time holding my laughter until I was well past. I wasn't sure where my sympathies should lie... with the parents who had grumpy, unhappy teens or with the teens who had cheery, eager parents! LOL!

On the trail, you can "visit" a WWII radar observation post. They're kind of like cement lean-tos. They were used to guard the coast from enemy invasion or attack. Now, they're either used by a serial killer (it looks sooooo Criminal Minds in there!) or by the local teens as a hangout. Or both!

I'm not a flower sort of person, but the trail is full of these beautiful purple flowers with this intricate pattern on the inside of the petals. Now this is how much of a teacher I am... as I'm walking and looking at these flowers and the bees that are all over them, I can't stop thinking about Ms. Frizzle. Our last unit in kindergarten this year was on plants. We watched a video where Ms. Frizzle explained how bees used the patterns within petals as "landing lights" that show them where the nectar is. So here I am hiking and "relaxing" and all I can think of is "I gotta get a picture to show the kids!" - pathetic!

After all that hot hiking, I made a huge salad and heated up some absolutely delicious fried chicken that I'd found in Bandon and went to bed fairly early. It's amazing how a day filled with steep hiking gets you ready for an early bedtime! Sadly, I had to pack up the next morning and head back to reality.

Bullards Beach State Park

I had a few days between ending the school year and beginning summer school. So, I finished up with my classroom in the late afternoon and drove to Manzanita, Oregon to spend the night in a cheap hotel. The next morning, I drove down Highway 101 to Bandon, Oregon. The drive took about 6 hours, at a very relaxed pace. Bandon is one of my favorite coastal towns in Oregon and I often choose to stay at Bullards Beach State Park. The downsides of this park are that the sites are definitely NOT private and they cost about $24 a night. I was a little bummed about listening to the neighbors tv (in their giant rv) until my brain worked out that I could play my Pandora stations on my iphone! So I (very quietly and respectfully) played my "what a wonderful world" station while sipping blackberry wine and eating the most delicious cookies from a little bakery in Old Town Bandon by the fire. HV Cellars makes fabulous blackberry and cranberry wines. I highly recommend them for fireside sipping!

However, there are also upsides to a state park. I spent very little time at my site and a state park is a pretty safe and secure place to leave your belongings for the day. Especially since I'm in a car with a broken window that will not roll up! Considering that every loop in the park has a retired couple watching over the sites, it's as secure a place to leave things as you're going to get camping with a car open to the world! And did I mention that state parks have showers? Hot showers? I love camping and I love camping out in the middle of nowhere... but I LOVE hot showers! I'm working on this issue for future adventures. Another upside is also that everyone I've come across is very friendly, very willing to stop and BS for a while and very happy to lend a hand (or a match, if you forget to pack them!)if needed. It's interesting (and sweet) that whenever I camp alone, the hosts and other campers all stop by to see if I need anything, if I'm doing ok and if I need any help taking that tent down all by myself! LOL :) I have not yet met another woman camping alone in my travels, although I'm sure they're out there. You get very interesting reactions from people, I'll tell ya.

One of the things that I love about the southern Oregon coast is that it is never crowded. Especially from my perspective, having grown up on the East Coast. I don't have to walk very far at all to be completely alone on the beach. I spent two wonderful early evenings, leaning against driftwood and reading while waiting for the sunset. Such an absolute luxury for me!

I spent the first day sleeping in late, shopping in Old Town Bandon and then walking to the beach for sunset. Old Town Bandon is full of restaurants and shops, but not as touristy as those on the northern coast. There's a long dock where you can rent pots and catch crab - or just bother those that are trying! I was chatting with a family, when a harbor seal popped up in the water behind them. Cutest thing EVER, but the kids were completely unfazed. Turns out the little cutie had been trying to steal their bait and they were ready to wring its cute little neck!
I spent the second day sleeping in late (yes, this is a must when I'm camping!) and walking to the Coquille River Lighthouse.

It's a nice walk from the campground to the lighthouse along the river - SO relaxing! Then I packed up my tent (yes... all by my little self!) and started off for my next destination.