Residence: Southern California
Occupation: Accountant (of sorts)
I wish my company gave us more than two weeks vacation because one big trip a year just isn't enough!
I love travelling as much as the next guy on TravelBlog. I wish I could fill my map with cities and countries from all around the world. But there is something to be said about travelling locally...and repeatedly.
These days it makes sense for me to travel within the United States. As you can see from the number of blogs I have posted on it, I really enjoy visiting the Oregon Coast. It's like watching a movie over and over. So much is missed on the first go. You see so much more on the second and third sitting. Typically tourists see something once, take a picture of it, and move on to the next thing. This always makes me feel a little guilty. I want to see a place again and again so that I can really appreciate it.
In my travels I like to learn about what makes my destination unique. Culture, history, geologic makeup, whatever. To me these are just as important as what I did when I was there. You will find a lot of detailed information in my writing.
NOTE: I try to be as factual as possible in my blogs, but I am still not citeworthy!
It has been 100 years since the Titanic sideswiped that iceberg. If she had hit it dead on then there wouldn’t be as much interest in her because she wouldn’t have sunk. She would have limped her way to New York. There wouldn’t be so many books, documentaries, and dramas about her. We wouldn’t have the theme parks and we wouldn’t have the exhibits. I’ve been absorbing all that I can these past couple of weeks through word and video. The centennial of the infamous plunge into the pond has sparked my interest. I love history and the Titanic is endlessly fascinating. What more appropriate way to indulge my fascination than with a visit to the Titanic exhibit at the Natural History Museum (theNAT) in San Diego. I got lucky that the centennial fell on a
... read moreI hope this doesn't come as a huge shock. We decided to stay here in Bandon. The whole point of this trip was to assess the viability of residing here. Sure it's a small town, but it's doable. We found a studio above a candy store that is going for $550 with a view of the port and river. We saw a sign in the shop window. Classic! I was talking to my massage therapist (fan-bloody-tastic by the way) about how she ended up here and she convinced me that it's not such a far-fetched idea. This is our fourth trip up here in three years. I've talked to a lot of different people about how they make a living. There is a large retirement population here but that doesn't bother us one bit. Older people
... read moreMost times when someone sets out to write a recount of their travels it’s a listing of the day’s events and why it was so cool. I’ve done this countless times. I decided that this time I wanted to provide a small insight into the mind of the person behind the camera. Whether or not this is a good thing you can decide. ----- The closest body of water to my house in Southern California is a man-made river across the street that barely has any water in it. We have a pool but the water is too cold to swim in and the neighbor’s parrots make it hard to enjoy the backyard. Noise – we have lots of noise: parrots, traffic, car stereos, and house parties. Until an off switch is created, how do you
... read moreWould you like to live on the Oregon coast? – Yes! Would you like a town home or a right-next-to-the-ocean home? – Ocean home, please. Please specify the size of this new home. – I would like it THIS big, thanks. Not a problem. It’ll cost several thousand dollars and a couple of years to clear the brush and construct the building. See you then! ----- That’d be pretty awesome, right! Long story short, this guy named Louis J. Simpson purchased the land you see in the photos from a squawman (white man married to a squaw Indian woman) in 1905. The land was wild back then and covered by thick growth. Can you imagine finding a place like this completely wild and full of potential? – Scary and exhilarating. This Simpson guy cleared the land
... read moreEach Christmas shopping season, the Bandon Chamber of Commerce offers an incentive to the community to make purchases in its own town. If you spend more than $85 at gift shops or restaurants and bring your receipts to the Chamber of Commerce, you will receive one of four Commemorative Pint Glasses featuring Industries of Bandon: cranberries, timber, fishing, and golf. This offer is pretty cool and got us thinking that we should actually check out the shops around town. Whenever we come to the coast, we don’t usually do a whole lot of shopping. I’m more than satisfied with the photos I get to bring back home. This time we figured we’d at least take a look around and see what this town has to offer. It would do us some good to actually be around
... read moreI was so relaxed when I woke up this morning that I felt like I had melted into the bed. I opened my eyes and could see the ocean through the back sliding glass door. Without moving an inch, I could see the horizon and the life-force of the ocean at work. If Mother Nature hadn’t have beckoned me, I would not have moved from my special place. Let me rewind a bit. My boyfriend and I have come to Bandon once again. This is our fourth time here. Yes yes, I know we could have gone somewhere new, but this is the place I think about when I’m stressed or down. Bandon is my happy place. Besides, you cannot see everything there is to see in one visit. We always see something new each time
... read moreToday has been such an exciting day! When I opened my eyes this morning I saw no rain coming down outside. I could see patches of blue sky! Yesterday it rained all day (3 inches!), so we mostly stayed inside. But not today! Today has arguably been the most exciting day on our entire trip. Here’s a list of today’s adventures: 1. Stopped at Devil’s Churn 2. Went up to Cape Perpetua Overlook (great view as always!) 3. Stopped at Spouting Horn on the way back to cabin and spoke with two whale watching guides who are out for Whale Watching Week – they shared some very interesting stories 4. Made a stop at Strawberry Hill (just the name of the stop, there aren’t any strawberries) – saw sea lions! 5. Went back to our cabin
... read moreWe made it to Yachats! This place is naturally more peaceful than Bandon. Grant you the place we’re staying in isn’t actually in the town of Yachats – it’s on the outer edge. Less white noise comes from the ocean. Bandon has a lot of big rock formations for white noise to bounce off of – this place doesn’t. Also, we actually get cell signal here and the Wi-Fi is stronger than it used to be. The technology on both ends has been improved in the last two years! (Note: Turns out both signals get very weak in crappy weather so they are both going in and out.) It has been raining ever since we arrived. The rain has actually been coming down since we woke up this morning in Bandon. Trying to get our stuff
... read moreAlas today is our last day in Bandon. Our stay here has been fun as it always is. These past two days have been particularly interesting. Yesterday was Christmas and today we went to other places along Bandon Beach that we haven’t been to before. We had a nice and lazy Christmas day yesterday. It rained just about all day. We opened presents, Skyped with my boyfriend’s family, and ate lots of food. :) For lunch (which was supposed to be for breakfast) we ate pancakes and sausage that we cooked up here in the room. For a huge chunk of the day we sat inside playing on our computers. While that sounds like the most boring day ever, I assure you it was not. We quite enjoy our video games and food. Besides, we were
... read moreHere I am on Christmas Eve, sitting in our room at the Sunset Motel in Bandon, Oregon writing to you. At this moment, I can’t think of a cooler place to spend Christmas. I know you are supposed to spend Christmas with family but this year my boyfriend and I wanted a change of scenery. We decided to have our first Christmas together (with just the two of us) in our favorite little town on the Southern Oregon Coast. As some of you already know, we have made the trek from Southern California to the Southern Oregon Coast twice before in the past two years. We keep returning for the peace and quiet and for the gorgeous views too. This time around we will be visiting Bandon (surprise!) and Yachats (yes again). :) Our trip began
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