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Another Lighthouse Jun 2, 2009

JoAnn is determined to view all the light houses in Oregon. At first thought, Doug groaned internally figuring that there must be thousands of lighthouses in this state. But arriving at Umpqua Lighthouse today, he saw a map that listed only nine and he realized that we have already seen three of those on this trip. His sense of foreboding is diminished.

There is a museum in the Umpqua Lighthouse complex and we wondered through it. The second floor is dedicated to the history of the US Coast Guard through most of last century. There is an interesting map on the wall showing the approximate sites where Japanese Balloon Bombs struck in 1945. There were dots all over the west and into the Midwest. There was a plaque honoring a Coast Guard group that shot down ten of them in one day. Neither of us recall anything about these events so that is going to be an internet project for us.

We drove to Winchester Beach and explored that area. The MOCs meet there every fall to go crabbing and Laurie and Odel have stayed there as well so we wanted to check it out.

We drove to the Dean Creek Elk Refuge and didn’t see anything from the road so we turned back and went into town. The lady at the Umpqua Discovery Center told us that we should have been more patient as you can see elk there most any time of the day.

We stopped in at the Umpqua Discovery Center which Laurie and Odel had recommended. They have two exhibits that we were able to walk through and listen to wild life calls, read about the area and so on. The walls are done in murals so it appears that you are walking through the area that is being described. There is a trail that winds around and up and down which makes fantastic use of the space in the room. The other exhibit is a history of the area complete with talking models dressed in period clothes. The whole place is very well done. We remarked later that it rivals the room in Charlottetown PEI that details the history of the Canadian Confederation. As a rule we are not museum people, but the Umpqua Discovery Center is well worth the visit.

Also during the day we drove through a couple of the Oregon SP campgrounds. We are very impressed with the way Oregon manages their parks. They are clean and attractive and seem to be quite user friendly. We bought a year parking pass for $25 that will admit us into the parks that charge day use fees. We will probably more than break even on that.

Back home we walked to the casino for an early bird dinner. We each got Player’s Club cards which gave us a discount and had a nice meal. JoAnn had salmon and Doug had prime rib. It was a nice meal and the ambiance was very good. After dinner we got our freebie coffee mug for having a Players Club card. JoAnn has been wanting one so this was quite apropos.

The weather this evening is foggy and drizzly. For most of the day it was overcast but very comfortable to be playing tourist in.