And back to Oregon we go! We had gone back in May with our friends Jason and Andi, and we were so excited to make another trip back to Florence. We piled into their car in the middle of November (sorry, didn't get a chance to publish it until now--work and school are are crazy these days). We sang, told stories, made each other laugh with family oddities, and played weird car-travel games on the 10-hour trip to the coast.
Our first stop was in Bend, Oregon. We Yelped the best breakfast spots and found ourselves at the McKay Cottage. Oh my goodness--it was good. I had the cottage potatoes and a buttermilk biscuit and was in complete heaven.
After our short pit-stop in Bend, we traveled on to the coast, heading straight for the beach. On our last trip to Florence, Daniel and I found 718 agates. We were itching to get back out to the beach to see if that was a one-off beginner's luck agate-finding spree or if we were going to be that lucky yet again. To our elation, the agates were again out in full force (along with the sun!) during our weekend voyage. It didn't take long to fill our fanny packs with some sweet finds at Bob Creek outside Yachats, and while we didn't count the agates this trip, we sure found quite a haul.
We poked around Bob Creek and Strawberry Hill that first evening until our stomachs were telling us it was time for dinner! We wound up at Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats, and ordered the only thing you order when you're on the Oregon Coast--fish and chips. Man oh man, they were delicious! From the agate hunting to the fish and chips, our first day on the coast was worth the trip in itself.
Our second day on the coast was an adventure. We began the morning doing homework (oh, the joys of pursuing a Masters degree and having to write research papers), and then drove down to Coos Bay for some fresh oysters. We pondered around a gift shop and headed back to Florence, loving the time we spent down there (gift shop, food, drive), but the weather down south from Florence was in the low 40's, cloudy, and drizzly, while it was back up in the 60's and sunny where we were staying. So after our tour of Coos Bay and surrounding towns, we headed back north for some more adventures.
That evening, we found ourselves at the Stillwagon Distillery in Florence, sampling all of the delicious rums that Devil's Own had to offer. Of all the flavors, I loved the cranberry rum (to mix with soda or gingerale!) and cinnamon rum the most. We sampled quite a few of the flavors (or almost all, to be frank) and headed home to grill up some of those fresh oysters we purchased in Coos Bay.
After getting our fill of seafood, we gallivanted off to the Three Rivers Casino to lose a bit (truly only a bit!) of money. It was only my third time gambling ever--the first had been with Jason & Andrea back in May--so I didn't have high expectations for my gambling skills. After ups and downs and slots and lots of triple butterflies, we headed home and--despite gambling losses--rejoiced in a successful day.
I began the third morning with a quiet before-the-sunrise run along Siuslaw river. The way the dunes creep along the coastline is really majestic (how else do you describe it?) and since I couldn't sleep in any longer, a peaceful run around Florence was just the ticket to start my day off right.
After my run and a visit to the local coffee shop, we took the short drive to Stonefield beach. While we didn't have much luck with agates, the beach was beautiful, serene, and totally empty. We simply couldn't believe our luck with the weather that weekend, it was nicer than it was when we were there in May--in late fall!
As you can see, our agate hunting on the third day proved to be successful. We visited Bob Creek again and realized that Mondays on the beach are the best because everyone else was at work and we had the agates all to ourselves. In fact, Daniel and I found a huge rock that was pretty magical indeed, because every time the waves hit it, new agates seemed to wash up alongside it. We stood there for at least 20 minutes and gathered one to two agates with each new wave. Daniel's were all really amazing; mine were just OK. But it was still a pretty surreal thing to just watch these little (or big, in Daniel's case) agates wash up at our feet time and time again.
After everyone hauled in a giant load of agates (Daniel, Andrea, and Jason found some REALLY big ones!--mine in the photo above do not do theirs justice!), we shopped around Yachats for a while before grabbing drinks, eating delicious Mexican food, and watching Monday Night Football (go Chiefs!!!) at Traveler's Cove in Florence. And how better to spend the rest of our evening than at the casino (again!)--except this time we went home with money, unlike previous adventures. Now, we didn't really WIN anything, we just didn't LOSE anything either. In fact, I played slots for about two hours and walked away with what I came in with... I'd consider that a win after all!
None of us were particularly excited to head home to Boise the next day, but alas--work was calling and our turtle needed to be fed, so off we went. It always seems like our trips to the coast are not long enough, and they keep getting better each time we go back. We didn't count our agates this trip, but this time it wasn't so much about that. It was a great trip with our friends, and we made some fun memories along the way.
I know I've been posting a lot of travels lately, but that's been our life these days. Why not, right? I'm just so grateful for my job, for weekends off, for good friends, and for people who I get to spend my life with (Daniel, friends and family), who like to adventure as much as I do! Stay tuned for more adventures to come.
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