Camping in Coos Bay

This was my second of three camping trips this summer with each of my kids.  My oldest went on a team building trip with the other junior highers in her school last fall to Coos Bay. She shared about the amazing beaches and tide pools.  I was excited she wanted to share this with me.  I told her we could two nights in a tent or one night in a yurt.  She chose the one night in the yurt.  We DO like to camp, but we have a little bit of a comfort threshold.  Relaxing in the heated, cozy yurt with a book was part of the whole experience for us.

I have not been past Florence southbound along the 101.  I was in Florence years ago on a youth group camp out and the weather was hazy, cool and slightly rainy.  The weather in Coos Bay started that way, but the clouds broke off.  We were blessed with sun and comfortable temperatures almost the whole time.

Our first destination was going to be Simpson Beach. This was the oldest's favorite place of the whole trip last fall. When putting Simpson Beach into the GPS, we were lead to a wayside park in North Bend.  I thought this could be our first stop because it was before we get into Coos Bay.  We were in the middle of a neighborhood and Hailey said, "This is not Simpson Beach."  There was a park, playground, and beach access.  I said, "Are you sure this is not where you were?"  She was pretty certain.

Thankfully there was a little information booth at the park and the volunteer told us we were probably thinking of Simpson Beach in Shore Acres State Park in Coos Bay.  I soon realized there are many parks and beaches named after the Simpsons.  And no that would not be Homer, Marge, or Bart.  We learned that Louis J Simpson served the south coast in the early 1900's as an advocate and builder.  He brought railroad service to Coos Bay, helped build Highway 101, and invested in several businesses bringing about expansion.  Simpson built a large seaside mansion for his wife that we figured out was at Shore Acres State Park where we would eventually end up.

But first we stopped at Southwestern Oregon Community College which was on the way to the state parks.  A little over a year ago, I decided to pursue an associates degree in early childhood education and family studies.  I was apprehensive about going back to school again.  I did not want this to be a program I invested in and never finished.  I chose SWOCC because they were the only community college with their entire program on line.  The classes have been amazing, practical, and helpful as I pursue a career as a preschool teacher.  I got to see my college, meet my early childhood professor in person, and get a tour of "Family Center."

With college credits that transferred into the SWOCC program, I have almost completed the first year.  I would like to graduate Spring of 2019, Lord willing.

Then we headed to Shore Acres State Park and hiked down to Simpson Beach.  There were many rock formations to climb on.  We hiked inside a cave and saw several crabs. Mostly I enjoy the smell of the ocean and the thrust of the waves.

The water was clear in many areas and a glowing turquoise color.  It looked very different from the central coast where we usually travel to.

We found several sea anemones in the various tide pools along with some sea stars and little fish.

There were many of these "holey" rocks that was formed by both the sand and waves.  The sand is coarse made of ground up shell and rock.  It is not like the soft, thin sand you would find in Lake Michigan.

We walked through the botanical gardens which were next to the restored mansion that Simpson had built for his wife in the early 1990's.

Then we camped at Sunset Bay State Park which was less than a mile down the road.  I was impressed with the park itself---relatively quiet at night, decent size lots, and the beach access was close.

We hung out on the beach in the evening.  The water was surprisingly not freezing cold, but not exactly warm enough for swimming comfortably.

The next morning we hiked part of the coastal trail from Shore Acres State Park to Simpson Reef.  We passed through this beautiful meadow with lots of wildflowers.

You cannot see it very well in the picture, but Simpson Reef is one of the primary spots to view sea lions and seals.  We heard them all barking as we got closer to the viewing area.  They were lounging on the rocks and swimming around the cliffs.  Someone had a nice camera and zoomed in so we could see the sea lions up close.

There were some beautiful viewpoints along the hike.  I would love to come back someday and do the whole trail all the way to Cape Arago.  

On the way back to Salem, we stopped at Mo's in Florence for chowder.  This is one of my favorite coastal restaurants.

I have one more overnight camping trip planned with my son.  Then a weekend trip to the coast with all three kids and others from our church in the fall when our sabbatical will have concluded.  My fire building and outdoor cooking skills have improved significantly for my early camping trip days with the youth group!