Face Rock Wayside

          It seemed to me that there were sites I had wanted to capture in photos as we were leaving Bandon to go to Coos Bay.  As they were behind me, I figured I would wait and take photos as we drove into Bandon on Sunday morning after we had checked out of our room.  However, the fog was so dense I couldn’t see whatever I thought I wanted to take pictures of.

          We arrived at Face Rock.  Roland dropped Jenna and I off at the lookout and went to find someplace to park. 

Jenna and I waited at the top.  I blindly took several pictures as I could only see my own reflection. 

notice the guardrail from very top pics

This photo was lightened

Jenna and I had not noticed the stairs that led to the beach and wondered how the people we saw had gotten there.

this is the trail we climbed down in the fog

And then we saw Roland – who had written a message in the sand – though we couldn’t see it until after we found the stairs and he showed it to us.

photo IDs Jenna's real name

So these are some of the pictures that he took:

lightened photo

Jenna, of course, wanted to explore, which was fine.  While the maze was fun to walk, it seemed more enjoyable to me just to watch the movement of others . . . from a distance.

We’ll need to return at another time when Jenna may have time to explore the caves and such.

Lodging for One Night

Bandon is a few hundred less in population than is Myrtle Creek.  Unlike Myrtle Creek, Bandon draws crowds of people and tourism.  Thus Bandon offers a variety of lodging including hotels and beach houses to rent.  Denny Dyke and his team create these amazing labyrinth pathways called Circle in the Sand.  My friend had gone and told me that I should go because “it is so cool” (see here and  here).

          The last two days on schedule for this year were September 1 and 2, but nothing offered August 31 which is when Labor Day weekend started.  Because we hadn’t gone anywhere during the time that Roland had off, he felt gypped out of having stayed elsewhere over night.  Because there was no room in Bandon, we had found lodging in Coos Bay.

          After checking in to the hotel, we all went swimming.

          Roland decided he wanted German food for dinner and we went to the Blue Heron

          On the way back to the hotel, we went to Safeway.  Jenna had asked me to take this picture of her.

my girl LOVES Halloween

Bandon: Pier and Washed Ashore

          I don’t know what time we left the house on Saturday.  I had programmed the address for the Washed Ashore Gallery in Bandon, Oregon.  We arrived in Bandon sometime between 10:00 and 11:00.  We found a parking spot in the lot behind these two sculptures. 

The outside doors were open, but the inside doors were not.  We decided to walk around the town and ended up on the pier.  Here are some of the pictures that we took:

         There are perhaps 8 streets surrounded by two signs

A tourist trap which reminds me of Skagway or Newfoundland (which I have never been; I have only seen parts portrayed on television’s “the Republic of Doyle”

https://andersonvacations.ca/product/11-day-newfoundland-circumnavigation/?v=7516fd43adaa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandon,_County_Cork

https://thestylescribe.com/2016/07/23/skagway-alaska/

           We explored a few shops, purchased some fudge, got something to eat and made our way back to the museum which had opened.  

 So sad that so much waste has polluted the oceans and are killing the sea life.  These items and sculptures were made from the garbage that had been washed ashore

          And those are not all of the pictures that we took.  Learn more here and visit a washed ashore exhibit near you.  Hopefully each of them will provide a workshop opportunity for you to participate in assisting with future creation of other sculptures

stabbing Styrofoam pieces 

Jenna and Roland made spikes while I cut pieces

Roland moved to something more challenging

making pieces for a shark display

Dash LF#6 Irma & Bob and Mom & Dad

           I loved my brother’s descriptions (here) of a couple who had lived in my mom’s ward for most of Corey’s life. I had known the family who had lived in the house before them.  Lily Black and I were very close friends – until after she moved and we had lost touch. 

          I don’t know if I was still in high school when Howards moved into the house where Blacks had lived.  I don’t recall how many children they had as Blaine was the only one living at home.  He had an older brother who was serving a mission.  I met him for the first time when I was going to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.  He had come to drop something off.  I don’t even remember what.  I recognized him as I thought he looked so much like his dad.

          I’m guessing that Bob and Irma were in their sixties when they had moved into our neighborhood.  Over the years we learned a bit about where they were from, how they met, why Bob’s speech sounded as though he were struggling to get the words out.  Everybody in the ward had to have known that they were from Logan and had been raised in much different generation in which things were always a certain way and there was no change.  They missed seeing the world evolve around them.

          But oh, what love and devotion each of them had for the other. We especially noticed it with Bob after Irma had surrendered her mind to Alzheimer’s.  She became fragile and he kept her at home and doted on her.  I did not see them so much after I got married, but had heard about how each of them was doing.

          My own parents saw the world differently.  They knew life outside of Logan, Utah.  They experienced change.  They were aware of diversity.  And they loved each other every bit as Bob and Irma loved one another.  Many years before Bob took care of Irma with her unstable mind, my mom had catered to my dad’s needs as his brain stopped sending signals to control his muscles.  Both couples experienced unconditional love for one another – the kind of love I would be willing to adapt into my own marriage.  Making our love stronger with each passing year and giving to one another more than 100%. 

Labor Day Weekend

          Roland said he wanted to take Jenna to Universal this weekend as it was/is a three-day weekend and Jenna will be returning to school on Wednesday. What?!?!??  Never mind that we don’t have the money, but the idea of being in a car for over 24 hour drive and just one day . . . no thank you.  I don’t even like going down to Medford which is less than two hours away.  I think the car is to blame for my misshaped body.  Seriously.

          A friend suggested to me that I should go to the Circles of Sand in Bandon found here.  I thought it started on Saturday, but the two days left for the summer schedule were the first two days of September which didn’t start until today.

          She also told me to go to the “Washed Ashore Gallery” found here. Because Roland was looking for a get-away, I figured Bandon was closer.  We could go to the gallery on Saturday and stay over night so that we could go to Circles in the Sand today – which we did.  So even though all the activities and events we had come to visit in Bandon were free, the food and lodging was not.  I knew that we would overspend – but not near the amount of debt had we gone to Universal (if my pretzel body would have lived that long)

          I texted the primary president to tell her that I would be out of town and would not be there for church figuring Danny had the lesson – but they like to have two instructors sit with each class.  The primary president called me back right away to tell me I would be released today (I had made the request two months ago) and that Danny would become her new secretary and that her former secretary and her husband would be called to teach the Valiants and that they would start today.

          Whether I was released today or not, I don’t know. I do know that I will now be able to attend Relief Society and finally get to know the sisters who DON’T come to the activities.  Meanwhile I have at least three posts to share about just this weekend.  I don’t know when they will get written.  I am very tired right now and would like to go to bed.