Just kidding! My favorite hat has felt a little snug lately. 8 years of pretty constant use in all types of weather has taken its toll. I knew The Penman Hat Company, where I purchased the hat, was in Oregon. As it turns out, John’s shop was close enough on our route to stop by for a consultation about the hat’s shrinking. To my surprise, my hat didn’t shrink, my head got fatter! Who knew that when you add a couple of pounds to the waistline, a bit goes on the melon as well! The Penman Hat Company is a custom hat shop and John’s customer service is amazing. As I type, he is reworking my hat to fit my new size, adding a new liner and such, and generally tuning the hat up. I just need to cover the cost of the materials! Amazing! John, as it turns out, is the hat maker for the stars. He makes hats for stars like James Spader in The Blacklist.
How could I forget to blog about the Port Orford Headland, thank you Astrid for reminding me. If you have limited time while travelling along the Oregon coast, I recommend 3 stops: 1) Cape Perpetua, 2) Heceta Lighthouse and 3) the Port Orford Headland. Originally a coast guard station, today there are walking trails, a coast guard museum, sea lions and beautiful vistas.
The Coast Guard Station operated from 1934 to 1970. Lookouts manned a 37ft tower on the headland point watching the ocean for distress signals. When one was seen, the ‘surfmen’ would run down 532 slippery steps to the boathouse where they would launch their 36ft boat into the often raging waters. Their motto was, “You have to go out…you don’t have to come back”.
Drawing from a display board showing the boathouse and sea wall in Nellie’s Cove, 300ft, or more than 530 steps, below the crew’s quarters and operation headquarters.Nellie’s Cove today.One of the 36ft boats used by the ‘surfmen’. It looks too small for a calm ocean, imagine going out during a raging storm?The Port Orford Harbor is right around the corner.The view is spectacular.
Port Orford is an eclectic, artsy, sleepy little lost village on the Oregon coast…just the kind of place we like:) It is also home to the only dry dock or “dolly dock” on the west coast. Originally a deep water port, deep enough for a Japanese submarine to hide in during WWII, it was perfect for the large ships of the lumber industry. The only problem was the old south wind which made the port too turbulent to be used about 3 months of the year. Today, a jetty makes the port a safe shallow harbor for the commercial fishing industry. There isn’t a bar to cross which makes for more fishing days, but there isn’t safe mooring so the boats must be hoisted out of the harbor and put on trailers.
The Port Orford Harbor has 2 large cranes to lift the boats in and out of the water.The first stop for a fishing boat upon returning to the harbor is at the smaller crane to unload their catch. The gray bin is lowered, filled with fish, weighed and then lifted out of the boat.The boats then move to the big cranes to be hoisted out of the water. Sorry for the jiggle in the middle, the water was trying to soak my boats and the wind was howling.The boat is carefully placed on its trailer or dolly.Moved into its place on the dock.And it is all tucked in for the night along with the other boats.
I remember my first camera. It was one of those long black rectangular ones, probably a Kodak, and most likely a treasured gift from Christmas or a birthday. I can still picture myself opening the back, putting in a self contained roll of expensive film, adding a square flashbulb to the top, and viola, for the duration of the next 24 pictures, I was a photographer. At the end of the roll, I’d rush to Hale’s Drugstore, drop off the film, wait an agonizing week, pick up the film anxious to see the masterpieces so carefully composed. I’d sort through the envelope of glossy 3×5 pictures…of my hand, the ground, the side of someone’s head, and oh joy, a few of what I actually meant to take…I’d be ecstatic!
Fast forward ahead 30, or perhaps it is 40+ years, and photography has changed dramatically. I now have a digitial camera that fits into the palm of my hand. It has more buttons than I know what to do with, has a built in telephoto lens, takes hundreds, or is it thousands, of pictures, AND videos, before I have to change the film, I mean card. I can look at each picture as I take them, deleting the ones of my hand and the back of someone’s head. But, the wonders don’t end there! I can then put them on my computer and edit them. The water isn’t blue enough? There’s a button for that. The builiding is a little tilted, no problem, I can fix that. Want the picture in black and white, click, done. Wow! What can’t I do! This is fantastic!
The pictures below of the Cape Arago Lighthouse are a product of this modern digital era. I took about 30 pictures of the lighthouse from all different angles and hiking trails over several days, put them into my digital editing software and came out with very different compositions of the same subject. What fun!
Walking along a particular steep cliff section in Shore Acres State Park, we met a young couple and struck up a conversation. They mentioned the locals accessed the beach below via a hkle through a trees root system just up ahead. Of course, Darrin had to check it out.
Tidbit: They also told us about a rope the locals used in another spot. We peered over the edge at the skinny blue nylon rope and even Darrin agreed it wasn’t an option without climbing gear.
We spent five days exploring the Cape Arago area of the Oregon Coast. This includes Sunset Bay State Park, Shore Acres State Park and Cape Arago State Park. As usual, we hiked almost every trail, at least once, stopped at every view point, climbed down to every beach and out to every rocky area we could find access to, and enjoyed ourselves immensely, as usual.
Purple Sea Urchin condo complex, pool included in HOA fees.And up close. We were told that each little urchin slowly creates the hole they are currently sitting in. This unit is more along the townhouse type. Notice the large ocean front window…that costs extra.Gumboot Chiton. This cute little squishly, slimy looking guy was the size of Darrin’s hand. Rules of tidepooling are no picking up any thing, like there was any possibility I was going to touch this guy.Coffee, or tea in my case, break to enjoy the view. The only other people around were a couple fishing off the rocks to the right. I could have sat there all day.The Red Sea Urchins seemed to like deeper tide pools so a wavy watery picture.Really cool rock formations were everywhere. Okay, one more beautiful picture!
Tidbit: During our travels, we have observed many people zip into an overlook, jump out of their vehicle, snap a few pictures, jump back in, and zoom away. It has made us immensely thankful that we have the opportunity to spend the time to really immerse ourselves in an area.
Many harbor towns have some sort of memorial to those lost to the sea. Charleston harbor’s statue was striking in how it captured the love of the sea in the old Salt’s face, as he mans the helm, while the storm waves are crashing over and taking him down.
I love the inscription on the bottom.The face of someone who loves what he is doing until the very end.Today, a tugboat safely guides the larger boats across the bar and into the harbor.Habor security keeping an eye on us. Charleston has one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in the state of Oregon.
Tidbit: We think of shipwrecks as being something from history, but in 2016, the Eagle III, a 40 foot crabber fishing boat, sank off the entrance to Coos Bay in 30 mph winds and 10 foot waves. Three sailors were lost that day.
One of the good things about spending extended time in an area is the ability to see some of the cool hidden spots. John and Candy, our awesome Airbnb hosts for the week, told us about a hidden seacave nearby. Melissa, being the brave one, really wanted to check it out, just like when she really wanted to go in the sandrail on the dunes. We found the obscure trail and followed it to the cliff. It felt a bit like we were hiking into a favorite rock climbing spot, until the little hole at the base of the rock wall could be seen. We crawled in through the small hole to a house sized room. It was the type of place you would almost expect to see a pirate’s treasure!
Darrin slashing his way through the dense understory to the mouth of the cave.Backing our way down the muddy entrance to the mouth of the tunnel leading into the cave.Down we go!Hey! It’s pretty big in here.This is pretty cool. A house size room of solid rock in the side of the hill.We survived our first caving expedition!!
Tidbit: I let Darrin go in first so he could feel like Indiana Jones.
