The Oregon Coast Camping Experience Part 2

Now, where did I leave off on highlights of our Oregon Coast trip? Oh, yes.. 9 of us—my hubby, son, sister, b-i-l,  3 nephews and girlfriend in  3 cars… 3 days of fun..  more to come..
Day 4
Woke up and enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Plans for the day included a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and of course, sampling delicious ice cream while we were there! Bought a couple of kites, and the cousins had fun for hours on the beach back at the campsite.

 
After supper, we headed to Cape Lookout Park hiking trail – the same one my girlfriend and I had experienced 3 years ago! And it was as beautiful as I remembered! The views were incredible! Made it back just as the sun was going down.


Day 5 Cool and breezy. Had a simple breakfast of granola and packed up our tent and belongings to head down to North Bend/Coos Bay. Stopped at the Devil’s Punchbowl (but it was empty). Lots of views of the vast ocean. Arrived at our campsite about 4:30 pm. The site was more treed, but alas, we were not too near the ocean, and what we could walk to was  just a cove. Not real scenic. We all played a game of Imaginit around the campfire, which was a hoot!
 
Day 6 Dune Buggy Day!! The prebooked and highly anticipated expedition! Arrived at the Dunes about 10:30 a.m. Unfortunately, I realized I had left my driver’s license at home in BC! So, no dune buggy handling for me. I’d be the passenger only, which was really okay with me, at that point. One word to describe this experience…. Overwhelming! Actually, that’s not a strong enough word.

Tim was itching to get going!

  Even before we were settled into our assigned buggy, I began feeling apprehensive.. I’ve never been one to enjoy taking a lot of risks, especially where safety is concerned. The mandatory video  we watched before heading out, didn’t help; in fact, it sealed it for me. Everything that could go wrong was explained in detail. Lots of warnings, etc. I have a pretty active imagination, I guess, because suddenly it didn’t sound like so much fun to me. What was I thinking? I don’t remember feeling any fear as I called days earlier, booking our rides. But now… yikes. I’m not proud to say I was a total wimp for the next two hours, begging to be let out (but of course, where do you go when you’re trapped in mountains of sand with only other thrill -seeking dune buggy-ers  around?) My sister had pity on me and jumped into our buggy, as Dave left for the sanity of an exciting ride with our b-i-l Matt.  Guess what? We ended up following the guys into some trails that we probably shouldn’t have started out in, and we promptly got stuck!! We both felt like the buggy was going to tip at that point, but jumping out was probably not a good idea. That didn’t stop us, though. Thankfully, my capable nephew rescued us and set us on the right track once again. Only a few minutes later, we followed the guys up this very steep hill and promptly stopped right before we reached the top. There we sat, almost vertical, frozen by the fear of backing down, and not being able to go forward. Luckily, the guys came around and saved us once again. So, as you can see, although we were laughing our heads off at times, I REALLY was praying that time would fly so we could head back.
I would show you a video clip of this, but it would have been all a blur and the only sounds you would hear would be my squeaky voice terror-filled voice commanding whomever to slow down because we were surely going to roll over. Not really something I want the world to hear!
Oh, I forgot to mention that all the guys (and I think my sis did, too, except near the end) LOVED it! Their 2 or 3 hours wasn’t long enough by a long shot. I so wish I had a little bit of that ‘throw caution to the wind’ personality. Like when I was young…. hey, who am I kidding?!  For better or worse, I am and pretty well always have been,  a ‘play it safe’ kinda gal.
I do know that I probably will never again choose to ride the dunes again. A ride along a beach, yes; scaling mountains of sand? NO.
But I’d be happy to sit and watch from a safe perch somewhere.
This is more like it: