Today we went to Shore Acres (http://www.shoreacres.net/), which is a state park near Coos Bay, OR. It's a beautifully landscaped garden, small enough to walk through in a couple hours. The only thing you have to pay for is parking for the day - the garden is donation only. There's a large open field and a nice observation area outside the gardens with picnic benches. We had lunch there overlooking the ocean. It's really a beautiful spot.
A little farther up the road is Simpson Reef and Shell Island. There's an overlook where you can see about four kinds of seals and sea lions, as well as many birds and (according to the information display) migrating whales. We saw the former two, but no whales.
