Bandon Trip, Day 8

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.

Bandon Trip, Day 7

The internet has been sketchy, so I apologize for the skipped posts.

This morning we had Nicole's Famous Potatoes in the form of delicious breakfast burritos. I gotta say, I love Nicole's breakfast cooking. Good stuff! That set us off right for a morning at the beach where we spent a few hours flying kites, exploring some caves, and building lots of sand castles.


That evening we spent crabbing well past sunset. In fact, Sarah, the girls, and I all came home around 8:30 to put the girls to bed. Nicole, Ty, and the Mitani Brothers all stayed out till a little after midnight. In all, including what Sarah and I brought home with the girls, we caught 36 or 37 crabs that night. In all, I think we have caught 112 or 113 keepers this week.

Bandon Trip, Day 6

Went to the West Coast Game Park

Bandon Trip, Day 5

Went to town

Nicole and Ty arrived

They stayed up late crabbing

Bandon Trip, Day 4

Went to the beach in the morning. Stayed up late to go crabbing.

Bandon Trip, Day 3: Let the Harvest Begin!

Sorry for the no-post last night. Internet wasn't working. Here you go a little late.

Well, the bug bit both Darryl and Steven last night. At around 9:00 or 9:15, they hopped in their SUV and high-tailed it to the docks. In about 3-3.5 hours, they came home with 24 crabs!!! Sarah and I had called them around 10:30 or so and knew they had a half-dozen crabs, so we put a pot on the stove and started it heating before the boys came home. I believe they said they got home around 1:30 am. I remember waking up to the smell of smoke and cooking. (Steven and Darryl told us later that they almost set off the smoke alarm.) Anyway, Sarah and I woke up to a fridge shelf and vegetable bin full of crabs.



Good times! Those of you who've known me for a while know that I'm not a big fan of seafood historically. However, Sarah's been gradually winning me over to things like salmon and shrimp. Crab is still one that I'm working on. I like crab meat, but the shells that one sometimes gets mixed in with the meat are not so great. Having said that, there's more than a little satisfaction in catching the little guys (you can only keep the males) and then "living off nature." I know that sounds corny, but I like it. Needless to say we had crab for lunch and dinner. In fact, Darryl and Steven had crab for breakfast, too.

After discovering the crabs, the first thing we did in the morning was all head down to the beach below our house. The tide was pretty low, so we were able to find some star fish, sand crabs, and other cool little sea "things". We made some sand castles, too. Aside from the wind, the weather here is great.


After the beach, we all headed in to town and went to a few shops - mostly the Toy Room (where we bought a few things for the girls and ourselves) and the Cranberry Sweets factory outlet (where we samples everything we could and bought a few treats). We had a great time and then headed home for lunch. Lunch consisted of crab sandwiches. The girls went down for a nap as did I. :) I think everyone but Sarah took a nap.

When dinner rolled around, we had crab salad. Good stuff, really. We didn't do much until it was time to put the girls down for the night. Before doing that, Darryl got an urge to get a Dairy Queen Blizzard, so us three boys hopped on our bikes and rode to DQ. We bought four Blizzards, put three of them in our water bottle holders (the fourth I carried in my windbreaker pouch) and headed home. When we arrived, the girls were still awake, so I put my Blizzard and Sarah's in the fridge (more on that later) and helped to put them to bed. When I came out, everyone was playing Mille Bornes, which is a card game.

I grabbed my Blizzard and sat down to join them. Come to find out that while I was putting the girls to bed, Sarah went to the freezer to find her Blizzard. (Remember, I put them in the fridge, not the freezer.) She saw that the one she thought was hers was half-eaten. She thought I had eaten it (it was really Steven's) so she decided as revenge, she would eat MY Blizzard half-way (which was actually Darryl's). So she sat down (the boys were still doing other things before starting the card game) and started to devour what she thought was my Blizzard. Shortly thereafter, Darryl opened the freezer to get his Blizzard and exclaimed in bewilderment, "Where's my Blizzard?!" at which time his heart sank. He thought the mean lizard-like Godblizzah had stolen his creamy, frozen goodness. Sarah said, "Oh, no" and quickly apologized. But it was too late; the damage was done. When it was all said and done, everyone but Darryl got their full Blizzards, and Darryl was the one who really wanted one. :(

Now I owe Darryl a Nerf football and a Blizzard.

Oh, I almost forgot that Ella and Emily started a new game. They were making pretend tacos and sharing with each other.

Bandon Trip, Day 2

Today we finished the drive up the California Coast on Hwy 101 to Bandon. It was an uneventful drive, which means it was good. :) We went to the Samoa Cookhouse in the morning for breakfast. I think we got there at about 8:45 or 9:00 am. It is a place where they serve the food family style. It's a set menu, so you get what they're serving. It was French Toast, eggs, sausage, and biscuits and gravy, with OJ. Everyone ate great, except Sarah. :(

After breakfast, we headed up the coast on 101 through Klamath, Crescent City, Brookings, and on into Bandon. Along the way, we stopped at a state park, I think it was, where there is often a herd of elk that go around the forest and onto the beach. I can't remember the name of it (I'll have to ask Darryl). We didn't see any elk this time, but we stopped at a visitor center and nearby meadow. We took a nice walk through some redwoods and got a picture of a bear surprising Emily!

After the meadow, we stopped at a beach along 101 just south of Crescent City to give the girls some lunch. We all played in the sand until about 1:30 or 2:00 and then got back on the road. The girls fell asleep around 2:30 and slept almost the whole rest of the way to Bandon. We arrived in town around 4:30, unloaded, and headed out to dinner. We made a quick run to the grocery store, and then came home.

Darryl and Steven are at the docks right now setting their crab nets (they bought licenses as soon as we got to town). Sarah and I just put the girls to bed and are getting ready to head that direction ourselves. Keep checking this blog as I'm going to try updating it daily.

Bandon Trip, Day 1

Yesterday, we left Auburn at about 7:45 and got into Arcata at 6:30. Along the way, we stopped at Alice's in Redding and visited her horses and one of her cattle. We had a great lunch with her and stayed an hour later than we'd intended. All in all, it was a long day, but fun. I think we ended the day just right by going to the beach. It was late and dark, but we had fun. One problem - we sacrificed a Nerf football to the beach gods, but in return found Darryl's cell phone.