It was foggy and overcast when we got up today, but as we have learned, stick with your plans as it will probably clear later, which it did. We headed back up north with the first stop being the Darlingtonia State Natural Site. This is an area set aside to protect a carnivorous plant called the Darlingtonia Californica, a plant shaped like a cobra head that attracts insects, eventually trapping them and digesting them. It only grows in boggy locations in this area of Oregon and northern California. The trail was a boardwalk over the bog. No flies, mosquitoes, or other bugs were seen here. I wonder if we can grow them at home? A picture follows.
Next was the Heceta Head Lighthouse, a bit further north. This and the Umpqua River Lighthouse were built from the same plans and about the same time. My theory is since the original Umpqua LH slid into the river and a new light was needed quickly, they used the same plans from the Heceta LH which was completed in 1892. The only difference between the two lighthouses is the light pattern.
Other interesting facts, it has been under renovation for the last 2 years, it reopened in June 2013. Cost of renovation was over $2 million. The lighthouse was named after a Spanish surveyor, who likely never even saw this area, go figure! It is the most photographed lighthouse on the coast, so here are a couple of ours.
We made a quick stop in Florence to the library for WiFi for yesterday’s post, then did a little dockside exploring. Here are a couple of interesting fishing boat pictures that we found in the Old Town area of Florence.
For those of you familiar with the area, we decided to pass on the Sea Lion Caves. Although it seems to be a popular tourist stop, locals told us to skip it. Actually two on different occasions told us it is not that interesting and as we can imagine, it stinks, literally.
Anybody figure out how to tell the sex of a crab? Well as luck would have it, there was a guy fishing for crab, yep with hook and line, instead of a trap. He had a keeper in his cooler that he took out so I could get the following picture. The female belly has more of a checkerboard pattern. The long V pattern is the key to identifying a male.
We finished off the day poking around the sand dunes a little. We aren’t big sand dune fans, so you may not get much from us on that, but then again, maybe?
A comment about our current campground, it’s empty, quiet, and very dark at night. Finally after a month in Oregon we finally find some peace and quiet!
September 5, 2013 - Thursday
We woke to pouring rain, thunder and lightning. Power was off and on. So we hunkered down until it quit raining about 2PM. We then headed back to Umpqua Lighthouse to see the part of the museum we missed on Tuesday. Very interesting Coast Guard area history, and more about the area in there. The folks that run this place are volunteers, and they are very passionate about their lighthouse. They are responsible for keeping it clean and working, as well as run the tours, etc.
Last big attraction was a visit to Lakeside Library for their WiFi. Wanted to check it out as it is only a few miles from the campground. Internet works, but email doesn't. Weather is supposed to improve overnight, so we will resume our travels tomorrow. Hope you are enjoying the ride. Let us know if you want to see more (or less)of the type of stuff we are posting.
delarkin@comcast.net
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