August 15-18, 2013

Humbug Mountain State Park, OR

Thursday-We never know how many attendees we are going to have for our program. 

Certain programs, like today’s entitled Bird Beak Buffet, flow better with smaller groups.  While I was setting up the props one little girl showed up.  I thought she was going to be the only participant but just as we began the program 11 other kids showed up and that was just about the perfect size group for this hands on program.

The remainder of the day was kind of spent lazily.  When we were finished our wood selling duties at 8PM we took our nightly walk down to the lower loop.

Friday-

When Monte checked his traps this morning he found one out of the six traps he set had a mouse in it.  So far we are winning the war against these little furry creatures.

Our program this morning on Beavers was a huge success as usual as this is our most popular program. 

Just for a change of pace we decided to drive into Bandon.  Our first stop was at the Farmer’s Market that takes place on Friday and Saturdays only.  The last time we went there I had bought a large focaccia bread with rosemary.   I was happy to see the same vendor and purchased a couple of loaves.  We also bought a large head of red leaf lettuce.

Our next stop was to the sweet shop to buy one of Monte’s favorite treats, haystacks.  We also picked up some yogurt raisins and peanut clusters.  Just talking about the chocolate I can feel my hips growing.  We might have to start doing two loops around the campground.

 

While I was checking out at the counter I noticed a display that held packets of Sen-Sen.  Seeing the little packs of licorice breath mints invoked such a strong memory of my Grandmother that I had to buy a package.  She always had some with her.  I hadn’t seen it sold anywhere for a long time so I couldn’t resist buying a package. 

Next was a trip to True Value that also housed a Radio Shack.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sat in the car while Monte browsed inside the store. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the campers at Humbug who lives in Bandon told us stopping at Face Rock Creamery was a must. 

 

 And she was right.

  I am a cheeseaholic so I was in seventh heaven sampling the various cheeses made on the premises. 

 

 

 

 Monte is not really into cheeses but luckily for him the Creamery serves ice cream. 

As we were leaving the Creamery we noticed a thrift store.  It took me three minutes of browsing to discover there was nothing I couldn’t live without.  Monte found an adapter and a small flashlight spending a whopping $1. 

 

Back on Highway 101, we headed north to the Coquille River Lighthouse where we hoped to meet Paul and Nina, one of the interpretive host couples for the lighthouse.  I started following their blog, Wheeling It, a year ago.  During the course of the last year we have been in the same area three different times but never had the opportunity to meet them.  

 

When we arrived at the lighthouse we were disappointed to discover it was closed.   The entrance to Bullards Beach Campground is on the same road that leads to the lighthouse so on our way out we stopped at the camp to see if Doug and Gloria were home.  They had been the camp hosts at Humbug in the site next to us in July.  

When we located their site, Doug was outside working on his boat.  Our timing was perfect for him because his depth finder wasn’t working and Monte was able to troubleshoot the problem.  We visited with them for a little while.  I asked Gloria if she knew Nina and Paul.  She said she didn’t but after checking with the host schedule we located Nina and Paul’s site.  It turned out to be the site that backs up to Doug and Gloria’s site.

The door to Nina and Paul’s rig was open so we knocked on their door and introduced ourselves’.   We spent a few minutes chatting with them.  They were very gracious and as nice as I thought they would be. 

On our way home, just as we were approaching the last pullover along the coast, I spotted a spout and yelled for Monte to pull over.  I grabbed the binoculars and sure enough spotted not one but four whales.  Awesome!

 

 

 

Back home I sliced the focaccia bread before freezing it this way I can take out a couple of slices at a time to defrost.

Monte got a fire going and we grilled hamburgers for dinner. 

 They turned out great.

 We ignored Annie who was meowing at the door to come out.   She doesn’t really like to be outside-she just wants to be closer to her “Daddy”.

Saturday-There wasn’t much happening on Saturday.  After our morning program I spent three hours up at the ranger station doing on-line courses including modules on Animal Awareness, Mandatory Child Abuse Reporter Training, Safety-Bloodborne Pathogens, etc.  I even did one on ladder safety. 

After dinner we took our nightly walk and spent an hour or so with co-camp hosts, Norm and Cheryl.

Sunday-

For our program today on Seals and Sea Lions, I donned my silly sea harbor visor.  As part of the program we show a short video on our I-Pad of sea lions we took last fall at Newport.  When we have a large crowd we usually have to play the video two or three times so everyone has a chance to see it.  Today we only had 8 in attendance so we only had to show the video one time.

I spent most of the afternoon sitting outside reading while Monte worked on wiping off the sap from our awning.