Southern Oregon Coast Trip (6/29-7/1)

(6/29/07, Friday)
This trip was meant to be a surprise trip. But with the way my mind works, I'm in the habit of chipping away the suspense built around a surprise. Too much of a planner, or rather a spoiler at times. I "eavesdropped" on one of M's phone conversations with a friend of his and had an idea of where we might be going this weekend.

Submitted my PTO form on Friday, and left the office around 2pmish and joined M on a "surprise" trip. We used an airticket coupon from the Alaska trip that we cancelled and redeemed the other ticket with 20,000 miles.

An old and small airplane crammed everyone in. The windows had no shutters. The sun was shining brightly on the tarmac. One of the flight attendants was very bubbly and trying to be funny with the annoucements that she was making. It was a fast ride - 50 minutes later - we landed in Eugene.

Picked up a car at Avis, then off we were on the road. HW126 took us through a string of small towns, marshes and valleys. The road stretches out in front of us like a green tunnel once the road started traversing hillsides. As we were soaking in the tranquil and pristine scenes, suddently yet nonchanantly, a big black fluffy ball leaped out of the woods from the right side of the road, it took us a couple seconds to realize that it was a BEAR! We almost hit that guy! Yet, he strolled across the road without a glimpse of the excitement that we had over spotting him crossing the road. This is the first time I saw a bear in the wild.

We stopped at Florence, a city founded in 1893, to stretch our legs. Strolled around the Old Town area, which is lined with boutiques and eateries, then stopped at a little pocket garden where we had a good view of the 1936 Siuslaw Bridge, which is one of the city's landmark structures. Bridges from that era seem to be more soulful, unlike modern day viaducts - souless structures built with steel and concrete. What a drag compared to these older bridges! They shine through times with form, color, and grace.

Then, we turned South soon after Florence and drove on 101 through Reedsport, North Bend, Coosbay, Charleston and finally pulled into Bandon around 8pm. It was still bright outside. A big arch that says "Welcome to Bandon Old Town" was beaming under sunset clouds. Then, M's faced grimaced, "Shit, the cop is after us." Describing the rest of the encounter with this old police patrol guy annoys me. Basically, we were given a speeding ticket for driving at 49mph in 30mph zone. An outrageous fine of $140!!! We forgot that we were in Oregon, a state famous for giving our speeding tickets. And it took him 20 mintues to write up a ticket - that's the worst part! Maybe the blackbear was a sign - he was trying to warn us of these predatory cops waiting to prey on out-of-towners!

We found our hotel and checked in. The room is situated on a bluff directly facing the roaring ocean and an expansive beach. WOW. We are in Bandon, a small seaside town on the southside of the mouth of Coquille River. Population 3000.

That dreadful episode with the mean cop augmented our hunger. Got a couple of recommendations from the hotel guy for where to eat. Decided on Lord Bennett Grille & Louge, which has windows facing the ocean side. Unfortunately, they stopped serving food at 9pm. Drooling over a dessert cart, we ordered a Marionberry Pie and a Flan. Still hungry. Then, we went to El Jalapeno, a Mexican joint and picked up a Burrito and a Quesadilla.
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(6/30/07, Saturday)
The sandy beach, the whispering waves, the morning breeze and the blue sky lured us our of bed early. We headed down a path to the beach. Facing the ocean, I could smell Freedom in the air. The beach streches miles and miles in both directions. The urge to run, chase, dance and embrace is so real and natural. There were only a few people and a few happy dogs on the beach. Looking closely, there are also colorful seastars, sea anemone and other marine creatures and plants clinging onto rocks and hidden in the sand. There are different rocks, big and small, scattered near the beach. We walked around seastacks and rocks exploring marine life and admired these rocks with names like "Fish Rock," "Face Rock," "Elephant Rock," and "Cat Rock." The "Fish Rock" has big crevasses/holes that you can walk through from one end to another.

Stopped at Bandon's Visitor Center. Tried every sample of what Cranberry Sweets shop offered - at least 20 different kinds of mostly cranberry-based sweets. And it is the best place to try cranberry sweets, because Bandon is the capital of cranberry producton in Oregon. Then, we stopped at Brewed Awakening, a cafe, and had two English muffin sandwiches. Now we were ready to explore this area.

Stopped at an Animal Shelter tucked away next to a gravel road on the slope of a hill. Dogs were barking and whining. M suggested we take a dog for a quick walk. There wasn't really a trail, but we improvised and walked one of the dogs for about 10 minutes. She was in heaven compared to those dogs in cages.



Coos Bay (Art Museum [Profontaine's Room], Coos Bay Boardwalk)>> Shore Acres Park >> Laos-Thai Restaurant in Charleston >> South Slough (loop hike) >> Bandon

We had the best Pak Kee Meu in a small Laos-Thai Restaurant. It reminded me of Xinjiang Banmian!
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7/1/07, Sunday

We walked on the beach and explored tide pools again in the following morning. Checked out of the hotel at 11am. Stuffed our stomach with a yummy shrimp and seafood sandwich at Tony's Crab Shack in Bandon's Old Town next to a fishing pier, then we poked our heads into crabbers and fishing enthusiasts' buckets to admire their catch, big or small, and watched how a few seagulls were fiercely fighting over a piece of fish...

We hit the road again. Stopped at North Bend's Visitors Center. Our first stop was Umpqua National Park, where the West Coast's tallest sand dunes are. ATVs and dune buggies are zooming around like swarms of loud flies - the noise can be heard from far away. Too short on time, we'd have to leave this for the next trip.

Next to the sand dunes, there is a lake, Maria Lake. We did a hike around the lake. Amazing in such a small stretch of land, there is ocean, beach, sand dunes, forests, lakes, rivers, all within the vicinity of each other. Currently, the sand dunes have been contained by beachgrass introduced from Europe from long ago and plants are growing on the edges of sand dunes. They have stopped moving eastward inland. Quite a combo of terrain and contrast!

We drove back to Eugene on Route 38, another scenic road, and stopped at a Butterfly Pavilion near Elkton. Monarch butterflies pass through here on their way to Canada or Mexico. This little place near a valley helps educate people on butterfly and preserve their hatching environment. The Pavilion has a beautiful garden attached to it. These butterflies must be very happy to go through their metamorphosis in such a beautiful and friendly environment.

The rest of drive to Eugene was no fuss. We drove into the city to get a quick look at this college town. Green, clean and quiet - school is off now. Had dinner at Wings, a restaurant at the airport. Our weekend trip came to an end when the airplane landed in Seattle, our home city surrounded by mountains and bodies of water. Looking down at Seattle from the airplane windows always reminds me what a beautiful part of the world we live in, with majestic and pristine nature at our doorsteps.

Savannah, Bobanah

6/3/07-6/6/07 Savannah Trip

Two weeks ago (5/25-27), I had just returned from the East Coast, and hadn't yet recovered from the long flights, one of which was a red-eye. Now I was flying out to the East Coast again, this time, for a conference in Savannah, a town famed for its "Southern charm and hospitality."

As part of my trip preparation, M checked out a book by John Berendt and a movie based on that book. That book is called "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," later I learned that this is also referred to by the locals as "the Book." The book was based on a real story that took place in Savannah; and the movie came out in 1997. Clint Eastwood was the director. It has a strong cast with Kevin Spacy, John Cusack and Jude Law. Jude Law was still a young boy in that movie. It wasn't an earth-shattering movie, but I can see why it is being touted as "the Book" in Savannah.

The movie did give me a good sliver of what Savannah is like. Some scenes were shot in the famous Forsyth Park. The architecture - distinctive brown stone and red brick houses - added extra allure to the movie.

To allow myself some time to walk around this city, I flew in on a red-eye via Atlanta and arrived at the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport around 10:30am. Dark clouds were hanging low above tree line. It was muggy, yet not too hot. A lady taxi driver picked me up. I tried to strike up a conversation with her, but my first attempt in getting a taste of "Southern hospitality" met with a shield of ice - she was more into her super-sized Coke and pungent cigarette hanging off the corner of her mouth than me, an out-of-towner. Worse than that, she charged me an extra $4 for calling in to charge my credit card.

I was anxious to check in at the Hyatt Regency Hotel so that I could take a nap. Again, neither "southern hospitality," nor Hyatt standards were given. My room was not ready, and I had to camp out on a couch in the lobby...Called SK, my colleague who came here ahead of me.

We did a loop around the historic district looking for a place to have lunch and taking in some city sights and sounds. It's Sunday. People seemed to have all disappeared into churches. The sun came out dancing through leaves and Cathedral spires. The Spanish moss hanging low off trees reminded me that I was not in the Pacific Northwest. We walked past many monuments and squares, pausing to take photos. Soon, we had an impressive collection of monuments. They look so distant and somber. It makes me feel this city is still living in the past and actually cashing in on its past by bringing tourists to its historical landmarks.

The architecture in the historic district, as promised in guidebooks and movies, is outstanding. Newly renovated old buildings, block after block, evoke a sense of a lost era, with style and quality; even some dilapidated houses still carry time-honored charm and grace.

Forsyth Park, the signature park of Savannah, stretches out grand and quietly in front of us. Several tourists were taking their best of shots of the Park Fountain from every possible angle. The park was quite empty. We hoped to run into a good restaurant. But "Closed" signs were everywhere. After asking around, we finally walked back towards an area closer to our hotel and ate at a cafe. It turned out to be a good choice - pleasant food and sweet tea! The sweat tea is basically sweetened lemon tea, and has become a local specialty very popular among tourists too. We ordered sweet tea for every meal we had there.

On the way back to the hotel passing through the City Market, it seemed that most of the people, local or tourists, had come here. There were people everywhere in a stretch of about 2-3 blocks, there was music, stores crammed with artifacts etc. It's a bit like Seattle's Pike Place Market without fish and fresh produce.

Another attraction is Riverfront Street. It is lined with restaurants, candy shops, ice cream parlors and souvenir shops. Very touristy! Imagine in the 18th and 19th century, this street was basically a row of warehouses waiting to send cotton to domestic and overseas markets! We walked up and down the Street a couple times and realized that the city, or rather the historic district, is really small.

Monday and Tuesday were spent mostly indoors at the World Trade Conference Center. The Belles Water taxi took us to the other side of the river for the Conference. Wednesday was spent on the road getting from Savannah to Seattle via Cincinnati.

The "southern hospitality" might be just an urban legend or Tourism Bureau's campaign message. But Riverfront Street, the multiple squares and monuments, the City Market and Forsyth Park, beautiful architecture and chunks of Spanish moss swinging in the breeze are all real and unique to Savannah, a Southern jewel.

Merry Merida, Felize Belize – embracing sunshine and sandy beach

The local weather channel must be awfully busy this winter: first, incessant rain, then snow storm, then ice, now windstorms and thunder showers. I hope our roof can hold up - some shingles have been blown off. This winter is all about drama and extremities, and far from its normal pattern of being mild, drizzly and cloudy. Somehow, this seems to coincide with what’s been going on at my workplace – a series of unexpected personnel changes and departures. Maybe the crazy weather had a hand in this?!

The night falls early here in December, and on December 21st, we’ll have the longest night of the year. With trees dressed up in twinkling lights and other glowing ornaments hanging every where, every twinkle sets off the drabness hanging over the city under imminent rain clouds, and gives me comfort, knowing that we are gearing up for the biggest and longest holidays of the year. Yesterday, on my way to work, I saw a huge full rainbow erecting across the skyline over the harbor and downtown. It was an exhilarating sight! Yet, an evanescent display of a spectacular rainbow can’t hold me back from a two-week long vacation in a zone of sunshine and sandal-friendly space!

Our annual southern getaway trip is in a week. I’m counting days and hours. We’ll be staying in Merida for a couple of days, and then head off to Belize for a few days. Belize has long been known as one of the best diving destinations in the world. My original plan of becoming a diver has failed. Snorkeling would do for me, at least, for now. I’ll record my first imaginary tour of Belize in my next blog entry.

The wind is howling and shaking trees vehemently outside our cozy house; Some neighborhoods have experienced power outages. Tomorrow, school closures are expected; treacherous commuting to work is forewarned. The whole city will slow down - a pace that we'll truly get to enjoy once we are on vacation!