My Hometown

I grew up in the best place in the world Charleston, Oregon. I know most people say that. But I really did. I grew up the same street as my Mom. There wasn't even a street when she moved out there. I went to the same grade school as her. My Grandma lived next door. We did the normal things that kids did in the 60's and early 70's, ride bikes, play baseball, made forts. One thing that the boys didn't do was Rose and I had Barbie dolls. I had the car and she had the boat and when the ditches were full out we would go and send our Barbies on a boat ride. And sometimes the rain had stopped before we were out there. Oh and yes we did watch TV. We were the TV generation.

Something about my friend Rose, she is my oldest and my dearest, best friend. We have been friends for 41 years, She took me to my first grade classroom. As kids we played together. As teenagers we did a lot of things that are better left unsaid. But when I say we did everything together we really did. We joke that we have to stay friends cause we can't afford the blackmail. We may not see each other much but once we are together it is like we still live across the field from each other. No words can describe what she means to me, I am very grateful to have her in my life. And Skip is very grateful I live in South Dakota.

This is the new Charleston Bridge looking to the north. When we were kids we would walk across the old one, to go to Charleston. This new bridge might be nicer but it just isn't the same. Just like the Crown Point Bridge it is just wrong.

When we could come up with some money we would take off and go down to Davey Jones Locker. Most of the time we would have .10 cents maybe .15 each but if we could could come up with .25 cents a piece we had a lot of money. Then we could each get a bottle of pop for .10 cents and the rest in candy, mostly it was penny candy. When they raised the price of pop to .15 cents it was a bad day.

Davey Jones, Chuck's Seafood and Old Generals Store are still there looking much the same as they did 40 years ago.



Another place that has not changed much over the years is the Boat Basin. One Sunday morning I went to the Basin Cafe for breakfast and inside was pretty much the same. A little older like the rest of us.


Speaking about getting older. Even if I did know some of the people I'd see, I did not know who they were everyone seemed old to me. I remember them young. And yes I know I have gotten older to.

Charleston Boat Basin.



The next few pictures were taken in the fog one afternoon same place just little just different feel.










This picture pretty much sums up what is happening to my hometown. No salmon fishing this year on the Coast of Oregon. I am sure that there are more boats for sale and there will be more to come. But Fisherman are like Farmers there is always next year. If I can hold on for one more year, next year has to got to be better.

Charleston was a great place to be a kid. It is my hometown I always say I grew up in the little town of Charleston, Oregon.

Ok time for me to get up on my soapbox.
I have read on the web that Charleston is a quaint little town. Quaint is not a word I would ever use to describe Charleston. The real Charleston is and has always been a hard working fishing town. Plain and simple. Not the sweet description that new comers come up with. And before I step down from my soapbox. I have few things to say to these people just cause you got a Oregon Drivers License, and Oregon Plates on your car does not make you a real true Oregonian. A real true Oregonian is someone who was born in the great state of Oregon. The only other way is if you have spent most of your life there and don't say you are from somewhere else. And don't come in and tell people how they should fix it. If where you came from was so great why didn't you stay there. Oh yes I am a very proud true Oregonian, and I have my birth certificate to prove it. When someone asks me where I am from I say I am from the Oregon Coast but I live in South Dakota. They may keep me in the barren treeless land for the rest of my life but when the time comes I better be taken home or I will come and haunt you and you know who you are. Ok Now I will step down from my soapbox.

Home

I did get home on Sunday. But I have been sick so give me a few more days and I will add more.

Going Home

I am sitting at the air waiting to board my flight. On one hand I am ready to go home and on the other I don't really want to leave. I miss Brian, my cats and my house. But I don't want to leave here as I don't get to see my family much. I come out here so, I do hope it won't be another 9 years. That is way to long. My parents, Aunts and Uncles are not getting any younger. And just maybe the next time I go home Brian will come with me. It is very embarrassing that most of my family has never met him.

I kept telling Mom that I brought all the nice weather, well today it was raining when I left Portland.

Now I am sitting in Denver the will board in about half hour. Sense I had a two hour layover I took a long walk. These past 2 and 1/2 weeks I walked about the same or more then I did on the cruses.

There are more pictures to come.

Ooops posted to soon

My last post I had posted it to soon. Maybe it wasn't a oops the post was getting a little long.



We always called it the North Bend Bridge but that never has been it's name. It started out as the Coos Bay Bridge. It is 5,305-foot steel cantilever truss bridge, desigend by master bridge engineer Conde B. McCullough, was the longest structure on Oregon’s highway system when constructed in 1936. It was Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Project 932. After Conde B. McCullough passed away in 1946 it was renamed for him. Most of the bridge's on the Oregon Coast were designed by Mr. McCullough. These bridges and Hwy 101 are the only direct route North and South on the Oregon Coast.

Just a few of the building downtown Coos Bay.

This was one of the banks in Coos Bay when I was a kid, nine years a go it part of it was a bar now it stands empty.




This is the Candler Hotel Building, There used to be a coffee shop on the ground floor and it was a big treat to go in there. One day it closed and for years the table were set the salt and pepper shakers the sugar were there. It was always a little spooky it was like a restaurant for the ghost's.




This was the Hub the best store in the Bay Area. If you got to buy something in there it was special.

When I met Brian he lived upstairs in the white building they called it a hotel but it was a few steps up from a flop house, ok not that bad but pretty darn close.


OK now the post is done.

Falls, Fog and Other Things

It is a cloudy day,it is suppose to rain tomorrow, it would have seem strange if I didn't have one rainy day while I was here. No one would have believed it if they spent anytime on the Oregon Coast. But September and the first part of October are the nicest times here on the coast as it has usually cooled off in the valley. But not this year it has been hot over there, and it has been nice here. Go figure. Seems like everywhere the weather has been strange this year.


This morning I went to Coos Bay and went to the farmers market, Nothing called out my name. Some of breads looked good but I have a limited amount a space in my suitcase. I guess I could throw out my clothes, ok I am thinking about it and hmmmm nope. But the used bookstore called my name and I was compelled to go in. I did find a few books of course. I also found a 1960 road map of South Dakota. It listed the population of Sioux Falls a little over 65,000. In the last 48 years the population has more then doubled. My plan for it, is to age it, frame it, then hang it. If it doesn't work I am only out a dollar.

I found the greatest little restaurant in North Bend it is called Jeanie's Kitchen. The food is great, the people are wonderful, the prices for around here are low, The atmosphere is the best. Wish I had found it sooner. So if you are ever in North Bend, Oregon you have to stop and Jeanie's Kitchen on Sherman Ave. And make sure you put a pin the map from where you are from.

OK now for the falls and fog. As I got to the other things first.

This past Saturday I went up to Gold and Sliver Falls State Park. I had forgotten how narrow the road becomes when gravel starts not that it is very wide to begin with. When I got up there I could not believe the amount of people were there. When I was younger there was no one up there. It is off the beaten path. The park is located along the banks of Glenn and Silver Creeks and is shaded by large maple, alder, and Oregon myrtle wood trees.


This is Sliver Falls when I was a kid there used to be a old abandon car at the top. There use to be a road from here to over Scottsburg. On some hwy maps stills shows it, there is a road but it no longer goes all the way.


This Golden Falls. It may not seem like it but there is a lot of water coming over both falls as it has been a very dry year here.



Both falls have a drop of over a 150 feet.

OK now a little bit about the Myrtle Wood Trees. Oregon Myrtlewood is a broadleaf evergreen native to Southwestern Oregon. The Umpqua River watershed appears to be the northern boundary of its native habitat.



Although different, Oregon Myrtlewood has a lot of similarities to the Myrtlewood growing in the Holy Land.

In the Bible, the Myrtle tree is of special religious significance, representing fertility and life.

It is a slow growing hardwood which takes 80 to 120 years to reach full size, takes many finishes well. Oregon Myrtlewood possesses a wide variety of beautiful colors and grain patterns and is noted by many as being one of the world’s most beautiful woods. The color of the wood is often influenced by the minerals in the soil where it grows which could be a factor in its popularity here on the Oregon coast. The colors range from blond to black with many shades of honey, browns, grays, reds and greens in between.

Sunday morning it was sunny and foggy at the same place it was very interesting and made for some good pictures.

These first two pictures where taken on pretty clear late afternoon up at the Coast Guard Lookout Station.



These were taken looking out to the same spot.





This picture is my favorite it was taken out at Sunset Beach. You can just make out the bluff. Where I took the picture at in the parking lot it was sunny.

More fog pictures


I just love how the and the light and the shadows bounce off each other.

Shore Acres

Shore Acres is perched on a scenic bluff above the Pacific Ocean, Shore Acres began as a private estate with luxurious gardens featuring trees, shrubs, and flowering plants brought from around the world aboard the sailing ships of pioneer lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson. Was instrumental in the founding of the City of North Bend.

When fire destroyed the mansion in 1921, Simpson began to build an even larger replacement - two stories high and 224 feet long. The grounds contained five acres of formal gardens, including a Japanese-style garden built around a 100-foot lily pond.

However, financial losses in the 1930s caused both house and grounds to fall into disrepair. During World War 2 the grounds and home were used by the Army. In 1942, Simpson's beloved Shore Acres was purchased by the state of Oregon for use as a public park.

While structural deterioration eventually forced the mansion to be razed one of the fireplaces was left in a observation building, Due to disrepair the fireplace was torn down and replaced by a new observation building.

The restored formal gardens continue to attract thousands of visitors. Now other the gardeners cottage and what is left of tennis courts there are no structures left of the old mansion.







Have many more to share at another time.

Here is just a sample of the gardens at Shore Acres.











I have many more pictures of the flowers at Shore Acres. But I will not make look at every single one of them now.


Looking down on the beach. Hardly any driftwood.I used to love to go down there and play in the driftwood we would build forts and such.