The Oregon Dunes

 The Oregon coast has some world-class sand dunes on the coast between Florence and North bend.  Oregon state law says that the beaches of the state are public property – indeed, the first coast highway did run along the beaches, remains of which can still be seen in places.

The Mill Casino in Coos Bay was built on the site of sawmills and lumber exporting docks in the harbour, the windows of which make for a good photographic mirror:

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We killed some time at The Mill – we each spent a dollar on penny slots (and they went pretty fast), but, neither of us being much of gamblers, we left the casino and met our friend for lunch.

After lunch, we headed up US 101: 

101 runs near the coast most of it’s way through Oregon, showing off some spectacular sights.  The first place we stopped north of Coos Bay was at an Oregon Dunes access point.

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The weather inproved as we drove north; the rain was behind us now, and we explored the dunes in dry weather.

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These pictures are from my friend’s camera.

I lead the way up the dunes.

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Being a Wednesday, we had the place to ourselves.

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It was not especially cold, but it was very windy.

I got some good pictures here (but these are all my friend’s pictures).

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I climbed one of the higher dunes:

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"I’m king of the world!"

A "Titannic" moment.

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A very good view was had up there:

"You shoot up,and I’ll shoot down, eh?"

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The piles of sand here extend for miles up and down the coast.

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"Onwards", we said, and walked back to the overlook:

The coast gets rockier as we drove north; our next stop was in an area of smaller dunes – come on along.

 

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