Spring Break Post #2: Exploring Bandon

This year, we spent spring break in Bandon, Oregon. We arrived late afternoon on Monday in the midst of a terrible storm. The rain was pounding and the wind gusts were huge. The door to our rental home would not stay fully closed, and a small lake began to form in the kitchen. The screen from a window flew into the bathtub, and I spent most of Monday night not sleeping because the floor of the upstairs bedroom where we were sleeping was shaking. I am a bit of a weather wimp and I am generally not a fan of the wind.. I was so relieved to wake up Tuesday morning to calm.
Although the weather was not terrible again, we had mostly cool and overcast days. Not exactly the beach weather I had hoped for. Despite this, Phoebe still managed to get wet just about every time we went to the beach.
We spent a morning tidepooling, which in my opinion, was the best part of the trip. We also enjoyed beach combing, wandering the town and relaxing on the sand. We also visited the Washed Ashore art gallery. The gallery and art work is all about raising awareness about the mass amounts of plastic that ends up in our oceans and how it harms wildlife. There is some amazing art made from found plastic, and it is such a great organization.
I also made sure to go to the Bandon National Wildlife Refuge, as I had heard so much about it, but all we saw there were two geese. The trip was not without wildlife though. We saw elk on the drive down, some harbor seals, an otter, lots of water birds, and of course, all of the critters we found in the tide pools.
We drove up the coast on the way home and made a quick stop at the Oregon Dunes and another at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. I was impressed. As a donation-based facility, the had a lot of great displays. Well worth the visit!
We are all glad to be home again, settling in and finding our routine once again.