The pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. The simple and «normal» things like to go to visit friends and by the way give them a hug, or just go out became complicated to do depending on where you are living.

Something that we were used to doing was to travel and this blog is about that: telling about trips to different places with their curiosities and how adventurous they could be for us.

Today we have no idea when we can go to Argentina (my favorite place to travel) so I don’t know when I will see my daughters , family and friends who I miss a lot. While we are waiting until we can take a plane there, we have started very slowly to take shorts trips by car. We are lucky that in this part of the world it is summer (although you are going to see pictures of us in warm clothes 🙂 ) and that we can go out: keeping socially distant and wearing masks. The times that we are living in today require us to travel only where possible, always being safe and why not fun

Last week we went to Ashland in the south of Oregon where Barnaby’s Dad lives. I have been several times to this cute town in the summer and the winter and that means that one of these days I should probably write an article about it. As the place is far from home (around 400 miles) Barnaby thought that we could combine the trip with a short visit to the Oregon coast. Every time that I tell people (specially in Argentina) that we are going to the coast, they imagine sunny, hot days and of course getting into the water. Nothing is further from reality. If you have never been in the Pacific North West I have a secret for you… the coast is windy and the water is incredibly cold. I put in my toe every time that I go there (call me masochist or just naive ) and every single time the water is freezing 🙂

Despite this the Oregon coast appeals to me a lot because it has other attractions. Cannon Beach, for example, is one of my favorite places there. It is located further north than Coos Bay where we went this time. It is around 3 hours from Ashland and was a new place for both of us.

Because of the pandemic we decided to rent small houses where we can bring our food and cook there. I have a huge advantage because I travel with my personal «chef». He knows how to prepare delicious dishes and he is always looking for new recipes to surprise me 😛

We stayed in a house where Sue and her husband (owners of the place) lived downstairs and who asked us if we wanted to go crabbing because they had all the equipment. In this part of the United States it is a very common activity and for us was something new to do. I had one condition for going, only being in charge of taking pictures. However I was brave enough to haul up one crab ring and the next photo is proof of that 😉

Crabbing has some rules. The first one is that you need a license which has different prices and durations depending on the state where you live. Another rule is that you can’t take more than 12 crabs per day and they must be males and be at least a «certain size» (this does not have a double meaning 😉 ) and if those conditions are not met, you have to return the crabs to the water although some of them were moving quickly that way on their own.

Another fun and beautiful thing to do in the area was to visit the State Parks: Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Cape Arago.

Shore Acres had a gorgeous rose garden with a big variety and also a Japanese Garden. The park had places to see the ocean from the cliffs, picnic tables or if you wanted to hike, they had some trails where you could be in the middle of the forest or looking at the ocean on the same walk. Awesome!!

Cape Arago was at the end of the road passed the other parks. Here you can walk, go down to the beach, see the starfish if the tides allow you and sea lions on the rocks. But something completly unexpected was to see whales both evenings that we visited the park. It was a gift for the eyes that I can’t share with you because they were not very visible in the pictures that we took.

On the way back home we took the scenic Highway 101 where you go through different towns and you have stunning views of the coast. We stopped in Heceta Beach which is known for its big dunes. I can’t tell you if there are dunes or not because it was so foggy and windy that nothing was visible there. Very funny

The next stop was Neptune State Park where we walked on the beach and then we continued to Newport to have lunch.

After this nice and short trip we came back home with lot of energy and with something clear in our minds: we have to continue doing things to enjoy life. While keeping in mind what’s possible and staying safe. I hope that you liked this little adventure that we took. Thanks for travelling with me.