Road trip on the gorgeous Southern OREGON Coast! (from Brookings to Bandon)

Welcome to the Oregon Coast! When we lived in Seattle, one of our favorite places to go on the weekends was the Oregon Coast. In fact, our very first vlog ever is from the Oregon Coast. With 363 miles of rugged coastline, small towns, unique rock formations, and no shortage of beaches and hikes, there is tons to see and do on the Oregon Coast. And over the next couple days, we're road tripping up the southern part of the coast from Brookings to Bandon, which is a part of the coast that we haven't spent much time in. It's supposed to rain the entire time we're here, so we're gonna do our best to see as much as we can. But we're kicking off our road trip at the famous Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. Back in the Pacific Northwest, baby! The Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor is a 12-mile stretch of coastline that got its name from the first Oregon Park Superintendent. It has a mix of quick overlooks, some beaches, and short hikes. And first up, we're at Whales Head Beach. So to get to this beach, there is a parking area, but we read that the road to get to it is pretty rough, so we didn't want to park there. So we parked at the overlook parking and took a short trail to get down here. It's pretty steep, and after it's been raining the last couple days, it's pretty slick. But it looks like it's about to start downpouring on us, so we're gonna head back up. One of the most popular stops in this area is Natural Bridges, which are seven arch rocks and blowholes. You very likely have seen a photo of this place before because it's probably the most photographed spot in the southern Oregon Coast. The safest way to view the bridges is from an overlook that's just steps from the parking lot. There is a side trail you can take to get closer to them, and some people walk on it, but we would not recommend either. We did try the side trail last time we were here, and it's just super steep, pretty sketchy. We did not feel comfortable, so we're gonna enjoy it from this safe overlook this time. All right, we're gonna let you in on a little secret here at Samuel H. Boardman. Secret Beach. Just kidding. It's not a secret. It's actually pretty well known. It's even marked on Google Maps. But the parking area and the trail aren't very well marked, or actually not marked at all along the road, so it is easy to miss. We found this route on all trails that takes you to Secret Beach. It looks like there's a few different offshoots, but I think Secret Beach is actually right there. We came across this little waterfall on the trail, which was very unexpected, and it's super beautiful. Just being surrounded by waterfalls again, all this green, even the rain. We're just so happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest. It still just feels like home to us, and yeah, it's hard to explain just the amount of joy this part of the U.S. brings to us. I think this is the most stunning beach we've been to in a while. Not only are all these rocks cool, there's also a waterfall just going down onto the beach right here. There's actually four beaches that you can get to down here. It's best to come at low tide so you can get to each of them safely. Kind of a bit of a scramble to get down here too, and we're getting rained on, so we didn't get a chance to get to see to all of them, but it's so beautiful down here. All right, we've got one more quick stop we want to check out here at Samuel H. Boardman, our truck. So fun fact about the Oregon Coast, it's Oregon law that the entire coast is open to everyone, which has given it the nickname the People's Coast, and because of this, there are just so many spots to explore going up the entire coast. It's hard to decide what to do when you're road tripping the Oregon Coast. From our experience, you can't really go wrong with anything, but it's always nice to have a reason to come back. And oh, yeah, we'll be back again and again and again. Not a bad lunch spot, huh? We thought on this rainy, dreary day that the perfect meal for lunch would be soup and sandwiches. So the soup we've got here is inspired by a restaurant we went to in Silver City, New Mexico. It's a butternut squash soup. We've been wanting to recreate it in the van ever since. Now out our window, we've got these epic views of the rocks, the beach, the ocean. Just can't beat it. Well, yeah, that's really good. Wait, it turned out super well! Holy cow, y'all. Check out these huge rocks! We just drove 30 minutes up the road to Sister's Rock State Park, which is a newer state park here in Oregon. And it gets its name from these two monoliths that are attached to the mainland, as well as one offshore named Sister's Rocks. Similar to Secret Beach, it's not marked on the road. It doesn't say, turn here for Sister's Rock. So you have to kind of know where to go, but it's really hard to miss these when driving. These things are massive and they have a bunch of grass on them and they look very different than the other rocks we've seen today and they're giving us just like major Scotland vibes or something. I don't know. It's it's just such a neat spot. It is mega windy out here, though. We're here at low tide and one perk of being here at low tide is that there's a sea cave up there. So we're gonna go up there and check it out. That's pretty cool. That is so gnarly. Wow, we almost didn't even stop here because we're just kind of running out of time. Got a late start. We have a lot to do, getting kind of tired. But man, I am so glad we didn't because I think for both of us, this was our favorite stop of the day. We've been in rainy weather for about three days now and rain and van life just do not mix. Everything in the van just gets so wet, so muddy, especially when you have a dog. And also when there's no sun, we don't really get any solar, which means our power is really low. But thankfully tonight we're camping at Cape Blanco State Park and this is a gorgeous campground. It was $41 a night for a non-resident and with the reservation fee and the best part is we get power. So if we can plug up the van tonight, so we're gonna recharge. We're gonna maybe try to clean up a little bit and then we'll finish our road trip tomorrow. Before we get back on the road, we wanted to check out one of the top sites in this state park, the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. This lighthouse was built in 1870 and it holds a few Oregon records. It's the longest standing lighthouse on the Oregon coast. It's the most westerly lighthouse because this is the westernmost point in the state of Oregon and it has the highest focal plane above sea level at 256 feet. And we can't confirm that it's the windiest lighthouse in Oregon, but we hear it gets really windy up here. And if you can't tell on my hair, that's proving to be very true today. For the rest of the day, we're gonna head about a half an hour north up the 101 to Bandon, Oregon. It's known for its unique rock formations, being the cranberry capital of Oregon, and it's home to my number one golf destination that I've wanted to play for so long, Bandon Dunes. Maybe one day I'll get to play there. It's gonna hurt to be so close yet so far away. Ever since getting back to the coast in California and here in Oregon, we've been craving fish and chips. So we came to a spot called Bandon Fish Market and finally scratched that itch. So they have a few different types of fish to try, but we got the halibut, which came very highly recommended. And first impressions, these are big pieces of fish. They're just, oh, meaty, fishy goodness. And they feel so hot. Oh, I'm so excited. Yeah, hot. That is some meaty, hearty fish there. You can see how thick that is. But then on the outside, there is a good amount of breading, but it's not too much, you know, just get just enough good mix of fish and breading. Mm. Oh, yeah, it's so hot. It's so fresh. The fish is so flaky. That is solid. And these fries look so good, too. They look so crunchy. Mm. A fried feast. One really interesting thing here in Bandon is an organization called Wash the Shore, who takes items that have washed ashore from the ocean and turns them into sculptures in order to create awareness about ocean pollution. They do have a gallery in town, but unfortunately, it's not open until next week. So we can't check it out this time. But we're at a beautiful park in town called Cronenberg County Park, where they have a puffin sculpture named Cosmo. So on this sign, they kind of challenge you to see if you can find all these different kinds of debris on Cosmo here. There's combs, lighters, a paintbrush handle, flip flops, bicycle seat, fishing poles, all kinds of stuff that just does not belong in the ocean. I'm very curious how a bicycle seat happened to get in the ocean. It's really sad to think about all these things that are out there. And it's sad that these sculptures even have to exist. But it's really cool that they're turning trash into art to help create awareness for a good cause. Well, sky opened up on us. It is just absolutely pouring now. We came back in the van to hunker down to try to wait for it to pass through. It doesn't look like it's going to. When we lived in Seattle, we had a philosophy that we would never let the rain stop us from exploring. We'd go on hikes no matter what the weather was. But with all this camera gear, we can't really get it wet. So we're just going to sit here. And this is the first time in a couple of days that there's no clear sky off in the distance to give us hope that it will clear up soon. Oh, gosh, it's windy. All right. It's been about an hour and the rain has stopped. So we're going to try to show you all some of this beautiful park. We see a seal on this rock over here. How cool? It's starting to rain again, but we're going to make one more quick stop at Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint. This area is known for a couple of very unique rock formations, including Face Rock back there, which seriously looks like a man just laying down in the water. You have his forehead. You can see his eye sockets, his nose, his lips. It's pretty crazy. And there's also wizard's hat. But to be honest, quite a few of them kind of look like wizard's hat. So we're not totally sure which one's the right one. While we would love to continue up the entire Oregon coast, we have plans more inland. So our Oregon coast road trip is going to stop here. However, we are thinking about coming back to the Oregon coast after Alaska. So stay tuned. Originally, we were supposed to be going to Crater Lake next, but they've been getting snowstorms the last few days and the road into the park is closed. So it's going to be a no go on Crater Lake this time. Thankfully, we have been once before. So that's OK. But next up, we're going to be showing y'all one of our favorite cities in all of Oregon. And we cannot wait. You're a wizard, Harry. I call this dance. It's very cold and windy. I don't know what that is, but I like that.