FOND MEMORIES AT BANDON-BY-THE-SEA

Photography by Carol Galus

Carol writes:  For several months, we had been anticipating our return visit along the Oregon coast to the tiny town of Brandon, or more properly—Bandon-by-the-Sea. 

During our family year on the road in 1989, we had a brief, but memorable stopover in Bandon.  For that year we homeschooled our two children for 3rd and 4th grade, so we were always on the lookout for books.  When we spotted a “Friends of the Library” book sale one morning in Bandon, we stopped to take a look.  The sale had not officially started yet, but the library staff kindly let both kids take their pick of the lot ahead of starting time!  We have never forgotten this kindness all those years ago at a tiny-town library on the Oregon coast…

Fast forward 29 years…  We were curious to revisit the library that we had talked about so many times over the intervening years, but it didn’t take long to discover that memory lane had been significantly redesigned… Sadly, the old library had been demolished over a decade ago and a newer one with lots of modern bells and whistles had been built in 2004 at a new location.  Nevertheless, we couldn’t resist a peek inside…

We found books in the library used book section that had an old Bandon Public Library stamp inside the front cover—just like the ones we purchased all those years ago.

And then came the amazing part of this story… When we spoke to Sue, one of the librarians who had worked at the library since 1980, she said she remembered our family visit in 1989!  What cemented that day in her memory was meeting our children, and her strong feeling that our homeschoolers must have books to read. 

What ensued for me was a delightful conversation with Sue… and now I have a reason for a little bigger soft spot in my heart for Bandon, Oregon.

On this visit we stayed at the same state park that we chose in 1989—Bullard Beach State Park. 

The campground seemed somewhat familiar, especially the sites surrounded by tall hedges and trees.

The hike to the beach had a lot more sand on the trail than I remembered, and that meant the 3/4-mile hike was one we probably wouldn’t repeat.  However, the beach itself was worth some effort—windswept and deserted, with a stunning backdrop of grass-covered dunes.

Further south toward town was the mouth of the Coquille River with an historic decommissioned lighthouse at the entrance.

The nicer parts of town were set back from a quintessential Oregon beach with its collection of huge storm-tossed logs at the high-water mark.

A drive around small and friendly Bandon led us to the coastline and a curious rock formation called Face Rock,

which looked like the back of the partially submerged head of a woman who is looking out to sea.

The Face Rock viewpoint was a popular area for “circles of sand” drawings which were created at low tide, then slowly eroded as the tide turned.

We seized on a sunny day to make the drive down the coast to Shore Acres State Park, which was once the site for the mansion of a wealthy businessman named Louis Simpson.

All evidence of the mansion faded long ago, but the gardens have been restored and improved to make this state park a coastal showpiece.  Once again, I was pleased with the panorama feature of my camera.

Rhododendrons had just surpassed optimum blooming…

water lilies heralded their potential…

and several varieties of roses were progressively unfolding their grandeur.

A short walk along the shore revealed superlative specimens of rocky erosion,

adorable harbor seals lounging in the surf,

and massive piles of sea lions that had hauled out of the water to bask in the sun on the beach areas of Simpson Reef, a favored breeding and resting area.

One of our biggest surprises on this visit to Bandon was learning that Bandon has become a world-class golfing destination.  A wealthy Scottish investor had the vision to imagine that the rugged windswept landscape on this section of the Pacific coast was ideal for development of authentic links-style courses. 

The Bandon Dunes complex excelled in the links style with four links and one par-3 short course.  As it is at the birthplace of golf on a similar windy coast in Scotland, this was golf as it was meant to be played.

Two weeks in Bandon gave us plenty of beach time.  The best days were those with little to no wind, although we still had to bundle up a bit.

Give us two beach chairs, a log for our feet, lunch and our Kindle readers, and we were quite content for several hours…

Well, that was an interesting return visit to Bandon, Oregon, and another memorable stay at Bulllard Beach State Park… In reality, over three decades, we should have known that except for its small-town ambience and friendliness, many of Bandon’s physical details would likely have changed.  

The one constant is that we have always remembered our first Bandon experience with affection… and in some crazy way, it warmed my heart to discover that someone in Bandon had remembered us too.

Photography by Carol Galus