Day 15: A Desert In the Woods

Breakfast in Coos Bay was rather good. I should have expected that Lumberjack foods like Pancakes and Bacon would naturally be better in a Lumberjack town. I went for a walk around downton after consuming flapjacks, and immediately regretted having left my camera in the car (I vowed to never let this happen again - keep reading to find out if I suceeded!). Most amusing of the places passed was a store called "Vital Weapons," with a logo that appeared to have been designed by Beavis or Butt-head - skulls, blood, spikes and a blatant lack of artistic skill. Also amusing was a poll in a video game store window - this week's competition was between Bruce Willis' outlaw cop character in "Die Hard," and Mel Gibson's outlaw cop character in "Lethal Weapon." In my opinion, it is no contest. Aside from "Die Hard" having been a much better movie, Willis gains points for being a seemingly decent human being, unlike Gibson whom I can't help but imagine sniffing his own farts.

Directly north of Coos Bay is where the Oregon dunes begin. If you haven't heard of this area you're in the same boat I was. Imagine: you've spent days driving through several hundred miles of Douglas Firs, when all of a sudden you are no longer in a forest at all, but a big sandy desert. A big sandy desert with Douglas Firs sticking out of it.















I didn't even know that landscapes like this existed. Judging from just the coastline, Oregon may just be the country's most beautiful state. There was more beautiful coastline even after the dunes gave way to cliffs, including this quaint little sea shop:



That was when the Land Vikings attacked.





Fortunately, they just needed directions to "Vital Weapons."



This big asshole wouldn't share his sushi with me. Fortunately I met some new friends named Charity and Laurie who helped me knock him over. The giant sushi was enough to last us a week. We decided to travel together - first there was a dissapointing trip to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum (not nearly cheap or cheesy enough for us), then we decided to split a campsite in Tillamook bay. Both of these girls had these wonderful flashlights that you wear on your head - very useful, and fashionable as well. I vowed to find one of my own as soon as possible. We told some ghost stories (mine we terrible... the only ones I know are basically jokes which can be rearranged in order to make them creepier) and then slept.