Coos Bay

I have an aunt and uncle who live in Coos Bay.  Very sadly, their granddaughter (my second cousin), Amy Young, passed away two weeks ago from mesothelioma. She was only 22 but lived a pretty amazing life. I went down to Coos Bay for the memorial service on Saturday morning. I wore one of my lawyer suits and that was not the right thing. Tie-dye was the order of the day. Luckily, her brothers and cousin made all manner of tie-dye t shirts, neck ties and crying hankies, so that we could all get in the proper spirit.   Her brothers are very brave and strong and I am honored to be their kin. 

Coos Bay is fairly remote and there's only one flight in and out each day.  With some time on my hands I drove down the coast in the morning to Shore Acres.  Along the way I passed through an idyllic little fishing community called Charleston.  There were 15 ft piles of oyster shells on the sides of the road, many ocean going fishing boats, and a couple of bars.  Not a gift shop in sight.  Once I got out to the ocean, you could tell there's a storm coming down the coast, (they say from the Bering Strait!).  My friends say its snowing in Portland.  With the weather coming, the waves were gigantic and the white caps reached all the way back to the horizon. People were standing at the viewpoint looking for whales through giant binoculars.   A very Oregon day of green, black, grey and blue.