Big Blue Visits: Coos Bay & Bandon

I had notions of Coos Bay before ever setting foot in the town. Partly because PRE (see previous post on Eugene) is from there and partly because many of the hippies that made the houseboat community in the 60s and 70s in Sausalito fled to the Coos Bay area when Sausalito got too expensive.

Downtown Coos Bay was pretty tame when we were there. Sunny, warm and empty of people. We did hit a few antique stores (a good one just north of town in North Bend) and a interesting wine store called Oregon Wine Cellars.

Big Blue in Coos Bay.

In 2001, while I was training for the Chicago marathon, I grew a moustache for a short time. Pre was the reason why...




And then I visited Pre's grave. I'm not one for visiting graves. I visited John Belushi's grave on Martha's Vineyard because I love the Blues Brothers and I happened to be near the graveyard. So as I pulled into where Pre was buried, I felt a little odd. What is it you are supposed to feel? I stopped into the office to ask where he was buried and you could tell the guy had answered it a million times.

Pre's parents' resting spot is right next to his. His mom is still alive.

R.I.P PRE.

We continued down the road to Bandon. Known as a tourist spot, recommended by folks through out our travels, Bandon turned out to be a cool town. But I think I would have hated it in the summer as it was nice without crowds, but seemed too touristy.



People were catching crabs from the pier. Apparently you can bring them to the restaurants and they'll clean them for you. Most will even rent you what you need to catch them. Another time for us maybe - we were getting close to the California border and felt the pull of home. We did have a pretty good meal of crab and chowder while we were there.

Remember, kids don't float.