Florence

The small town of Florence, south of the Heceta Light House, has a lot going for it.  Their old town area is as quaint as can be, and with their nice farmer's market and several coffee roasters, it appeals to many ages.

As we were driving around, we noticed a large sand dune across the river.

Don decided we needed to explore further.  After crossing the beautiful bridge (more on that in another post), we saw a sign for the Sand Dunes State Park.  In not too long, we began to see cars with flags on them, motorbikes, and ATVs, all with knobby tires and flags.  We pulled into a parking lot and climbed a very high dune to see the ocean . . . and an even longer drop to the water.

We are not quite sure what Babs thought, but she was able to experience more sand.  When we looked down on the ocean, we noticed cars driving on the beach.  Don had to go see what that was about.  Because we do not have a flag, a permit, knobby tires, and a wife who would allow it, we stayed on the pavement.

Don began salivating, however, when he saw this.

These riders would slowly come down the hill, and then a group of them would line up where the young man is at the bottom.  Then someone says GO (I am not sure how it worked, exactly) and they all would race up the hill.  Their tires would squirrel around, but they would right the ship, and whoever got to the top, won.  Then they would do it all over again.  Don said it is a good thing he did not live out here forty years ago, or he knows what he would have been doing on weekends!

We barely made it back in time to celebrate Gary's birthday with wine and cheese, halibut, salmon, potatoes, salad, and ice cream.  We were sad that it would be our last night in this beautiful campground with such good friends.  It was fun, fun, fun!