Our Mini McDermott Clan: Gold Beach

Gold Beach was our first stop along the coast. We stayed for 3 nights, and it ended up being our favorite part of the trip. From blackberries to Myrtle trees, sand bars to sand beaches, we had a great time in Gold Beach.

Remember my photo of the water fall from Union Creek(probably not, but I'll remind you ;). Well, that falls was on the Rogue River, and in Gold Beach we met up with the Rogue once again, because Gold Beach is where the Rogue River meets the ocean. In the estuary where the river meets the ocean, there were always tons of fishing boats at work. And I mean tons, probably hundreds of little fishing boats. We went for a walk so the kids could see all the boats, and we watched these fellas get stuck on a sand bar. Note the guy standing up that is actually NOT in the boat. It was kinda fun to watch them get free.

This is the bridge that crosses the Rogue River just north of town. It's seriously long, and it's really quite majestic to see. I never managed to quite capture it in a photo, but this will give you an idea.

Kylee...such a poser!

We were so excited the first night when we found a huge blackberry patch right outside our front door. It was pretty well picked over, but we grabbed a coffee filter out of the house (I have no idea why I didn't just get a bowl) and quickly had it filled with berries. We were so impressed. Then, the next day we went and took our little walk in the bay, and found more berries. And more berries. And more berries. Seriously, there were more berries than our grocery stores probably stock. It was absolutely insane. And to boot, this little path we were on was not busy or well-known, because the berries were not all picked over. Brett wanted to go back to the house for a bowl and some long pants (blackberry bushes are seriously LETHAL), but I just couldn't stop picking them! Before he could stop me, I had my camera around my neck, and we were filling my camera bag with berries! hahah I know, I'm a freak.

This pic is a comparison of the berries we picked the first night with our find from the bay. Kinda pathetic...

Berries everywhere you look!

Hunting for more...

Also located in the bay, we found this little gem. Well, it wasn't really little. They call her the Mary D. Hume.

Apparently this boat belonged to a wealthy merchant in Gold Beach way back when (can't really remember when). The guy owned the cannery that used to operate right off the path we were walking on. Anyway, he wanted to restore his boat, and they were lifting it out of the water with pulleys and stuff when something broke, and the boat crashed back to the water/ground. It was so badly damaged, they decided it couldn't be saved. Rather than pulling it out of the water and getting rid of it, they left it. And there it sits to this day, rotting away. Really quite cool looking though, and certainly a great tourist attraction.

The rest of these photos are just time spent on the beach. The kids absolutely loved the time on the beach, and never wanted to leave or do anything else. The best beach we found was a place called Meyer's Creek, and it was beautiful as well as deserted. Just our kind of place.