North Bend & the Empire Lakes (Coos Bay)

 I do not ever need a reason to take the bus to the coast, but when one presents itself, I'll jump at it. Such was the case when Special Olympics Oregon scheduled a regional track and field competition at North Bend High School. I've been a volunteer photographer for Special Olympics for some time now, and didn't hesitate to seize the opportunity. Or rather, the opportunities.

It would be a simple trip to get there. The morning Link Lane bus from the Eugene Amtrak Station to Three Rivers Casino in Florence. There's a half hour layover before the Coos County Area Transit (CCAT) bus heading south. This is a good place and enough time to use the restroom. No bags are allowed in the casino, but you can check them with the valet. I tip a couple bucks. It is often money well spent. Especially if I had too much coffee before leaving Eugene.

North Bend VA Clinic Transfer Point

The meet was on a Saturday, so I'd travel the Friday before. Had the competition been scheduled for a Sunday, I couldn't have gone. CCAT's Florence Express doesn't operate on Sundays. Or I could stay an extra day. It wouldn't be an inconvenience to "have" to stay an extra night on the coast.

A problem, or rather, a situation I have often found myself in as I have travelled the Oregon coast by bus, is that arrival times are often hours before checkin times. This time wouldn't be any different. Arrival in North Bend was 11 AM, and the hotel checkin time was 4 PM. That's five hours to kill. And there was a lot of rain in the forecast. 

I'd be on foot for quite some time, so I'd have to pack accordingly. This was to be a one-night one-bag trip. So, more rain gear, less camera gear. Some extra socks.

I did my usual pre-trip research, looking for a place to eat lunch, and a way to kill the remainder of those five hours. Just glancing at a map, my eyes settled on "Vinny's Smokin' Good Burgers & Sandwiches." It was an easy 1.2-mile walk from the bus stop. 

Vinny's 

I might plan on spending an hour at lunch, leaving just four more to fill, but I knew that I'd use half that. I needed more to do, possibly in rain. I let my eyes scan the map and it wasn't hard to see the Empire Lakes at John Topits Park, across the city line in Coos Bay. Just over a mile in a straight line up the road. The hotel was about two miles from the lakes and the park. This would be easy. Weather permitting.

I toggled back to Vinny's menu, and got lost. So many things looked so amazingly delicious. It took six days to narrow my selection to a sandwich, rather than a burger. Three more days and I had it down to two items. The night before I left, I settled on The Enforcer. Smoked brisket, carmelized onions, whisky bbq sauce, cheddar cheese and tomato, all on a brioche bun. The bus driver south gave her enthusiastic approval of my choice. She also raved, and it turned out correctly, about the fries at Vinny's. You have to try them to believe them.

The Enforcer with Regular House Fries

The food was absoulutely delicious, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the restroom was in need of attention. It won't keep me from returning though. I'm just going to think I was there on a bad day.

The weather surpassed what I was hoping for after a week of monitoring the forecast with varying degrees of dread. It was cloudy, and could have rained at any time, but didn't. At all. All day.

Heading west on Newmark Avenue towards the lakes, I espied across the street, a record store. I'd stop by on my way to the hotel. I didn't have the time to really go through much of the inventory, but I did find The Best of the MC5 on compact disc. I wasn't equipped to transport LPs anyway. The track meet will probably be back in North Bend next year, so I'll be planning on spending some time at Off the Record.

Off the Record

Had the forecast been for sun, I would have brought my big 150-600 mm lens. The Empire Lakes are encompased in a five-and-a-half mile netting of trails. There is little elevation gain around the lakes, and the trails are all paved, punctuated by benches. There were a couple peregrines and many other birds I could have photographed. Next time.

The heron in the last picture from the Empire Lakes visits every day. The gentleman fishing, whose line is visible in the shot, told me it will hang out, just waiting for fish to be caught that are too small and must be thrown back. It doesn't take much imagination to complete the story.

The track meet was less than a half mile from the hotel so I was there in no time. I found a shortcut across the mall parking lot. As the athlete giving the Special Olympics Oath spoke ("Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."), the rain began. During the last heat of the 4 x 100 relay, the final event of the day, the rain stopped. It just rained all day. Most of the athletes competing were from the coast, and were seemingly unfazed by the weather. 

A paramedic on hand at the meet, just in case of a medical emergency, and I were chatting before the meet started. He had eaten at Vinny's the night before. He's a regular.

When the meet concluded, I had about an hour and a half to get to the bus stop, a half mile away. I grabbed lunch at Safeway and enjoyed it at the bus transfer point, after putting on a pair of dry socks.

The same driver handled the northbound leg of my return trip. She was impressed that I finished all my food at Vinny's. I had told her that I had skipped breakfast in preparation. In Florence, I got off the bus at the Grocery Outlet bus stop. The casino stop is much nicer, but the Grocery Outlet stop is where the bus to Eugene originates, and I like to get a good seat.

Back in Eugene, I exited at the downtown stop, walked right onto bus 36 and was home just before eight.