Church, Another Trip to the Tidepools, and driving South to Port Orford

 Here is a photo of where I parked last night in a Coos Bay residential neighborhood.

I visited the Planet Fitness again this morning, and then attended church. Church was uneventful except for one lady's talk. Before she started what she had prepared, she said she felt prompted to tell the congregation about a story from her past.

She grew up in Utah. At the age of 17, she had the strong feeling that she needed to move to Oregon, where her grandmother lived. She told her parents, and they thought it would be a short lived feeling. They told her to pray about it.

The feeling didn't go away, and her parents eventually gave in and let her go. She said it was a culture shock due to the Oregon's looser morality. The culture and acceptable behaviors were much different than what she was used to in Utah. Her grandmother encouraged her to go back, but she stayed.

Meanwhile, her future husband, who lived in a small town south of Coos Bay, moved to Coos Bay about the same time. They met and eventually got married, and have been happily married for several years and have four children. She didn't say how long they dated.

Her story was about all that caught my attention during church today.

After church, since I was late to the tide pools yesterday, I decided to return to the Cape Arago, since I could catch the low tide this afternoon.

The trail to the tidepools is a dirt trail with switchbacks, and a knotted rope at the bottom to help with the final descent. When I got to the tidepools, they didn't look much different than yesterday -- maybe low tide was higher today?

I saw sea anemones, a sea cucumber, and a cool looking item with shiny green segments that I assume is the remains of a dead chiton?

I saw pink coralline algae, which I had also seen yesterday. I admired the beauty of a simple sea shell. It was empty, but looked like ones hermit crabs typically commandeer.

Seeing all the rocks with circular holes made me wonder what it is about the ocean that causes them to wear down in that way. I'm curious, and will have to find out.

I also thought about the abundant seaweed. I read that bullwhip kelp can grow 10 inches per day. I don't know how long a kelp season is, but this sign says it can grow 120 feet in a season!

There is plenty of seaweed stretched out like tangled ropes on the beach. I'm impressed that some of it managed to form braids.

When I first arrived at the beach, and small family was checking out the tidepools, but they had already left, and the water was rising. Now it was just me, the birds, and the churning ocean, so I started back up the trail.

I hadn't gotten far up the trail, when I saw a couple from Vancouver, Canada, coming down. I told them low tide was over, and warned them to be careful because the tide was rising. They continued down anyway, so I stayed on the trail and kept an eye on them. I wanted to make sure they stayed safe and nothing bad happened to them, since they would be alone on the beach.

I watched them descend on the rope, walk across the beach, and start looking in the tidepools. When the woman got wet while trying to avoid the rising water, they returned to the trail and we walked up the hill together. They thanked me for keeping an eye on them and making sure they were safe.

Here is the view from the top of the trail.

On the way back to the highway, I stopped and took a couple of photos of the Cape Arago Lighthouse.

I continued south on Highway 101. It was dark and I started getting tired around Port Orford, so I stopped at "Ray's Food Place" grocery store and got a small  chocolate milk. I asked the clerk if they happened to allow overnight parking, and he said yes, so this is where I am staying tonight.

The city library is across the street from the store, and I can connect to the wifi if I park in front of the library, so I'm updating my blog before I drive back across the street to Ray's parking lot and go to sleep.