A Photographer’s Favorite: Bandon, Oregon
The Oregon coast is dotted with small towns, each offering their own charm.
For many all they see is what is right on Highway 101, as they pass by traveling up or down the coast. You miss out of a lot if you don’t wander around a bit off the highway.
Bandon is the perfect example of that. It’s a small town. On the highway you see shops here and there, a grocery store, maybe a hotel or two.
If you turn toward the ocean and go a few blocks, you will be rewarded with one of the most beautiful and most photographed beaches in Oregon, and probably the nation.
It is often one of photographer’s favorites. Don’t miss it!
The town itself is charming. Easily walked, it encompasses only a few blocks. Quaint restaurants, Mercantiles, a candy store featuring the locally grown cranberries…walk another block and you reach the safe little harbor where you can watch fishing boats come in and go out. More restaurants sit there, fun spots to watch the boats and the birds while nibbling on fish and chips.
Stay in one of the hotels on or near the beach. Most are a walk down staircases, but once there you stand among towering rocks. Face Rock, perhaps the more famous of them there in Bandon, sits slightly offshore. Many others there are named as well. You’ll see why when you get here. The views of the beach from above are as photogenic as well. In any weather it holds such beauty.
Walk along the water’s edge at low tide to find starfish in many colors clinging to the exposed rocks along with barnacles. You can see sea anemones in the low pools of water. You might even catch some seals sunning on flat rocks near the shore.
You can read more about Bandon-by-the-Sea here.
While the beach draws me back again and again, the local museum is also very interesting for a remarkable history. The Facerock Creamery is another interesting stop where you watch their specialty cheese being made.
Bandon is the sort of town that makes you realize just how much there is to see and do in a small town anywhere. The history of the town, the characters who lived there, the small but unique businesses offer a look into history. Come and visit. See for yourself.
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