Best Unsung Beaches – Bandon, OR (photo by Natascha Lee Studios)
I love Sunset Magazine’s…well, I was going to say I love their travel articles but actually I love many things about that magazine. I just saw their article on “14 Best Unsung Beach Towns” and something about the cover photo resonated with me.
Actually, the entire topic is one I am drawn to – small, outt-of-the-way, as-yet undiscovered towns……
Well, I kept thinking I had seen that cover photo location in person. So, I went back to last year’s photos and it turns out that during our Highway 101 Road trip I stayed in, and photographed their #1 town – Bandon, Oregon.
Above is one of the images I took during sunset, with some painterly magic done to it.
BTW, speaking of magic – that’s a 5″ wide puddle in front of me, reflecting the 50+ foot tall rock in the ocean. I was laying on wet sand, lining my camera just in front of this puddle to get this shot. I didn’t mind getting covered in wet sand; I just wanted to keep Josephine safe from it. The rock reflection is particularly dark in the little puddle as that’s pure water, and then it is lighter beyond since that’s just wet sand which is slightly less reflective.
Here is what Sunset Magazine says about Bandon (their words, not mine):
As any upstanding Oregonian knows, the real old school Oregon coast lies down south, in quintessential Oregon beach towns like Bandon. You expect festivity: seaside carnival barkers, maybe a roller coaster. But actually … nothing is happening in Bandon. Tourists schlump down the street sipping coffee at the mouth of the Coquille River, at the town’s edge. Seagulls squawk on the Boardwalk, and a few sprightly old ladies sample the gratis cranberry candies at the Chamber of Commerce. The world slows down, and you notice things. Like the vibrant green algae growing on the rocks in the tidal flats south of town. Stroll out toward those rocks and look down, for Bandon’s best beachcombing is here. Bandon’s beaches can seem otherworldly, like a backdrop to a Maurice Sendak story. Stairs lead you down to the sand. Here is a little cave that someone has turned into a lean-to, lining thin driftwood logs across the front. Here is a curlicue tree limb, twisted in the surf like a giant elk antler. And here is a 40-foot-long tree trunk, bark and all, that will be swallowed up by the waves. Looming above everything are massive rocks that wade, humanlike, in the water. –Sunset Magazine on Bandon, OR, from “Top 14 Unsung Beach Towns”
So, if you haven’t visited this adorable and photogenic town, I agree with Sunset and I recommend it!
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