The Oregon Dunes, Florence, OR

After we finished our fun in Bandon, we headed north up the coast to Florence. The Oregon Dunes are definitely something to go see if you've never been! We rode in a BIG truck with HUGE bald tires and roll bars - uh, and the seat belts? hmmmm... not the best functioning order. Sand and rain will do that, I suppose.

The pictures don't really do the dunes justice. It was cloudy, sprinkling, and so the contrast from the sunshine and shadows just wasn't what it could have been to see the depth and breadth of it all.

There are five little lakes in the dunes and around the lakes grow these islands of trees. It is sort of shocking, actually to see these huge pine trees in the midst of all this sand! They are protected areas that you can not go into with the buggies, four-whellers and such.

This is a scary steep drop... and it occasionally happens that a sand rail will slide down there and splash into the water. Uh, I'm glad that I wasn't on THAT ride!

We had a great, fun, semi-scary ride and enjoyed getting off the truck for a bit to feel JUST how small we are in this world.

Of course, some of us had to explore a bit more than others...

One last picture ... about that semi-scary bit. We went STRAIGHT down this hill. Seriously I thought I might flop up over the seat and go heel over head as we SLOWLY slid down this hill. These are our tracks! Somehow, looking at the picture it isn't nearly as frightening as being on the rig!

If you ever get a chance to visit the Central Oregon Coast... don't miss this stop!!