Kick'n Around Florence

Our morning started with breakfast at a little cafe in Florence where we heard from a couple that were stranded from returning to Eugene by a wrecked snow-plow that blocked the tunnel on  Highway 126.  Well that was all right with us we wanted to continue south towards Coos Bay. Oh no, piped up a local, you can't get through to Reesport because of snow and downed trees.  So, after breakfast we concluded it would be the best to just spend the day in Florence.  First we killed some time at the True-Value Hardware and purchaed a small electric heater 900 - 1500 watts for use in the van.  The 900 watt setting should work well with our 2,000 watt inverter. By then the rain had stopped and it was starting to clear so we went to check out the North Jetty.  The area was a real mess with the Siuslaw River on a muddy rampage.  We ventured north and checked out the Darlingtonia Reserve with the insect eating plants.  Wrong time of year for bugs, and there were absolutly no birds.  Next we stopped at the Sutton Lake Boat Launch.  Birds caught our attention right away.  A majestic Great Blue Heron sat quietly still in a patch of dead cattails.  A Red-winged Blackbird made his presence known.  As we continued to check off birds we followed Sutton Creek to the campground as the sun continued to win over the grey sky. We got in a nice walk and a respectable bird list which you can see here.  We decided to check the Sutton Campgound for TV reception.  It was good and cell service was adequate, so we decided to get a site and spend the night.  First site we looked at was a pull through with lots of open sky, which was good for us for solar, no need to look farther. Standard sites are 24 dollars, or 12 with a Senior Pass. We had lunch and clean-up, some down time to relax and work on photos.  After his nap, Buster wanted to go for another walk, we obliged, and Buster got to give chase to a bunny rabbit.

Darlingtonia Reserve

Sutton Lake

Site B-1 Sutton Campground