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The Best Walk on the Oregon Coast

Reg Spittle Leave a comment
  • Several coves expose sandy beaches along the trail.
  • Erosion has created concretions, or cannon balls.
  • Tennis courts were just a few steps away from the mansion.
  • This is just a section of the restored garden next to the trail.
  • Seals and sea lions perform constant concerts at Simpson Reef.

The Oregon Coast Trail follows one of America’s most spectacular coastlines. Sue and I have a favorite section, and it is easily accessible near Coos Bay, and our recent walk began at the beach opposite Sunset Bay State Park. We caught the trail just beyond a basketball court, where it climbs to follow bluffs for nearly five miles to Cape Arago State Park.

After a mile or so, the Cape Arago Lighthouse appears in the distance. Midway, at Shore Acres, there is a bluff-top room with history exhibits and large windows to view gray whales. It graces the site of a mansion built by timber tycoon Louis J. Simpson in 1908; it featured a Roman bath, swimming pool, ballroom, tennis courts, and nine guest rooms. A 1921 fire destroyed the mansion and it was rebuilt, only to fall into disrepair during the Depression.

The state of Oregon now owns the land and has restored the nearby garden (free admission), which is almost always in bloom with a variety of plants from around the world. A beautiful pond and rose garden may make it difficult to remember you are on a day hike. Shore Acres is home to a spectacular light display every Christmas season.

The second half of the walk leads to Simpson Reef, where a viewpoint offers the sounds and sights of seals, sea lions, and shorebirds, all part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. You can turn around here, or continue along the road to Cape Arago, where a path leads downhill to closeup views of sea animals. Several picnic tables beckon below the path and offer–you guessed it–eye-catching views.

We have walked the Sunset Beach-to-Cape Arago path often during our ten years living in Oregon. Sometimes sunshine warms us, sometimes fog chills us, sometimes wind buffets us. Regardless, the path always rewards us.

Compelling Characters Make These Great YA Books

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

Whether you call it young adult, adolescent, or coming-of-age, count me as one of many grownups who are avid readers of the genre aimed at 12-to-18 year olds. I am drawn by the powerful characterization in the best of these books. Like you, I was a kid once, and I find good YA fiction relatable, cathartic, and entertaining, to name just a few qualities.

As a teacher, I treasured the opportunity to share the best YA fiction with my students. As a dad, some of my favorite moments of parenthood were when my kids hung on every word when I read books aloud.

Today I spotlight three YA books whose authors have created characters that led me to turn each page of their books with eager anticipation. Two were written by the same woman.

Stay, by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Lucas Painter, 14, has a penchant for caring and a desire to fix people in his life. He literally saves a neighbor woman’s life, but his letter to his brother Roy, who is serving in Vietnam in 1969, has a consequence Lucas could never imagine. The story is told by Lucas when he is 64 and the final chapter grabbed me even more than the rest of the book. Hyde, one of my favorite authors, created other compelling characters in this moving story. This one kept me up at night, as I couldn’t bear to put it aside.

Hello Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly. Virgil Salinas is a shy, quiet, kind sixth-grader who doesn’t fit in his sports-crazed family. One day, Chet Bullens, a basketball nut who likes to pounce on “weird” kids, commits a prank that transports Virgil and his pet guinea pig Gulliver to a life-threatening predicament. The “joke” causes the boys’ lives to converge with two other kids, self-proclaimed psychic Kaori Tanaka, and Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, intelligent, and lonely. Will the girls get there in time? Hello Universe won the Newbery Medal, one of the most important awards in literature.

We Dream of Space, by Erin Entrada Kelly. Cash is 13, doomed to repeat seventh grade. He loves basketball and watches the Philadelphia 76ers on TV with his dad. He is on his middle school team even though he can’t shoot, but a broken wrist sidelines him. His twin siblings, 12, are also in seventh grade. Fitch, afflicted with a terrible temper, is an arcade player, playing daily until he runs out of quarters. Bird dreams of being the first woman to command the space shuttle. They have a tense life at home, where their parents argue endlessly. It is January 1986. Their science teacher assigns them to form crews to simulate shuttle flight, not imagining for a moment what would happen to the Challenger while her students watch the launch. We Dream of Space portrays daily middle school life while the teacher poses big questions, like “Why do we go to space?” to her students. The book was a Newbery Honor Book.

I have reviewed several other Catherine Ryan Hyde’s books; you can find them on “My book reviews” in the menu.