So long, Oregon

  ©2012 Lydia Hinshaw

The good:  Sunny morning at Yaquina Head

The decent:  Cloudy morning in Brookings

The ugly: At a wildlife refuge, our van nearly vanished

 BROOKINGS, OR -- Coastal Oregon is wonderful and maddening.  We've come here now four times, for a week or more each visit, and only our first trip, in 2006, gave us our money's worth.
 There is one lighthouse in Oregon that we've been to at least three times, but have never seen, because the fog at Cape Blanco is just about guaranteed.  This year we didn't even drive out there.  We know that the sun does come out there on occasion, because we've seen a picture-postcard of the lighthouse.
 Yet we keep coming back, because the occasional glimpses of the spectacular coast, and the fresh seafood, make it worth the effort.