Cape Blanco State Park

Oregon Coast

This morning we were at the Cape Blanco State Park on the Oregon coast. The campground was lovely and sits on a high bluff. You have to walk down a steep trail to get to the beach. The temperature is still in the 60 degree Fahrenheit range with the wind off the cold Pacific. It's one of the most lovely State Parks in the country. The campsites are separated by high shrubbery, flowers and trees.

All the beaches up here have concentrations of beached driftwood trees that float in on the high tides and end up high on the beach.

We're moving about 20 miles north every two days. Today we're in the Bullard's Beach Oregon State Park. I have a fishing trip scheduled out in the Pacific Ocean at 6 AM in the morning. We will be looking for bottomfish. Rock Fish are the usual but I might get lucky with a Ling Cod.

Early on the morning of September 9, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced off Brookings. The crew quickly assembled a specially designed seaplane, and within a few minutes pilot Nobuo Fujita, observer Shoji Okuda, and two 170 pound incendiary bombs were catapulted airborne.

The plane flew toward Cape Blanco Lighthouse and crossed the coastline, following a course southeast for about 50 miles to drop its payload on Wheeler Ridge and become the first enemy aircraft to bomb the US mainland.

The incendiary bombs dropped by Fujita merely smoldered due to the typically wet Oregon forest conditions. However, Fujita is, apparently, the only person to ever bomb the Continental US from the air.

Fujita made several trips to the U.S. after the war. He presented a 400 year old family samurai sword to the town of Brookings  and made deep and sincere apologies to the Oregon forest. His remains are now located near the site where his incendiary bombs fizzled.

Fujita's heroic accomplishment is virtually unknown in Japan. When you are a soldier, sailor or airman and you bravely defend your country in wartime it all counts for next to nothing if you lose the war.

I know. I had to actually listen politely to lectures from silly old ladies and old men about the Vietnam war. You might have thought that they had actually been there with me.

A Nice Fish

Cape Blanco State Park, Oregon

We ended the day in Ray's Grocery store in Port Ormond (population 1,049). Ray's gave us a ten cent credit for bringing our own paper bags for the groceries. Oregon is really green and has many strange, advanced policies like this for recycling.

Ray's had a two pound salmon for less than six dollars. It was a nice fish. I talked to the butcher and he told me he thought it was a silver. It still had the skin on. Basically only the head and entrails had been removed.

I cut it into two pieces and froze half. The other half will be lunch tomorrow.

We're at the Cape Blanco State Park on the Oregon coast. The campground is lovely and sits on a high bluff. You have to walk down a steep trail to get to the beach. The temperature is still in the 60 degree Fahrenheit range with the wind off the cold Pacific.

As we walk the beach, we see many strange, twisted driftwood shapes. We picked up a hitchhiker on the way in. He is searching for gold in the beach sand.

We walk the beach for miles, worried a little that the tide will come in and cut off our retreat. In the end we find a path to climb up off the beach. The Killer Whales (Orcas) and Great White Sharks feed nearby on salmon and seals. We see a sad dead seal on the beach.

If you look very closely. you can see me standing by this beach rock. I'm the little blur of blue. In the morning we'll come back to swim in the chilly Pacific.
The lighthouse is part of the park. The last time we were here, there were whales spouting just offshore. We like this place. We might stay several days.