24 HOURS IN BANDON BY THE SEA

I'm off to see a phenomenon---something big, amazing and a bit eerie---South on Hwy 101--ROAD OF SONG AND LEGEND----remember:
"He wore black denim trousers and motorcycle boots,
and he had a black jacket with an eagle on the back.
He rode a hopped-up cycle that took off like a gun;
That fool was the terror of highway 101"
Bandon is a tourist town, straining dollars from the ebb and flow of visitors, not unlike clams strain nourishment from the tides. I've challenged myself to swallow this whole town like a balene whale gulps in the ocean, straining out what it wants and moving on. 24 hours should do the trick.
Here's where the rich people live on the bluff overlooking the ocean. I don't envy them. THEY PAY TOO MUCH FOR THEIR VIEW. Views are vastly overrated because they so quickly get tiresome. I read that the most beautiful sight in the world--the island of Bali--only holds the attention of visiting sailboaters an average of 3 days. How long would you gaze at the Mona Lisa?

I luck out and connect with a pretty lady resident who will give me a tour--she takes this shot and tells me about the rule of thirds.

She said this boat never leaves harbor. A multi million dollar yacht made to sail the 7 seas, sits unused. Walt Whitman said of such boats (and people) in "Song of the Open Road":

"However calm these waters; however secure this harbor,

We must not anchor here!

We will sail wild and pathless seas; we will go where the winds blow, waves dash,

And the Yankee Clipper speeds by under full sail.

Downtown Bandon can be seen behind the boats--about two blocks of what you'd expect.

The best of the town is on the waterfront--sculpture like this everywhere.

The locals are big on crabs as you will see.

Heeeeere they come. Traps are left in about 20 minutes.

This lady explained the rules: Only Males 6 inches wide may be kept.

Can you believe, they tear the living creatures apart--a lady complained when one pinched her just before she disassembled it. One crab, maybe two is a meal they said.

Town seagull strategy particularly interested me. Here are two ways to prevent them sitting where you'd rather they didn't. The tines atop the light and the clever pointed post caps are just unsittable to them. And furthermore----

Neither is this wire. It's not electrified---just too narrow, I suppose to get a grip on. None even bothered to try that I saw. Those long fine benches kept nice and clean for people. Would you believe a similar strategy was used on people in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Park benches were made with a center partition to prevent bums sleeping on them. Buckminster Fuller advocated that we use such TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS to problems (engineer the situation) rather than MORAL SOLUTIONS (try to persuade people) I hope to blog some day on the last commune I established--based entirely on technical solutions to the perrennial human problems of Privacy, Power, property, performance and peacemaking.

But I digress. Here I pose at the Harbor entrance--- lighthouse in the distance. The lady for reasons of her own would not be photographed.

OK, I'll show you the spectacular sight I came to see---but first I have to mention these flowers called Gosh, brought to oregon by a local in early days and is now everywhere--a destructive nusiance.

California Poppies---my favorite flower--and my nickname. (all my relatives call me poppy)

AND HEEEEERRRRRS WHAT I CAME TO SEE--A GIGANTIC NATURAL SCULPTURE OF A WOMAN EMERGING FROM THE SEA. Can you see the face on the right slope? If you can't you have no imagination. My host assured me that beneath the water was the rest of her body including arms legs and breast---a true miracle. I believed her--and you should too---took her to dinner as thanks for the tour.