A coastal trip to treasure
South Coast Culture Tour offers two weekends of adventure
This spring’s South Coast Culture Tour aims to put the 134-mile stretch of the Oregon Coast from Reedsport to Brookings on the map — quite literally.
A sampler menu
Taste
Sea to Table Dinner in Port Orford
Saturday, April 30
6-8 pm, The Nest Café, 832 Oregon Street, Port Orford
Join Chef Christian for a delicious Sea to Table Dinner of locally procured seafood, herbs, and vegetables that are prepared into a mouth-watering three-course meal.
Consider pairing with the Scenic Bike Ride of Port Orford, which takes place before dinner at Pineapple Express conveniently located next door to The Nest.
Tickets: $50
Create
Washed Ashore — Volunteer Workshop Experience
Friday & Saturday, May 6 & 7
10 am-noon, Washed Ashore Gallery & Volunteer Workshop, 325 2nd Street SE, Bandon
Enjoy a private tour of exhibit and gallery followed by a hands-on volunteer workshop experience to help create pieces that will go on the next sculpture. Open to all ages.
Free. Donations gladly accepted.
Explore
Yoga + Hike on the Cliffs
Saturday, April 30
9 am-noon. Meet at Blacklock Point, Floras Lake Trails Trailhead in Langlois.
Mossy Lotus Yoga will be your guide on this two-mile out-and-back moderate hike with spectacular scenery along the Blacklock Point Trail. You will practice yoga on the cliffs with a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean.
Tickets: $40
Spanning two weekends in April and May, the event offers the chance to taste the bounty of the coast, create everything from cocktails to sculpture, and explore new areas.
One of the event’s headliner activities is a geocaching challenge that combines high-tech mapping with a good old-fashioned treasure hunt to showcase some of the most beautiful parts of the Southern Oregon Coast.
Once a niche pursuit for enthusiasts with specialized GPS devices, geocaching has gone truly global thanks to the explosion in smartphone ownership. Now, all it takes to start ’caching is to download the app to any smartphone, lace up some sturdy shoes and start walking.
From Friday, April 29, through the end of May, anyone taking part in the South Coast Culture Tour will be able to fire up their Geocaching app and search for caches at 20 stops along the way, each containing a secret code. The first 100 people who turn in a completed geocaching passport with all 20 codes will receive a limited-edition souvenir geocoin.
Starting on Thursday, April 28, geocaching challenge passports can be downloaded at www.oregoncoasttoday.com as well as at www.southcoastculturetour.com.
To download the geocaching app and watch an introduction to this fun passtime, go to www.geocaching.com.
And geocaching is just one option among many on the South Coast Culture Tour, with a full slate of activities planned throughout Curry County from Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 1; and throughout Coos County from Friday, May 6, through Sunday, May 8.
“We have put together two weekends of experiences to highlight the best of the South Coast,” said Event Director Daniella Crowder. “This is just the tip of the iceberg and you will want to return again and again to enjoy all that our region has to offer!”
The experiences on offer are as diverse as the landscape and there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Those looking for outdoor adventures can sign up for scenic hikes to hidden beaches, whale watching, clamming, fat biking on the beach, kayaking, trail-building sessions, disc golf and cornhole tournaments and the chance to do yoga on cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Or, let your taste buds guide you, with opportunities to try your hand at gathering and cooking shellfish, cocktail making, cider tasting, coffee roasting, pizza making and a three-course Sea To Table dinner from the Nest Café in Port Orford.
And for those wishing to be inspired by the South Coast’s unmatched natural beauty, creative opportunities abound, such as screen-printing, guided painting, making your own decorative wood sign, or helping create pieces for the next sculpture from Washed Ashore, a program that transforms marine debris into durable works of art.
For full details of all activities and to plan your South Coast Culture Tour experience, go to www.southcoastculturetour.com.