Dunes great for boards, buggies

Spokesman-Review Article by Mike Brodwater

Sand boarding, all-terrain vehicles, sand buggies, horses, vacant beaches, the Pacific Ocean and family fun can be placed at one location in the Northwest. Sand dunes stretching 41 miles along the Oregon coastline provide year-round recreational opportunities.

Sand dunes are hard to find in the Inland Northwest, so most of us don’t have a clue what to do with one let alone square miles of them. Sand dunes may conjure up an image of a thirsty man crawling on his belly desperately looking for water. That may be possible in the Southwest or the Sahara Desert but not in Oregon. In fact, interestingly, there are pockets of year-round freshwater lakes scattered throughout the Oregon dunes. To the uninitiated it seems that there isn’t much to do there. That would be a wrong belief.

Not your ordinary Valentine!

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is offering a unique way to say, “I Love You.” Sea lion kisses are featured during the Valentine’s Day sea lion encounters February 14.

On these special encounters, visitors get up close to the ocean’s creatures and learn about them from Aquarium staff members who care for them.

Did you know that geologists have recently discovered a reasonable source for the volcanic ash of the John Day formation?

You can learn about this and other recent discoveries in Oregon's geologic and fossil record at the HMSC's annual Fossil Fest.

by Tim King, Salem-News.com

Surfer Eric Akiskalian & Salem-News.com photographer Tim King are in the running for Billabong's Ride of the Year.

"Probably the biggest wave I have ever seen ridden in Oregon"
-Garrett 'G-Mac' McNamara

(SOUTH REEF, Ore,) - Footage of a California big wave surfer riding a gigantic Oregon reef wave last October has been nominated in the Ride of the Year Category for The 10th Annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards.

I shot the footage of Camarillo, California Eric Akiskalian last October during the Nelscott Reef Tow-In Classic that is held each year by Oregon surfers John Forse and Adam Wagner. Eric and his tow-in partner Keith Galbraith were towsurfing giant waves at South Reef, adjacent to the contest location the entire afternoon and they were riding some of the biggest waves ever ridden along Oregon’s coast.

Begun in 1999 to celebrate the Millennium, the float project has become an annual tradition. Each year the Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Bureau has sponsored Finders Keepers. Select glassblowers on the coast make special handcrafted signed and numbered glass floats.

Volunteers called "Float Fairies" put the floats out on the beach of Lincoln City, from the sands north of Chinook Winds Casino, down to the Taft area. It's up to the individual volunteers when and where. They are set in plain site, sometimes hidden behind obstructions, but easily seen and accessed. The thrill of finding one of these floats adds additional excitement to beachcombing.