Wednesday, August 5, 2015

40x40 - Sun, Sand, and Shelton

Mark two off my annual bucket list - Visit a Beach - DONE! and See Blake Shelton in concert - DONE!

Bullard's Beach Lighthouse
I thankfully got tickets to the Cape Blanco Music Festival. A large country music festival held each year at Cape Blanco (duh) which is a gorgeous spot on the Oregon Coast. Located near Bandon and Port Orford, the quaint sea towns offer your usual mix of artsy craftsy stores, plenty of wind and sea air, and lighthouses. It's sort of nostalgic. Maybe a little sad the way our coastal towns seem to be in a bit of disrepair but at the same time beautiful.

I absolutely love the Oregon coast. I can't say that I absolutely LOVE country music. I'm a bit of a rocker myself - Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains are more my speed. But I like all music and can appreciate a good country song.

What makes a good country song, you ask? Well if you ask ME, I'll tell you it's a bit twangy and sounds country. None of this "crossover pop" bs - I like my country to sound like country. Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Senior - those guys knew country!

That's Blake right there
What else? Blake Shelton. I do love me some Blake so this year's festival was perfect for me. He's good looking. He's tall. He can sing.

We arrived at Bandon late on Friday and headed to the concert. The traffic was insane. It didn't help that some panhandlers parked by the side of the road playing a fiddle asking for handouts. Smart move for them - about 300 cars stopped to give them money. Bad news for us - it took us 2.5 HOURS to go 17 miles and finally arrive. Grrrrr!!

The bar
After the concert, we headed to Bandon to get some grub. Only bad side to a small coastal town. Every single restaurant, grocery store, and convenience store was closed. No fast food. No late night Denny's. Nothing. Then we spotted a bar connected to a closed Chinese restaurant. They happened to serve food (and whiskey - score one for me!). It was one of those "record-screeches-to-a-stop-and-all-the-locals-
stare" kind of dive bars. It was remarkably clean and I'll say the food was fresh and yummy (I was starving!). The bartender was fun and awesome. It ended up being a great time.




the whiskey

I didn't take pictures but I can assure you there are some great places to eat in Bandon. The Minute Cafe for breakfast was nice and tasty and the Chowder House by the water in downtown had delicious crab/shrimp sandwiches and of course, chowder. Over the weekend, we enjoyed more music, fun with friends, plenty of beer,shopping in some quaint little shops and just some downtime. So glad I can mark this off my list.

Fair Food!



Our view of the stage

Tala, Brian, and Rob at the Beer Garden
 
My selfie stick came in handy














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