The rain that had plagued me since Portland turns into white, cottony fog by the time I reach Winchester Bay at the mouth of the Umpqua. Some 50 miles farther south, about three minutes outside Bandon, I can see almost nothing but trees on either side of the road. But I do spy a small sign marking the entrance to Bandon Dunes. This golf resort opened in 1999 as the brainchild of Chicagoan Michael Keiser, whose Recycled Paper Greetings sells more than 100 million cards a year. At Bandon Dunes, resort guests can opt to stay in the Lily Pond Cottages, where each room offers two queen beds, a sitting area, and fireplace.
Private decks overlook the pond and forest, and the main lodge is a lovely walk away.
As luck would have it, I get the last room in one of the resort's Lily Pond Cottages. There, avid golfers rise in the wee hours to work out in the exercise room, gulp down breakfast, and tee off at dawn. When the fog and clouds shift into a warm and sunny day, the scene reveals many small lily ponds, which beautify these dunes. From the deck, I can see wood ducks dabbling among the lily pads, a doe and her two fawns browsing along the woodsy edge, and a great blue heron frogging in the shallows. Nearer the lodge, in a small, boggy creek, frogs croak their songs in benign ignorance of herons.