There are no palm trees, but a mountain of Douglas firs has a sense of symmetry that’s hard to put into words. Walk along the broad sandy beaches and it looks like an avalanche of trees flowing down a huge hill into the water. It’s this area where Oregon’s thick forests meet the ocean. Heceta Lighthouse B&B is where the lighthouse keepers used to live. In 2011 travel guide publisher Arthur Frommer wrote that Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots) is one of his 10 favorite vacation destinations in the world. In 2007, Budget Travel magazine listed it among its Ten Coolest Small Towns in USA. Heceta (pronounced ha-SEE-ta) Lighthouse B&B lies halfway between Florence, which has gone from a drab fishing and lumber town in my youth to a hip, artsy community today, and Yachats, a one-time isolated logging town that has become the savvy traveler’s in place to visit in Oregon. All neat and homey with great seafood, friendly folks and the occasional championship golf course (See: Bandon Dunes). It passes through numerous Coast towns (the weather is too cold to call them “beach towns”) with unspoiled, public beaches and nary a rock or selfie-snapping tourist in sight. The welcoming B&B came at the end of a four-hour drive from Crescent City, Calif., which is also on the sea with a modest lighthouse that juts up from a house on a tiny island just off land.īut once we crossed the Oregon border 25 miles north, Highway 101 becomes one of the most magnificent drives in the U.S. Heceta Head Light and the B&B are halfway between Yachats and Florence. Marina, who has developed an admitted unhealthy dependency on American breakfasts, all but bought an American flag pin for her lapel. It has also become famous among foodies for its - get this - seven-course breakfast, rarely using ingredients found more than a Frisbee throw from the kitchen. Since then, it has hosted people and bus tours from around the world and hosted weddings, anniversaries and community events. It has stood strong under the lighthouse since 1894 and served as the lighthouse keeper’s quarters until 1963. I couldn’t find her a better gift than a night at the Heceta Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast. (Hey, we’re Protestants!) two, the Oregon Coast in December feels a lot different while standing in a horizontal gale. I gave her two warnings: One, a Henderson family Christmas, unlike in Italy, is heavy on the gifts and light on the religion. She wanted to return and experience her first American Christmas. My girlfriend and uber photographer visited the Pacific Northwest with me in August 2018 and fell in love with the Oregon Coast. This was one of my Christmas gifts to Marina. Now imagine having a bed & breakfast right below it. It’s the most photographed lighthouse in the United States and graces postcards, calendars and coffee mugs all over the state. The 56-foot-high lighthouse sits on a promontory 205 feet above the ocean with the brightest light on the Coast, shining 24 miles out to sea. Located almost at the halfway mark of the Oregon Coast, Heceta made the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and has been a guiding light for ships and Oregonians alike since 1894. The king of Oregon’s lighthouses is the Heceta Head Lighthouse. Oregon has 11 lighthouses, all dotting the Coast like sentries guarding a fiercely independent state that likes doing things its own way and leading the way (decriminalization of marijuana, organic farms, first bottle bill). It’s why driving up jaw-dropping Highway 101 along the Oregon Coast this past Christmas holiday was such a gift. I’m as Oregon as moss on tree bark, a rainy weekend, a commune in the woods. I couldn’t pass for Roman if I wore gladiator gear and carried an ax. When people ask me where I’m from, I don’t put on false airs and say Rome. Living in Rome for 7 ½ years hasn’t changed that. It’s more of an assurance of where I’m at, where I’m from, who I am. It isn’t a need for safe passage to land, as so many boat captains have sought on our rough seas for 120-plus years. As a native Oregonian, I always find myself drawn to Oregon lighthouses, kind of like an inland sailor.
The view of the Oregon Coast from the Heceta Lighthouse B&B.
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