Springtime Activities For Seniors Along The Southern Oregon Coast

Ah, spring. The massive storms and gigantic waves of the winter are gently fading into drizzles intermixed with sunshine and gradually warming temperatures. After spending a lot of time cooped up in the house, sometimes it is nice to get outside and enjoy everything the southern Oregon coast has to offer.

While there are many beautiful hiking trails and beach walks in our area, many times patients in home health and hospice care need something a bit more easy and gentle.

Here are a few of our favorite ideas:

• Walking through the gardens at Azalea Park
  The amazing groundskeepers at Azalea Park have chosen a stunning variety of plants and trees that bloom at various times throughout the year. With plenty of benches and a flat walking surface, this is a perfect place to spend an hour or two on a sunny day.
  

• Senior centers
  Many of the towns up and down the coast have senior centers where you can go and play games, listen to lectures, and participate in fun activities like art and dancing.
  
  Brookings: Chetco Activity Center.
  Gold Beach: The Gold Beach Community Center.
  Port Orford: Port Orford Senior Center.
  

• Art with friends.
  There are many opportunities to dabble in art along our beautiful coast.
  
  Brookings: The Manley Art Center has weekly open studio times where you can work alongside other creative folks. Wright’s Custom Framing and Art in also offers various classes, and Creative Juice Crafts has fun family-oriented projects that are perfect to do with the grandkids (or great-grandkids)!
  
  Gold Beach: Wild Rivers Coast Art is a bit slow post-Covid, but keep checking, as things may pick back up soon. Creative Soul is a paint-your-own-pottery studio. The Gold Beach Library also occasionally offers art classes.
  
  Port Orford: The Port Orford Quilt Club creates some beautiful pieces, if your form of creativity involves a needle and thread. They even donate many quilts to give to our hospice patients each year. Mountain Sea Fitness has recently started offering a few art classes, too.

• Take a Hike - an easy one!
  Some of the local beaches have nice easy walking areas that don’t require a hike down to the water. One of the easiest is Sporthaven Beach in Brookings. There is a beautiful little forest walk in Gold Beach called the Myrtle Tree Trail (the beautiful smell of the myrtle leaves makes this one worth it even if you just sit in the car and look at the trees!). And just over the border in California, the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park has a collection of flat trails and river views.

What do you love to do in the spring along the coast in Oregon? Share with us in the comments below!