Coos Bay is one of a trifecta of cities — with Charleston and North Bend — that make up Oregon’s Adventure Coast. Just an eight hour drive north of San Francisco (or a quick flight to the Eugene Airport followed by a two-hour drive west), the Oregon town sits on the rugged southern coastline. In autumn, its landscape is moody, marked by a light mist and subtle fog sliding across the big leaf maple trees and Douglas firs, but the climate remains mild, making year-round exploration easy to achieve.

It’s undeniable that Coos Bay has its own charm, with a kicked-back vibe, even in comparison to the rest of the languid coast. Here, you’ll collect a bit of dust on your boots in a region that’s unpolished in all the best ways.

Outdoor thrills or chill fun

If you came for adventure, don’t shy away from a high-speed sand dune excursion. Coos Bay is adjacent to a long stretch of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area primed for off-roading in utility vehicles and on ATVs. There are 40 miles of dunes in all, but the closest rental spots to Coos Bay will be in North Bend. Pick up your equipment from Spinreel Dune Buggy & ATV Rental and consider a “follow me” tour. Regardless of how you hit the hills, you can fly high on a collection of steep dunes and even take your vehicle out to the beach for a more leisurely venture along the water.

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October ushers in vibrant, changing fall colors with bursts of orange, red and yellow punctuating the dense forest. Glimpse the autumn glow in the South Slough Estuarine Research Reserve by kayak with South Coast Tours. High and low tide make navigating the river a more complicated pasttime, but if you time your trip right, you’ll be able to travel a few miles to the mouth of the ocean before it’s time to turn back. On quick guided trips down the Coos River, experts share details on the area’s flora and fauna, and you’ll likely spot some regional wildlife along the way. Intro tours typically cover 4.6 miles in 2.5 hours, but more difficult excursions are also available to book.

Tide pooling is another year-round activity, and while multiple spots will offer up the ocean’s contents during low tide, the best way to see it all — and learn a thing or two — is to book a guided visit with a marine biologist. Robbie McNulty of Salty Mac Tours has an infectious energy and an impressive amount of knowledge about marine life. He’ll have you feeding sea stars and waxing poetic about color-changing fish before you head home for the day. If you decide to take the adventure on your own, consider a popular tide-pooling area like Cape Arago State Park but beware: The steep trek down can be a bit slippery if it starts to rain. (Expert tip: Be sure to research tide times, looking for minus tides on the charts.)

While you’re in the area, you can combine a hike with your tide pooling trip. Cape Arago has an entire system of trails that weave in and out of the dense forest and slip around the beaches. In the distance, pelicans hunt for breakfast in the water and seagulls scrounge for snacks in the sand. Be aware of weather while you visit. While Coos Bay enjoys mild temperatures all year, some trails can wash out after heavy rainfall.

Tide pooling is another year-round activity, allowing you to few local marine life up close during low tide. (Courtesy of Oregon’s Adventure Coast)

In autumn, visitors get the chance to embrace the seasonal offerings, as well, including mushroom-foraging tours. McNulty can take you on a guided journey to find edible toadstools, but locals warn against going it on your own, as native plant exploration can be dangerous if you’re uninformed.

Rock(fish) and (crab) roll: Eat like a local

One more upside to the fact that Coos Bay’s overall temperature only fluctuates around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, is that its seafood offerings are always abundant. There is no reason to wait until a ’ber month to order up a tray of fresh oysters or gorge on crab legs. And while you’re not here for fine dining, you can get all the best foods fresh from the ocean without the white tablecloth.

Monkey Business Marina Market & Restaurant is just a few miles down the road in Charleston. The casual space has two eating areas and a menu heavy in seafood favorites. The fact that it is built right onto the marina where fishing boats glide in and out daily speaks volumes to the freshness you’ll be able to enjoy — and adds ambiance. While not every plate originates in the ocean, some of the restaurant’s staples include fish and chips, clam chowder in a bread bowl and fish tacos.

A fish taco paired with a beer is a popular lunch option at 7 Devils Brewery and Public House in Coos Bay, Ore. (Courtesy of 7 Devils Brewing Co.)

In Coos Bay, 7 Devils Brewery gives you the opportunity to dine on those PNW Oysters, fried and served with a house-made aioli. Or you can share a plate of fresh rockfish ceviche made with cucumber, red onion, jalapeño and cilantro. For lunch, rockfish and oyster po boys get a lot of attention as do the rockfish tacos. Seafood aside, never leave without eating the panna cotta when it’s on the dessert menu, and oddly enough, 7 Devils has the best french fries in town — perhaps on the entire Oregon Coast.

You’re going to find quite a few casual restaurants here, and all of them have their own take on the local cuisine. SharkBite’s Seafood Café, Fisherman’s Seafood Market and The Boat Fish & Chips are all worthy options. For a bit of variety, consider Blue Heron Bistro or Wildflour in North Bend.

In our opinion, no trip to Coos Bay is complete without a breakfast at Pancake Mill Restaurant & Pie Shoppe. The classic diner serves huge portions of affordable fare that tastes like your grandmother made it, including stacks of pancakes slathered in butter and maple syrup and omelets crammed with fresh ingredients. You don’t come here to fight bad cholesterol; you come here to satisfy your morning cravings.

Want to see where your food comes from? Get up close and personal with mariculture practices in Coos Bay. The region is home to several oyster farms open to guests, including Clausen and Qualman. You can also book a tour with an expert fisherman to learn how they bring in the best finds or go crabbing with a guide. You can always pick up fresh foods at a Downtown Coos Bay Farmer’s Market, as well.

Land at Bay Point

While there are several accommodation options (including RV spots and campgrounds), we chose Bay Point Landing for its unique charms and cozy amenities. The tiny home park (which also offers Airstreams for rent) provides quaint and private accommodations for guests with a communal camp atmosphere. When you aren’t stargazing on the front porch of your oceanfront cabin perched around your own fire pit, head to the game room to play giant wall Scrabble or swim in the heated indoor saltwater pool. Reception doubles as a camp store that sells s’mores kits, wine and other necessities.

Autumn is the ideal time to visit Coos Bay. The fog still burns off midday, and the weather is mild enough to spend days outside. Hiking trails rarely close, and many activities you can enjoy in October simply don’t exist in summer. Plus, those warm California autumns mean chilly nighttime temperatures are a welcome reprieve instead of an uncomfortable inconvenience.

Coos Bay: If you go

Bay Point Landing: Cabin rentals, 92443 Cape Arago Highway, Coos Bay, Ore., (541) 351-9160, baypointlanding.com

7 Devils Brewery & Public House: Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Wednesdays-Mondays, 247 S. Second St., Coos Bay, Ore., (541) 808-3738, 7devilsbrewery.com

Monkey Business Marina Market & Restaurant: Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 63516 Kingfisher Road, Charleston, Ore., (541) 778-3650

Pancake Mill Restaurant & Pie Shoppe: Open 6 a.m.-3 p.m. daily, 2390 Tremont Ave., North Bend, Ore., (541) 756-2751, thepancakemill.com

Salty Mac Tours: 91141 Cape Arago Highway, Coos Bay, Ore., (530) 321-6901, www.saltymactours.com

South Coast Tours: 300 Dock Road, Port Orford, Ore., (541) 373-0487, southcoasttours.net

Spinreel Dune Buggy & ATV Rental: 67045 Spinreel Road, North Bend, Ore.,(541) 759-3313, ridetheoregondunes.com

By KIKI SIDERIS, Associated Press

More online platforms are giving secondhand shopping a digital upgrade, rolling out features like livestream shopping and AI-powered search to make thrifting faster and more exciting.

Although choosing secondhand over new is often the more sustainable option, experts say it’s not a license to overconsume. They warn that resale has its limits, since buying more than you need still fuels waste, and shopping online can add emissions from servers and shipping, thrifted or not.

Here’s how industry experts and fashion-forward shoppers shop secondhand sustainably — and how to find quality pieces that last while looking cool, too.

The rise of online secondhand fashion

At eBay’s secondhand runway shows in New York and London, models wore pre-loved designer pieces that guests could shop live. Secondhand items like those make up 40% of the company’s sales, said Alexis Hoopes, eBay’s vice president of fashion.

“One of our big priorities is making secondhand just as good as shopping in the primary market,” she said.

ThredUp and The RealReal have reported record sales this year, signaling that the online resale market is growing quickly. Live-auction apps like Whatnot are giving shoppers more platforms to bid on used clothing.

Shoppers navigating growing online options with an eye toward sustainability can still end up buying more than they need.

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“People who buy secondhand clothing were found to buy more clothing than people who don’t,” said Meital Peleg Mizrachi, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University who researches textile waste. “Not only that, they tend to get rid of those clothes faster than other consumers. So they’re ending up creating more textile waste because they’re buying more and using that clothing for a shorter period of time.”

Less than 20% of clothing donations to charities are resold in their stores, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. The rest is downcycled, exported — often to countries in the Global South — or ultimately discarded in landfills.

Online resale also generates emissions from shipping and packaging, and running massive e-commerce platforms consumes energy, all factors that need to be considered, said Alana James, a fashion professor at Northumbria University. But all of that pales in comparison to the environmental impact of producing a new garment, she said.

Experts say truly sustainable fashion requires breaking away from the fast-fashion mindset — the constant pressure to “buy now” and the manufactured sense of scarcity that fuels overconsumption.

“Haul” culture — the social media trend of showing off massive shopping sprees — shows overconsumption in a new way, said Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and climate justice in fashion.

“Responsible secondhand shopping means choosing pieces you’ll truly wear, investing in quality and resisting the pull of endless trend cycles,” she said.

Spotting the best quality pieces

It can be difficult to determine quality when shopping online, but asking the seller about the garment’s composition can help, said Wisdom Kaye, a menswear content creator.

Natural fabrics are a good place to start, said Caspelich.

“Look for silk, cotton, bamboo — things that breathe and last — versus synthetics like polyester or nylon,” she said.

Shoppers should look for items that are lined and make note of the quality of the stitching, said Julian Carter, a menswear content creator.

Other secondhand buyers want to buy heftier clothing made before the mid-1990s, when more U.S. products were made without outsourced labor or a lot of cost-cutting, said Wesley Breed, a fashion history content creator.

From the year to the color, shoppers sifting through hundreds of thousands of search results online should be very specific about what they want, said Aimee Kelly, a fashion content creator.

“It helps you find the cooler pieces,” she said. “And have patience — look around, you’re gonna find it.”

Making your pieces last

Finding the right item is only the first step — caring for it ensures it stays in circulation.

Stuff bags to maintain their shape, keep clothing in garment bags, and use muslin bags and lavender sprays to keep out moths that eat natural fabrics like silk, wool and fur, said Liana Satenstein, host of eBay’s Endless Runway secondhand fashion show.

People can also wear clothes more between washes, spot-clean and air-dry clothes, and learn to sew.

“You’d be shocked how many people just toss a cardigan because a button fell off,” Caspelich said.

Keeping fashion in the loop

Secondhand sustainability isn’t just about keeping clothes out of landfills.

People who try to sell or give away their clothes should be mindful of where they’re going, said Mizrachi, the Yale researcher.

“Try to give them to smaller community stores or shelters — places that you know are happy to get those clothes,” Mizrachi said.

Zara, H&M and other brands have launched recycling programs.

eBay recently partnered with British retailer Marks & Spencer for a take-back program that lets shoppers return items in-store to be resold on eBay.

But the most sustainable choice is simply buying less, Mizrachi said. The only way to make fashion companies change how they do business is to make overconsumption unprofitable — which means buyers need to change their habits, she said.

“We can’t purchase our way out of the climate crisis,” Mizrachi said.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After years of always being the perpetual bridesmaid, Lisa Catalano laid down her soft-pink bouquet, hung up her strappy blue satin maid of honor dress and drafted a text to her friends:

“I’m officially announcing my retirement from being a bridesmaid,” she wrote. “The next wedding I’m going to be in will be with my own groom, TBD.”

Two years earlier, her fiancé had died of a terminal illness. After failed attempts at dating apps, set-ups and matchmaking databases, Catalano, now 42, transformed her quest with gusto.

Creating a personal dating campaign, she rented space on a dozen digital billboards along Highway 101 between Santa Clara and South San Francisco, adorning each with her smiling face, cascading brunette curls and a simple message: “MarryLisa.com.”  She’s running the same images on the tops of taxis in San Francisco as well.

With the boost from a local TV station and the New York Post, which shared her story last week, the traffic to her “Marry Lisa” website has soared. By Tuesday, nearly 2,000 men — some from as far as India and the Middle East — had applied to be Mr. Right.

“I keep joking with my friends and family, because this has felt to me like the beginning of a romcom, except so far, it’s been all com and no rom,” she said. “I hope that that changes soon.”

Catalano’s story is equal parts “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “The Bachelorette,” but her journey also reveals yet again the struggles to find love in the post-COVID age of remote work, isolating social media and the frenetic pace of Silicon Valley.

Bay Area dating coach Marie Thouin sympathizes with Catalano’s struggles to find the one, as women, especially, search for traditional relationships in a region that often questions conventions, and where eligible men who want a wife and children are often putting it off until after their careers are established.

Catalano, she said, is “fearless.”

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“She’s breaking a lot of the shame that a lot of women have about wanting partnership. A lot of people don’t want to seem too desperate and so they’re downplaying their desire for a relationship. And she is boldly doing the opposite,” Thouin said. “She’s saying, ‘Hey, this is so important to me that I’m willing to put myself out there on a billboard. I’m willing to create a website for this. I’m willing to go the distance to show the world I want this.’”

Catalano’s studio apartment, decorated with a patchwork quilt, a sheepskin rug and light blue love seat, has become her makeshift command center. On Tuesday morning, her phone kept pinging with every new dating application submitted to her website. People Magazine interviewed her that day, and she’s heading to a TV interview in Oakland Thursday. She’s fielded calls from producers for “Jimmy Kimmel Live! “and CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

She’s had so much interest from so many that she’s barely had a chance to study the applications or go on a single date.

“I’m reviewing the applications myself. I’m not using AI or any tools like that,” she said. “I’m doing it the old-fashioned way, but this is not an old-fashioned approach at all.”

Catalano is remarkably revealing on her MarryLisa.com website. Height, weight, bra size? All spelled out in black and white. Does she kiss on a first date? Sex and intimacy? Her flaws and imperfections? She talks about all that in a string of videos.

A Santa Clara University alumna who worked in tech and the cosmetics industry and is now freelancing, she enjoys wine “and the occasional cocktail.” She’s a Giants fan, owns a convertible and loves cats. “Has never had any cosmetic procedures,” she wrote, is “high energy, healthy active.”

Lisa Catalano in her apartment on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in San Mateo, Calif. Catalano decided to market herself by buying space on digital billboards to advertise her website https://www.marrylisa.com/. So far she has received over 1,900 marriage applications. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Her prospective suitor must be college-educated, drug-free, aligned with her left-leaning politics and be ready for marriage and children within three years.

Catalano is buying a new printer so she can sort the prospective suitors into piles and will likely enlist some friends to help.

Longtime friend Jamie Bainum says she met her boyfriend on Tinder two years ago and hoped the dating apps would work for Catalano. The billboard campaign instead, she said, is “so smart.”

“She’s very outgoing to do it, because it’s definitely serious putting yourself out there for the whole world to see,” said Bainum, 42, of Florida. “But she’s a very good person. She doesn’t have anything to hide, so you’re not going to find any bad things about her. She’s very honest. She’s very fun. She’s just a really good person who deserves a really good guy.”

Along with those who may be the good ones, however, Catalano has received numerous bad ones.

“I’m getting phony applications that are just saying the most horrific things about me,” she said. “I’m putting myself out there and my love life out there. It’s a very vulnerable thing and so I expected some criticism, but this? I’m just trying to roll with it.”

Lisa Catalano applies lipstick in her apartment on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in San Mateo, Calif. Catalano decided to market herself by buying space on digital billboards to advertise her website https://www.marrylisa.com/. So far she has received over 1,900 marriage applications. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

She has increased her personal security, she said, and plans to conduct her “due diligence” before she agrees to a date. But for every negative applicant, there are more positive ones encouraging her search.

Catalano declined to say how much her campaign is costing her so far. (She’ll calculate that later, she said, ) And for all her openness, she didn’t want to talk too much about her late fiancé out of respect, except to say that their relationship was “easy-going” and they had “great communication.”

“I think he would be cheering me on and laughing at this whole thing,” she said. “He would want me to be happy.”

Whether her future husband is somewhere in her growing database remains to be seen. But for those interested in her progress, she’s planning on documenting her journey on her “marrylisaofficial” page on TikTok.

“I do plan on shooting a little content for social media like getting ready for the date, what I’m wearing, that sort of thing, and giving a quick little brief recap of the dates,” she said.

But she’ll keep the men’s names and faces private.

“As unconventional as all of this is, I want to try as hard as possible to make the actual dates themselves feel normal,” she said.

When the publicity dies down, she said, she’s anxious to delve into the applications.

After all, she said, “I’m not doing this for fame. I’m doing this for love.”

Lisa Catalano in her apartment on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in San Mateo, Calif. Catalano decided to market herself by buying space on digital billboards to advertise her website https://www.marrylisa.com/. So far she has received over 1,900 marriage applications. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

By Brian Baker, CFA, Bankrate.com

When their working days eventually come to an end, many retirees will think about the best place to spend their golden years. Not all states treat retirement income — such as pension payouts or distributions from 401(k) plans and IRAs — the same way, which makes state and local taxes a key consideration for anyone expecting to be on a fixed income during this time.

Here’s what you need to know about how different states tax retirement income, including the states where you won’t pay taxes at all.

States with no income tax

Retirement distributions from 401(k) plans or IRAs are considered income for tax purposes.

Fortunately, there are several places with no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

New Hampshire previously taxed interest and dividend payments, but that tax has been repealed starting with the 2025 tax year.

Washington does have a capital gains tax, though there are exemptions and deductions that may eliminate or lower the amount that is owed.

States with an income tax that don’t tax retirement income

In addition to the nine states above that don’t have an income tax at all, four states do not tax retirement income: Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi and Pennsylvania.

Illinois: Illinois charges a flat state income tax of 4.95%, but all retirement income is exempt from paying the tax. This includes pension payments, as well as distributions from retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs. Social Security payments are also exempt.

Iowa: As of 2023, Iowa residents over the age of 55 are no longer taxed on their retirement income thanks to a 2022 law. Iowa now has a flat rate of 3.8% on taxable income after a new law was passed in May 2024.

Mississippi: Mississippi state income tax rates are 0% on the first $10,000 of taxable income and 4.4% on income above that level for the 2025 tax year, but retirement income is not taxed as long as you’ve met the plan requirements. This means that early distributions from retirement plans may not qualify as retirement income and could be subject to tax and a penalty. The tax rate is set to be reduced gradually to 3% by 2030, with further decreases until the tax is eliminated entirely. The rate will fall to 4% in 2026.

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania charges personal income tax at a flat rate of 3.07%. Retirement income is not taxed in Pennsylvania as long as plan requirements are met. Withdrawals from retirement plans such as IRAs prior to reaching the necessary age (59 1/2) may result in taxes.

States that don’t tax Social Security

Forty-one states plus the District of Columbia do not tax Social Security income for retirees.

Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are three of the most recent states to eliminate taxes on Social Security and others are in the process of phasing out the tax.

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Here are the 41 states that don’t tax Social Security income: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The nine states that tax Social Security benefits include: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia. The amount you’re taxed in some of these states is based on your adjusted gross income (AGI) and filing status. West Virginia is phasing out its tax on Social Security benefits and will eliminate it entirely in 2026.

Other retirement income tax issues

While the states listed above don’t tax retirement income at all, there are other states that provide some exemptions. Several states don’t tax military retirement pay, while other states treat pension income differently than distributions from retirement plans such as 401(k)s or IRAs.

Be sure to understand the tax implications of living in a state before deciding where to retire. Taxes on retirement income are one element of the equation, but you’ll also want to consider things like sales and property taxes to get a complete picture. You may ultimately decide that paying more in taxes is worth it to you if a state offers other benefits that make up for the higher cost.

Bottom line

If you’re looking to avoid paying state taxes on your retirement income, you’ll have 13 states to choose from, while many others offer exemptions of some sort. Make sure to understand the tax situation in a state before deciding to relocate there. While lowering your tax bill may help you enjoy a more comfortable retirement, it’s not the only factor worth considering.

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.