Raspberries and Limes: June 2010

Oregon Coast Trip - Day 5 + 6

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The next day we woke up and had to put away our soggy camp. Thankfully the tent did a good job of keeping out the rain, and we really only had wet tent and wet tarp to deal with. It was pretty early when we headed out and found hundereds of people taking advantage of the early morning low tide. They were digging for oysters and we were amazed at them all out there in the mud. It was pretty cool. Maybe next trip we will try this sport out! Our first stop was at the Cape Mears Lighthouse and the octopus tree. Both were really cool. The lighthouse was super short, I could hardly imagine seeing it from way out at sea. But then again, it is the only lit beacon in the dark night, so it's height wasn't really an issue. Before entering Tillamook a tire blew on my car and we had to stop and change it. DANG. Thankfully Oregon loves Les Schwab :) There was one in about every town, including Tillamook. After our second stop at Les Schwab in three days, we were off to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yum yum! We had a good time there, got some goodies and ice cream, and then headed out to the next adventure.
Clamming in Oregon

Cape Mears Lighthouse

Octopus Tree

Tillamook Cheese Factory

At Cannon Beach we found Haystack Rock and between there and Seaside there were so many tourists finally popping up for the Memorial Day weekend, that it wasn't even fun to drive the boardwalk. Sadly, we didn't stay long in the area, and headed up to Astoria pretty quickly. The bridge was amazing, and we couldn't resist going over the bridge and the Columbia River into WA state. We flipped back around and headed up to the Astoria column, which Josh had never seen. It was pretty early in the day still, and with no more coast to see, we decided to head into Portland. After turning around a few times, we finally found the Portland temple and got the chance to walk around it. We also found a nicer restaurant so I could have fish and chips before we left our coastal trip behind. At about 9pm MST, we left Portland with the intention of driving through the night. One last stop at Mulnomath Falls for some Twilight photos and then we were on our way. I slept fitfully, and Josh wouldn't sleep at all. He got some nice pictures of the Idaho sunrise. We drove right on through and got home at about 8:45am Sunday morning. We were so tired that after meeting with the bishop and getting called as joint nursery leaders, we were excused from church and went right home and slept until about 7pm. Then went back to bed at about 10:30 and slept until 7am the next morning. HAHA - so tired! Overall, it was a really great and relaxing trip. There was so much to do and see that we will definately be going back soon!
Haystack Rock

Astoria Bridge - across the Columbia River into Washington state

Astoria Column

Astoria City from the column

Portland, OR Temple

Multnomath Falls, OR

Idaho sunrise

Oregon Coast Trip - Day 4

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Most of the morning we spent in Newport, walking the boardwalk and enjoying the harbor. We saw the Yaquina Head lighthouse, which is more like a house. But we didn't go inside, it was too early. There were a bunch of harbor seals right along the dock and some star fish stuck to the dock poles. It was fun to see them so close up in the wild! Once the shops and attractions opened at 10am, we did a bit of shopping and then headed to the Aquarium and discovery center. The star fish here were not in the wild, but it was fun to touch them. The shark tunnel was pretty cool as well.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Shark tunnel - looking up!

Jellyfish!!

Three Amigos...

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was nice and it was the tallest one that we saw. Off the cliffs thre were some Naturalists set up with high tech binoculars and we could see baby seals with thier mother's on the Pebble Beach shore below. It was calfing season, so nobody is allowed down on the beach. Up the freeway a little bit was the Devil's Punchbowl and the Whale Watching Center. Josh had so many questions about whales that we were there for almost an hour! We only saw a couple of whale spouts, but no flesh. Darn it. We did some the cutest squirrels taking off with string cheese though! In Pacific City we stopped and saw the Teacup Rock and found some starfish in the wild. YAY! However, to get there were had to wait for the waves to go out and basically leap from rock to rock to get to the higher rocks where it was safe. The starfish were down close to the waves and there was no way we could reach them. But they were so pretty. Probably the craziest thing we ever did, considering the tide was quite violent at that time of day and with the storm coming in.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Devils Punch Bowl

Eating string cheese... see the wrapper by his foot?

That night we stayed at Camp Lookout State Park. Again, lucky to find an available spot. It had started to mist/rain/sprinkle before we even got there, so the site was soggy wet. The cloud cover was too much for a decent sunset, so instead we just walked the rocky beach and visited with a local who was looking for sea crystals. He was nice and told us the best place to find sand dollars was in Long Beach, WA. We hunkered down in the tent early that night due to the rain and played a game of questions. Reminded me of "The Newlywed Game" where we tested each other on if we knew certain things about each other. It was nice to just spend time together and we were so exhausted, we fell asleep pretty early.

Teacup Rock

Bright Starfish :)

Oregon Coast Trip - Day 3

On day 3 we woke up, and went over to the Cape Blanco lighthouse. It was too early to get close, but it was still pretty. We found a few tide pools at a pull off a bit down the road in Bandon, and also got a pic of Face Rock and one of the many beautiful beach houses. In old town Bandon we stopped and got ice cream and it was soooo good! We crossed the bridge and went to visit the Coquille Lighthouse... there were tons of high schools kids there, so we didn't get to tour it... so this far away pic is the only one we got of it. :)

Cape Blanco Lighthouse

Horseback Riding on the Beach

Coquille Lighthouse

In Coos Bay we ran into a problem... bald tires. Thankfully they had a Les Schwab and we were able to get two new tires put on quickly. The only major rain storm we experienced was while were were waiting for the tires to be changed, and it stopped by the time we were done. YAY! We backtracked to Shore Acres State Park and were able to see the beautiful gardens there. Mostly Rhododendrons, but a few roses and other flowers. I think I have a new favorite flower. :) Rhodies are incredibly gorgeous. We never did find the Cape Arago Lighthouse though. At the Sea Lion caves, instead of paying $15 each to go down below, we instead pulled off the road a bit and saw the sea lions down below on some rocks, sun bathing the day away! SO cute.... and loud!

At the Umpqua River Lighthouse we were able to tour the lighthouse as well as see the Oyster beds that are in the jetty. It was very interesting! Before the end of the day, we pulled off at a couple more places and found some tide pools. No Starfish yet, but the Anenomies and clams were very interesting. We found our stopping place for the night, the South Beach State Park. The campground here was a bit more expensive, but we were lucky to find a spot. We didn't realize that we may not find a camp spot since it was Memorial Day weekend. The beach was a bit of a hike away from this site, and not realizing that, we walked... the sunset was gorgeous though and we got some fun pics of the boats coming into the Newport Harbor. That night we had yummy hot dogs and milk and treats.