Oregon Coast Wed/Thurs/Fri

 We started Wednesday with a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It’s small but has a couple of neat features. We enjoyed the Tunnels of the Deep where you can see fish swimming around and above you. Then, we headed south to Coos Bay. 

Along the way, we stopped at Devils Churn state park, which was a cool place but lots of stairs and steep walks. There was a nice small beach on one side and then Devils Churn is a narrow channel of rocks that the tide rushes through in a churning, violent 

Camped on the bay at Bay Point Landing. We set up camp and spent a little time just hanging out. 

On Thursday morning, we started with a big walk on the beach at camp and saw a pretty crane. Then, we set out to explore more. It was a bit rainy, so not very crowded at Sunset Bay State Park. The girls got to run off leash again and they enjoyed it. 

We really enjoyed stops at Simpson Reef and Cape Arago North State park. Both of these are viewpoints from above. The beach itself was closed for wildlife protection. We saw lots of seals and sea lions, sea birds, and even the blow of water from a whale. Oh, and a random rooster that appears to live at the state park.

The pictures don’t do justice to the sights. Then we went to Bandon and had lunch at Face Rock creamery, where we had lunch and bought some more cheese. I forgot pics of this part. 

We spent the afternoon back at camp. They have bocce ball and a pool to enjoy. It’s not quite the flip flop beach picture-rain boots and warm coats have been a godsend-but gorgeous nonetheless.

 

 

On Friday, we headed for home but stopped early for the day in Salem and then visited the Woodbury Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. I might be biased, but I think the one at home is better. Still it was lovely in the fields and also they had some good food and fun fair type activities for Jackson, plus they allowed the dogs to come in too. 

Tomorrow, we drive home. Back to work, laundry, and real life. 

Oregon Coast Mon/Tues

 We started Monday with a visit to a Myrtlewood factory and then packed up the camper and headed south. We stopped at the Tillamook factory, where we had some delicious fried cheese curds and ice cream for Jackson, and then continued on. 

We visited Cape Lookout State park, which was great for finding Sand dollars and we nearly had the beach to ourselves so the dogs could run a bit off leash! Jackson likes any beach with rocks to climb on.

We pulled into our next camp spot at South Beach near Newport around 2:30. We set up and then headed back out. We visited Beverly Beach state park, where we found some fun fossils and an agate or two. Then, we also checked out Devils Punchbowl and picked up some take out seafood for dinner. 

Here’s the South Beach, a short walk from our campsite, which we wandered to after dinner.

On Tuesday, we visited Yaquina Head lighthouse, which is pretty. The lighthouse and Interpretive Center are closed due to COVID but we explored the grounds, visited Cobblestone beach (a beach known for being very loud because the waves rattle the stones) where we saw lots of seals, and also visited Quarry Cove, and old quarry turned beach park.

After a couple hours back at camp for lunch and downtime, we went to Seal Rock State Park at low tide for awesome tide pools! This beach rocked all the boxes with wildlife for Mike and I to see, rocks for Jackson to climb on, and sand for the dogs to roll around.

Then we headed back to camp early for a casual night of burgers and s’mores. Jackson made a friend in the camp next door to play with, so he enjoyed that and will be sad to move on tomorrow. Tomorrow,we head to Coos Bay.