Saturday, June 30, 2012

Day 34 -- Oregon Coast


Sea Lions on Oregon Coast
Today we drove along the Oregon Coast.  We started the morning in Waldport, OR (between Florence and Newport) and then drove back south first thing in the morning to see the Sea Lion Caves.  I don't think I'd ever been there, and I know David and the kids haven't been there.  It is a natural sea cave where the sea lions come to sleep.  Then right outside of the cave there is another big rock formation where even more sea lions lay out in the "sun."  (It was actually fairly sunny that morning which is very unusual for the Oregon Coast.)  It was an interesting experience and worth the money for the attraction, even though it was a bit "touristy." 

After that we started north up the Oregon Coast toward our destination of Astoria (which is on the very northern tip of the Oregon coastline).  As we drove in to Newport everyone said they were hungry, so we stopped as Mo's.  Mo's is a coast tradition.  I've been going there ever since I was a kid because they have the best clam chowder.  Everyone got clam chowder and liked it (well, Daniel said that it was edible, but David loved it).  David also got a seafood pasta that he said was wonderful and Bow and Erin got shrimp skewers and pasta.  Daniel and I avoided the seafood and got chicken fettuccine (total wimp-out, I know).  But, it was all good!

Then we drove further up the coast and stopped at some of the beaches and interesting areas.  At one point I took everyone out to look at the tide pools and they got to see all sorts of sea creatures.  Daniel also got to climb some of the rocks along the beach, so he was happy.  By mid-afternoon it started to rain and was no longer warm, so no one wanted to linger on the beaches for very long (typical weather).  But, we did get some good pictures!

We also stopped by my dad's property along the beach (he inherited it from my grandparents).  The trailer is still there but everything is so overgrown you can't even get to it (see photo).  Also, when I was a kid there were stairs down to the beach and those have all washed away.  I still have memories of going there as a kid and the motel next door is exactly the same.  But, the rest of the ares is different because there are houses to the south of it that were never there before. 

One of the highlights of the day for me was the stop at the Tillamook Cheese factory.  We got to sample a variety of cheeses and bought Tillamook Ice Cream.  Yum yum!

Late in the day we got close to Astoria and we were very proud of ourselves that we might get to the KOA before it closed.  But, then I had the bright idea to go watch the new Disney movie "Brave" at the Seaside theater (which is the scariest looking movie theater I've ever seen -- it looked like an abandoned factory).  Bow really wanted to see it before she left for Thailand and our kids wanted to see it as well.  So, we ate some popcorn for dinner at the theater and watched it.





The interesting thing is that the KOA office was still open when we got there, even though it was after 10 pm.  They were open until 11 pm!  This KOA was really big (David kept joking that it was as big as Piedmont), but overall it was pretty nice.  The cabin smelled a bit musty, but that is to be expected at the coast, but David was unimpressed that when he moved the queen bed away from the wall a bit it looked like no one had ever swept over there.  It rained all night, so I'm very glad we had a cabin!
Water shooting through
Water coming up a hole in the rock



1 comment:

  1. Looks like y'all are having a great time. Heidi, I hope your birthday is fabulous!!

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