Coasting Through Oregon!

Coasting through Oregon!

 

The northern coast of Oregon is being saved for another trip to the west; however, we certainly enjoyed exploring central coastal Oregon over the last 10 days!  We based ourselves a few miles south of Newport, staying at Whaler’s Rest RV Park.  A short trail led us from the park directly to Lost Creek State Park.  It gave us easy access to a sandy beach to stroll anytime we wanted!

 

The northernmost town we visited was Lincoln City.  We had gone hoping to take a hike to Drift Creek Falls.  Unfortunately, a landslide a couple of months ago detoured the route and we took a pass for this go around.  Strike one.  We did find Devils Lake to enjoy.  We had hopes of getting onto the water, but unless you had your own equipment, you were left to enjoy the view from the banks of the lake.  Strike two.  Determined not to have a third strike, we stopped at an outlet shopping center where we scored a couple of purchases! 

 

The next town along the central coast is Depoe Bay, home to the Oregon State Parks Whale Watching Center.  Here there is a plethora of companies with which to book a whale watching excursion.  However, with my propensity for nausea on the seas, we chose to stay on shore and use binoculars!  The whales were actually pretty easy to spot.  We only needed to watch where the boats were hanging out and focus our attention on that area.  Several spouts were sighted!  Coffee shops abound around here and it hasn’t taken long for me to determine a 12 oz Americano is my new best friend!  It was great to park the truck, stop in at one of the coffee shops and then walk across the street to view the whales.  

Depoe Bay has a quaint feel to it with shops lining Hwy. 101.  Along with coffee shops, you find plenty of seafood restaurants, each boasting they have the best clam chowder along the coast.  We took this as a personal challenge, and as difficult a task as it was, determined Gracie’s Sea Hag in Depoe Bay truly does have the best clam chowder.  Tender clams, chunks of potatoes, creamy, rich broth and the perfect seasonings.  I’m definitely going to be looking for a recipe hack for this one!  

 

In addition to coffee shops and seafood, it seems each town has at least one brewery.  I’m not complaining!  Depoe Bay Brewery has a great selection, delicious sweet potato fries and ocean front window views.  A perfect day if you ask me!

As we headed out of town, we stopped at the Devils Punchbowl.  Honestly, the rocky coast line is stunning whereever you look!  Even with the cloudy weather, the sights were spectacular.  I can’t even imagine the beauty with a blue sky.  We were a little surprised by the cool, cloudy weather.  Only a couple of hours away, the state was having record high temperatures and adding “cooling centers” for people to go to in order to escape the heat.  On the coast, we had low temperatures in the 50’s and high temperatures in the 60’s.  The fog would come and go and skies were mostly cloudy.  Occasionally, the sun would peep out, but that was fleeting.  It sounds like this is a very normal weather pattern for the coast.  We were told that, when it is warm in the valley, the coast sees clouds and fog.  Who knew??

            

The town of Newport is situated on Yaquina Bay and is a cacophony of sights and sounds!  Our first stop in Newport was to the bayfront area where we grabbed a coffee and followed the sound of barking sea lions.  We weren’t really sure what we were hearing, but the noise took us to behind the stores where fishermen unload the day's catch.  Sure enough, a hoard of sea lions was competing with each other for a spot on one of the floating docks.  I guess the idea was to escape the chilly water and bask in the few minutes of sunshine that would emerge. It was entertaining to watch them battling it out!  

Strolling Bayfront, lined with boutiques, gift shops, restaurants, coffee shops and Rogue Brewery was an afternoon in itself!   We had dinner at Mo’s, who has a great chowder also.  Mo, the woman who founded this restaurant, sounds like an amazing person. I would have loved to have met her! One story about her is the time a car lost control and drove into her restaurant.  Mo told the driver, “No problem!  I’ll just put a garage door in and you can stop in anytime.”  Funny thing is, Mo did put that garage door in!  We were seated right next to it.  They open it up on warm days and close it when it cools off. 

Down in the marina area, we found a fishing boat selling fresh fish right off the boat!  We couldn’t resist picking up some fresh salmon to take home for dinner.  Only thing better would have been to catch it ourselves, but that would involve taking a boat out into the Pacific and, yeah, back to that commotion-of-the-motion thing I have going.  I was happy to keep my feet on the ground and buy salmon from the boat! 

 

From the Bayfront, it’s an easy walk to the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  This is one of the most photogenic towns along the coast and this bridge is Newport’s iconic symbol.  We walked up the grand staircase to access the bridge and from there, be prepared to hang onto your hat!  Good golly it’s windy up there!  

Between Bayfront and the bridge, you can pick up the Yaquina Bay Shore trail which gives you a new perspective on this bridge.  It was fun to walk along the rocky shoreline of the bay, going under the bridge and further out from the bay.  Yaquina Bay lighthouse is currently closed for tours, but it was great to see it from this viewpoint.  This lighthouse is the only wooden lighthouse on the coast and was only open for 3 years before being decommissioned.  It was reinstated in 1996 with updated technology and continues to be a beacon today. 

                        

Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area is on the north edge of Newport.  Our first trip there was at high tide.  We knew there was another lighthouse there and, beyond that, we had no expectations.  Its name should have clued us in that we were in for a treat!  There was a ranger outside of the visitor center who filled us in on the features the park offers in addition to the lighthouse.  I have to say, Cobble Beach was by far my favorite feature!  The beach is lined with basalt cliffs that, over time, have had pieces chip off.  Over the years, the waves have rolled these chips around and smoothed off the black rocks into what is more like various sizes of marbles.  The ranger compared walking on the cobble stones to walking on ball bearings.  I can’t say I disagree!  At high tide, the waves roll the stones up and back down along the shoreline, and the noise of the rolling stones sounds as though the stones are singing.  The smaller the stone, the higher the pitch of the song they sing!  

 

This place really needs the motto “So nice, do it twice!”  High tide was beautiful and lots of fun, but we decided we needed to come back at low tide where we could walk among the tidal pools and find all kinds of sea life, including coralline algae, purple spike urchins, green sea anemones, sea stars, tidepool sculpin and harbor seals resting on seal rock and swimming in the low tide water.  We were thrilled there were naturalists there to help us identify all of these gems!

On each of our trips through Newport, we noticed that no matter what time we passed the South Beach Fish Market, the picnic tables were full.  We decided this was a sure sign of good food and stopped by for a delicious dinner!  I can’t declare us halibut and chips aficionados, but dang, this has to be the best I’ve ever eaten!  

In addition to Rogue Brewery, Newport has Wolf Tree Brewery and the Newport Brewery.  They were all worthy of our time and we found some pretty tasty beer at all of them.  Overall, I think my favorite was the Peanut Butter Stout that Newport Brewery had on their menu.   

 

Newport’s Agate Beach is a fantastic beach to stroll.  It has sand dunes that you cross before you reach the shoreline.  In my limited beach experience, this was unique and I thought it was a blast!  It was fun watching children jumping around and playing on the giant waves of sand.

Newport also offers the historic Nye Beach District where we strolled around the artsy shops and walked the Nye Beach.  Although it is overcast and foggy, it is such a calming experience to walk on the beach.  It feels good to have a light jacket on and feel the mist of the fog on your face.  I’m not sure I could live in such a moist environment, but it was definitely fun to experience.  It makes sense why coffee shops are so important to this culture!

 

Mass at Sacred Heart was a beautiful experience!  It had a simple elegance to it.  The entire wall to the south of the sanctuary was windows.  All of the white light shining in on the rugged, wooden crucifix was breathtaking.  You could feel the light of Christ!  There were no stained-glass windows, no ornate gold anything -- just the light of Christ.  We were there for the feast day of the Assumption of Mary and this was the focus of the homily.  The priest gave a very meaningful explanation of why Catholics believe Mary was assumed into heaven.  In addition to worship, praise, and adoration, I learned a thing or two!

A few miles south of Newport you come to the town of Yachats.  This was the southern most town we went to.  A Sunday morning farmer’s market got us started, where we bought some fresh produce (including about the juiciest peaches I’ve ever eaten) and some fresh baked goods.  With our goodies in hand, we walked to The Green Salmon (boasted by many as having the best cup of Joe around) and then walked two blocks before arriving at Yachats State Park to enjoy breakfast on the rocky shoreline.  That’s a good start to a day!

 

Fully fueled, we drove a few miles down Hwy. 101 to Neptune State Scenic Viewpoints.  Our favorite stop was at Strawberry Hill where we explored more tidal pools.  These were really fantastic! We saw a jelly fish, lots of harbor seals, tons of sea stars…. It was like a giant scavenger hunt, not sure what the next tidal pool would have!  The tide was coming in, so we had limited time to explore, but that was alright.  There were too many other places we hoped to make it to!  Our next pull over was the Neptune stop where we enjoyed the rocky shoreline view. It was relaxing to just watch the pounding waves crash onto the rocks lining the shore.

 

The woman at the visitor center had shared with us that at mile marker 166 there is an unmarked pull off that has access to the Amanda statue.  Amanda was a blind Coos woman who was badly abused in May of 1864.  Extremely sad story.  If not for a diary entry by an agent, this story would not be known.  It was a crystal clear message of just how important it is to remember and learn from the past mistakes that were made.  

From Amanda’s statue, we took a challenging 4.5-mile round trip hike to the Cape Perpetua Overlook.  All of Cape Perpetua is so beautiful.  This area is where ancient forest meets the sea.  It’s fantastic to be hiking in the rain forest one minute and looking at the Pacific Ocean the next!  

On another trip to Cape Perpetua, we hiked to see a giant 500+ year old Sitka spruce tree.  The Sitka spruce trees only grow in a 4-mile-wide band along the pacific coast.  They start as a seedling on a fallen (nurse) log, slowly growing roots that extend beside the “nurse” log and eventually taking root in the soil.  When the nurse log decomposes, a tunnel is left in its place.  It was cool learning about these trees and seeing examples of all ages and stages of the Sitka spruce along the trail.  And yes, we did crawl through the tunnel!  Who could resist?

Another fun shoreline stop along Cape Perpetua was a pull off for the Spouting Horn and Thor’s well.  Again, it was fun to watch the waves come crashing in and see it spurt out of the horn or fall down into the well.  God’s creativity certainly abounds!

Spouting Horn

Thor's Well

Just north of Yachats is Swelt Sands Beach.  This was our final stop on our way back home on our last day of exploring.  It really was a spur of the minute stop that ended up being a perfect end to a day of exploring.  It offered a quiet stroll along the rocky shoreline, giving us time to unwind and relax after such a stimulating day.  

Florence, our next campground location, is considered part of the central Oregon coastline.  From Florence, we plan to explore the southern Oregon coastline.  I’ve heard as you head south, it only gets prettier, which is impossible for me to even imagine!  Stay tuned and I’ll let you know if it’s true or not!

Up next: Florence!