Seal Rocks and Glassblowing

Camping along the Oregon Coast with an ocean view sounded like a must do. When I read online how much people liked staying at Seal Rocks RV Cove I thought it would be a great place to land. The Park is located in the central part of the State next to Highway 101. It sits on an ocean bluff across from a beach and Seal Rock State Park. Since we weren’t traveling during peak tourist season, they had a really nice spot for us. October turned out to be a good time to travel on the Oregon Coast. We were able to get reservations where we wanted to stay and there were fewer crowds enjoying nature.

This site at Seal Rocks ended up being one of our favorites during these past few years. It was secluded, had lots of room with a large private grassy area and was in a beautiful setting. It also had an ocean view – the first for us during our RV travels. A walk to the beach just took a couple of minutes.

I had read the beach was rocky and how much people enjoyed the tide pools. When I first walked to the beach I was a little disappointed, as the rocks were some distance away in the surf. Some how I had this vision of clusters of rock all over the beach. On our Oregon Coast trip I learned the importance of checking the tide tables for low tide and figured out the best time to visit. Although at low tide the rocks were a little more exposed, I still couldn’t access the main tide pools. I was told at the office that there are the low, low tides (they often seemed to be late at night or very early in the morning) which are of course more accessible than the second low tide which is higher. I talked to a couple staying at the park who reported they had been here several times and had never seen the surf so high. They said they usually could walk out to the main rocks with no trouble. So at this stop, tide pooling and rock exploring were out for me.

As the name implies, seals often hang out on the rocks at this beach and state park. I did not see any until my last walk the morning we left when I saw two swimming out by the rocks.

We had a great location but mostly poor (Mark says interesting) weather during our week long stay with gray days, rain and wind. The “interesting” weather was really interesting in our tiny trailer on the bluff during the storms. I still ventured out to the beach and one afternoon could hardly walk with the wind driving so hard against me. I came back wet and wind whipped.

We did have a few nice sunset days which are always a joy. Below, some photos during one of my beach walks.

We were only 10 miles from the nearby town of Newport where I found a glassblowing studio called the “Hot Shop.” I have always enjoyed seeing glass works and watching glass blowing demonstrations. I have even taken two classes in the past – once in Seattle with my son Matt and another time when we were visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Hot Shop is run by Jeff and when I asked him about a class, he was very accommodating and easy going about setting one up for me the following week. This was my first one-on-one class and during the other two our projects were already pre-determined by the studios. Although Jeff told me that most people made floats, I was free to make whatever I wanted. I considered making a fluted bowl, but decided the floats were pretty nice.

During my class, I chose the color scheme for the float and Jeff got the color crystals out and arranged on a table. Once he got the hot glass on the rod from the furnace I was able to start working on my float.

With the rod I heated the glass in the reheating or glory hole and then rolled it in the color crystals. Then back it went in the glory hole a few more times.

Using wooden molds, I was able to shape the glass before using a blow tube to inflate my float.

Jeff than cut the float from the tube before putting it in the annhealer which is the final furnace where glass rests as the temperature is slowly brought down over night. This keeps the glass from breaking during drastic temperature change.

I wasn’t able to take the float home until the following day and Jeff did not plan to be in his shop for the next few days. We talked about some options for picking it up and when he found out we were staying in Seal Rocks he kindly offered to bring it to our trailer since he lived in the area. He even asked me what time I wanted it delivered! The next morning he brought it secured in a box. Another fun glassblowing experience with a great guy!

Stay tuned for my next post on exploring Newport!