Category: Oregon

For those of you following and perhaps tiring of Oregon beach posts and photos, you are in luck as this is the last one! I loved my sunset walks on Cannon Beach and wanted to share some of my photos. This was our last stay and grand finale on the Oregon Coast. We camped at a pleasant and well located RV park and enjoyed perfect sunny fall weather. Cannon Beach is a nice little resort town with interesting shops in gray shingled buildings. One Saturday I headed downtown and found too many people enjoying a fine autumn day. This was the only day on the Coast that I actually spent looking at shops. I have to admit I am not much of a shopper but Cannon Beach is known as a great place to browse and has been compared to the coastal town of Carmel, California, so I didn’t want to pass it up. I decided to not take any pictures of my town exploring, but I have plenty of the beautiful beach area where people were having a blast strolling, flying kites, playing in the surf and admiring Haystack Rock. There was even some sand sculpting going on.

Haystack Rock is one of the most well known landmarks in Oregon. It looms large at 235 feet and is a popular tourist attraction. Although not as big as the Haystack Rock we saw during our stay in Pacific City, it seems larger because it is closer to the shore and accessible at low tide. With all the smaller rocks around its base it is a great place for tide pooling. Several bird species nest here during the spring and summer including Tufted Puffins.

Surprise, the town of Cannon Beach really did get its name from a cannon! In 1846, the U.S. Navy schooner Shark wrecked while crossing the Columbia River Bar. (I talked in my previous post about how treacherous crossing the Bar is and here is an example). Cannons from the ship were let loose and one was discovered a few miles south of the town when it washed ashore on a beach. Later a few other cannons were also found. In 1922, the city officially adopted the new name “Cannon Beach.”

Cannon Beach RV park featured a perk we haven’t had at any other camping spot. The town only has two gas pumps and they are located at this park. I was surprised because with all the tourist traffic I would think there would be at least one gas station. But I was glad about the pumps being available right near us so we wouldn’t have to drive to Seaside, the next town north. Perhaps the best thing about getting gas in Oregon is that they still pump it for you! I have to admit I enjoy being lazy and not getting out of the truck.

If you need a shovel, paint supplies, boxes of nails and perhaps could use a good meal or beverage, “Screw and Brew,” also known as Cannon Beach Hardware is the place to come. The hardware store/restaurant boasts being Oregon’s first hardware store to serve beer, wine and food. During our travels, we like to try out unusual places and this restaurant sounded the most unique in Cannon Beach.

We came for an early dinner and sat at a table with compartments of hardware against one wall and sporting goods and toys against the other. The store is rather small, but it has two floors and manages to carry some hardware basics such as home improvement and gardening tools, plumbing and electrical parts. I really enjoyed my BBQ pulled pork sandwich and Mark had a meatloaf sandwich. This is actually the second hardware store we have eaten at during our RV travels. The first was in Tucumcari, New Mexico in April when we were passing through and decided to try a place called Watson’s BBQ, also known as a hardware/ranch supply store. That place was even quirkier and had tasty food served by a very friendly owner.

I thought I would close this post with some more sunset beach photos. Wishing you all a happy holiday season!

After a bit of a break from writing, I am back with more on our Oregon travels earlier in the Fall. We are currently enjoying being back in Northern California and near our former home base. Staying at an RV Park in this area gives us a chance to be near family and friends for awhile. I have several more posts I want to do on Oregon so bear with me. For those that have been following, I have written quite a bit about this wonderful state. For traveling, Oregon is one of the best and in years past, we have done a variety of trips around the state. This is our first time though in an RV taking our time, a luxury we never had when we were working! Come along with us as we explore some of what Oregon’s most northern coastal city has to offer.

Our first objective when hitting Astoria was a visit to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Astoria sits alongside the mighty Columbia River and this museum showcases life on the River. We found the exhibits to be really interesting and the museum just the right size – not too big or small for an enjoyable visit. We are fond of anything maritime and this is well done. After first watching a great 3D film of unusual deep water sea creatures, we headed outside to tour the Columbia Lightship.

This was the last lightship on the Pacific Coast to guide vessels across the Columbia River Bar, which is also known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” The Bar was a treacherous area with bad winter weather that kept the lightship crew on board for weeks at a time when no supplies could be delivered. Duty on the ship was full of lots of boredom with gale force storms. Nowadays a navigational buoy does the lighting and the ship remains on display at the museum. I had never heard of a lightship and found touring the inside and outside interesting. It isn’t very big and I was amazed at how much is stored onboard including thousands of gallons of fuel, water and over 12 tons of food.

One of the biggest surprises for Mark and I visiting the museum was learning about the Columbia Bar which is noted to be one of the more dangerous river crossings in the world. Where the Columbia River enters the Pacific, waves, wind and current create hazardous conditions and the area is littered with shipwrecks. Since 1792, approximately 2,000 vessels including over 200 large ships have sunk with more than 700 people losing their lives to the sea. Bar pilots now guide ships across the Bar, often boarding by helicopter. Besides photos and drawings, the museum had several videos showing the difficulties faced by mariners attempting this crossing.

The museum has a collection of coast guard boats used on the river and the 36-foot boat in photo below was the standard rescue boat in use for 80 years on the Oregon Coast. Decommissioned in 1988, only one lifeboat (1961) was lost during those 80 years.

One of the more interesting boats on display actually arrived from Japan. After the 2011 tsunami, it floated on the ocean for two years, traveling 5,000 miles and washing ashore at nearby Cape Disappointment in Washington. The owner of the boat did not want it returned, so it was donated to the museum. This was the second Japanese tsunami “survivor” I had seen during our recent Oregon travels. The first was the boat dock exhibited in Newport.

Waves, currents and boat trips can’t help but conjure thoughts of seasickness and the museum has an exhibit called, “Why Don’t I Feel Well?” The best cure: “Don’t go to sea!” Sensory wrist bands help some, over the counter meds can combat the nausea although they have side effects or eating ginger which has no side effects. I don’t get seasick but have taken candied ginger root on a few whaling trips as a precaution. On one trip in Monterey Bay, California I passed some out to several sick passengers. And what does Mark do to prevent seasickness? He heeds the first recommendation!

I really enjoyed the historic map room! There were many maps from the 1600’s and 1700’s. It was fascinating to see drawings of the world as early explorers and map makers once envisioned it. For example, the map below shows California as an Island.

This map shows the Arctic Circle which early explorers believed was navigable by a water route to the pole. Back in those days, a water route was not possible, but today with global warming and the subsequent melting of the polar cap, the dream of those early explorers can now be realized.

An exhibit of Japanese flags from World War II made for a heartfelt memorial. Japanese soldiers carried these flags with them and they were lovingly inscribed with good luck messages from family and friends. American soldiers kept them as souvenirs, but later their relatives wanted to return them to the soldiers’ families in Japan. The Obon Society in Astoria has been able to do just that. A short film showcased the return of one flag and it brought tears to my eyes.

Astoria has a solid history of fishing enterprises which are explained at the museum. The city once called itself the “Salmon Canning Capital of the World.” Mark and I found another intriguing exhibit about the harvesting of shark liver. Since liver is high in Vitamin A, it was given to World War II pilots to improve their night vision. It sold for $18.00 a pound which was a lot of money back in the 1940’s. In 1943, 270,000 pounds of liver was collected at a value of 5 million dollars!

Mark and I usually go our separate ways at some point during museum visits, since I spend more time looking than he does. When we met up later he asked if I had seen the infrared room. In this room people can see themselves as rescuers would using infrared vision technology. Usually I am pretty careful not to miss exhibits, but somehow I missed it. Mark took this ghostly looking photo of himself.

After our museum visit we headed for lunch at Curry and CoCo, a restaurant serving an interesting combo of ethnic foods, Thai and Cuban. During our visit we learned that Cuban entrees were being served at dinner time, but we love Thai food which was the main reason we came. The restaurant was gaily decorated inside with painted street scenes from Havana and colorful furnishings.

The food was so delicious and it had been awhile since we had eaten Thai food. We had a yellow curry special called Kao Soj and a Pad Thai.

After a stop at Josephson’s Smoked Fish House to pick up some smoked salmon to go (I have become quite fond of this fish during our Oregon travels 😊), we headed to our next destination, a national historic park. As I have mentioned several times in blog posts, we try to catch as many national park sites as we can during our travels. Fort Clatsop was a pretty important place historically as this was the farthest point of the Lewis and Clark expedition (Corps of Discovery) after completing their journey of finding a water route to the Pacific Ocean. After arriving in December 1805, they erected a small fort where they stayed for the winter, leaving in March 1806 to return east.

Fort Clatsop is located in a a beautiful area of old growth forest. The Visitor Center was nice although the film the rangers raved about was dated and silly. The original fort is long gone, but a replica was built on the site in the 1950’s. I think Mark spent a grand total of about three minutes looking inside the rooms of the fort before telling me he was heading back towards the truck. Before leaving he used his usual phrase of, “But take your time.” In those three minutes I was able to get a few photos of him looking around. It is true there isn’t much to see here, but I think Lewis and Clark deserved more than three minutes attention 🙃. From the Fort I did walk a short trail to see the expedition’s landing spot on the Lewis and Clark River.

This is the second national park site this year where we spent less than an hour visiting. The first was at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Southeastern Michigan. I would have to say the River Raisin remains the least interesting national park site we have ever visited. It was so boring that I didn’t take one photo and I always take multiple photos every where we go. Fort Clatsop was more interesting, but not much time needed to take it all in.

Thanks for taking the time to read and stay tuned for more Oregon posts!

Tillamook Creamery is a popular stop for tourists visiting Oregon. Located on the northern coast, the factory is very visitor friendly. Here you can learn about making cheese and view the process from large windows above the production floor. In addition, there are a number of exhibits and fun facts throughout the building. Other activities include sampling cheese, checking out the gift shop and eating in the dining hall. Seeing everything and having a meal can take several hours and we did just that during a busy afternoon one weekend.

We hit the cafe first before it got too crowded and the menu at the order counter was of course very cheesy. Mark had macaroni and cheese and a grilled cheese sandwich. I tried the tomato soup with cheese curds mixed in. They were both good. I ate some of Mark’s mac-n-cheese and thought it was prepared pretty well. A variety of other cheese related items can be ordered here such as tempura fried cheese curds and cheddar cheese fries. After lunch it was time for ice cream which may be the most popular item. It seems everyone was walking around with a cone or cup of Tillamook ice cream. I think their ice cream is good, but in my opinion they don’t seem to put as many mix-ins (chocolate chips, nuts, candies, etc.) as two of my favorite ice creams, Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs.

I wasn’t sure if we would see anything happening on the factory floor during our visit, but we were in luck. On our self-guided tour we saw where milk is brought in through pipes, the stainless steel mixing vats and the different stations where the cheese is processed.

From several windows we saw the process of cutting, weighing and then patching the cheese. Each block must meet a certain weight requirement, so those that are too small get patched with extra slices of cheese.

We viewed other sections including the heat shrink area which uses a machine called the “Blue Octopus” for fast vacuum-sealing and the quality control area. It was interesting to see a metal detector to be sure something not on the recipe didn’t make its way in. (We saw this again later at the Bob’s Red Mill grain tour, but that is another post). After our tour was the tasting section which was my least favorite part of the factory. It was small with only about three different cheeses to try and the pieces were tiny. I guess this is understandable as they have so many people come through on a daily basis.

I love factory tours and seeing how things are made so I thought this one was definitely worth a visit. Actually, this was our second time here although it had been years and before they built the new Visitor Center in June 2018. I thought the design of the new building was beautiful and very roomy for the 1.3 million visitors the factory gets each year.

As can be expected, there is lots and lots of cheese for sale in the gift shop but we left without any. We love cheese, in fact we could probably eat it every day. But, cheese is not the most healthy thing so we don’t buy it all the time. Plus, there is plenty of Tillamook for sale in most major grocery stores.

After our “cheesy” visit we drove a different route back to our campsite in Pacific City. The “Three Capes Scenic Route” was supposed to be a not to be missed drive along the coast and it started just south of the town of Tillamook. And what is a “Cape?” It is a large headland that extends out into a body of water. Our first stop was at Cape Meares which has Oregon’s shortest lighthouse at only 38 feet. The lighthouse does have a commanding spot 200 feet above the ocean on a headland.

There are several trails for visitors to walk and see the scenic vistas from the Cape.

Besides the lighthouse, Cape Meares also has one of the largest Sitka Spruce in Oregon called the “Octopus Tree.” This tree measures more than 46 feet in circumference and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning upward. It is 105 feet tall and estimated to be 250 to 300 years old.

The question is how did the Octopus Tree develop such a strange shape? It could have been natural events, but one legend is the tree was used for ceremonial purposes by local tribes who forced or trained the branches into a horizontal position to hold canoes and other ritual objects. Evidence points to Native Americans living on the shores of Cape Meares and placing their dead in canoes.

After leaving Cape Meares our scenic drive took us south past Cape Lookout where we stopped briefly at the State Park located there. And then on to the third Cape of our route – Cape Kiwanda which I wrote about in my last blog and where our campsite was located.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come!

Although we often know a good deal of what our camping experience will be at each RV park, we usually find a few things along the way we hadn’t expected. A bonus at Cape Kiwanda RV Park in Pacific City was all the wildlife that came regularly to our site. We put out seed in our hanging feeder and a dish on the ground and immediately the Stellar Jays came calling. Since Stellar Jays live in the Western U.S., it had been awhile since we had seen them near our trailer. I always enjoy seeing their bright blue coloring accented with black.

We had a number of birds visit us including one we hadn’t had before – Northern Flicker. Another frequent visitor were the Dark-eyed Juncos (I like to call them the little executioners because of their black hoods 😊 ). A spotted towhee also made an appearance.

Seeing bunnies around the campground was also something unexpected. They looked more domesticated than wild and were all colors including pure black, black and white and tan. Toward the end of our stay I asked a lady working in the office how the bunnies got here. She reported that many years ago a man kept about 100 rabbits at the Thousand Trails Campground several miles up the road. For some reason he had to let them loose and they commingled and bred with wild rabbits, continuing to multiply.

The bunnies were more tame than most wild rabbits, probably because they are used to all the people at the campground, who I am sure give them treats from time to time, like we did with carrots.

There were a couple of benefits to staying at Cape Kiwanda RV Resort. The best part was its location right across the street from the beach. It was also nice to find eateries right outside the entrance and the RV Park also had an onsite market and gift shop. Next door was a pizza restaurant which Mark enjoyed because he likes pizza places with salad bars. My favorite was the bakery and two mornings I walked over there to get freshly made pastries and bagels for our breakfast. This is the first time in our RVing where we have been such a walkable distance to places to eat.

By far the most popular eatery is the Pelican Brewing Company looking out over the beach. They brew their own beer and also serve meals. People love coming for the beach view, sitting outside to eat and drink when the weather is good. The Company states it is the only Brewpub located on a beach in the Pacific Northwest. Mark and I usually avoid the trendy places as we don’t feel they are a good value for the money and are usually quite busy. But after walking past the restaurant multiple times throughout the week I felt compelled to try it out. Inside, our table had a nice view of Haystack Rock, the most prominent feature of Cape Kiwanda. The Rock is located offshore and stands 327 feet above the sea, the largest haystack on the Oregon Coast.

The Beach at Pacific City is well loved by visitors. I was surprised to see that vehicles could drive out onto the sand and park. I wanted to venture out but my driver wouldn’t have it. Later we learned that many people get stuck and a few locals make a living out of rescuing them.

The waves are noteworthy here and surfers are a common sight.

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see the famous Pacific City Dory Fleet. These flat bottomed fishing boats launch right from the beach and have to maneuver over the waves as they head out to sea. Visitors are warned to get out of their way when they return because they come in fast with the waves and are therefore unable to stop on their own accord. The Fleet has been a Pacific City tradition for over 100 years. During the warmer months there are probably more boats going in and out, but we were there in the middle of Fall with some cold days.

Cape Kiwanda State Park features sandstone cliffs that are known for strong wave action and at 240 feet, the highest sand dune on the Oregon Coast. I regularly saw people climbing up the dune on their hands and knees. I debated doing the climb, but it is steep and slogging through sand straight uphill is so hard, something I realized during our stay near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. I did head up part way and then veering to the left walked for awhile on the Cape. Much of it is fenced off though to prevent injuries. Signs warned of the dangers climbing or walking on the cliffs, with seven people having lost their lives falling into the ocean. In spite of the fencing and signs, people still regularly climb over and walk onto the cliffs.

As always, thanks for checking in and I hope you enjoyed a look at the Cape Kiwanda area!

Cape Perpetua on the Oregon Coast is an area of amazing scenic sights as this is where the forest meets the sea. I spent some hours exploring this special place known as having the highest point on the Oregon Coast. Captain Cook first observed this headland in 1778 and named it after Saint Perpetua. It features rugged coastal scenery, blow holes, tide pools and a Sitka Spruce rain forest. Come along with me while I show you my day on this part of the Oregon Coast.

I had saved a visit to Cape Perpetua for a day when the weather cleared up. We finally had a sunny, clear day the day before we were to leave nearby Seal Rocks Cove RV Park. My first stop was at Devil’s Churn, a channel cut into the rock where the tide surges in. This is best seen at the highest tide which wasn’t happening when I arrived. Several sets of stairs lead all the way down to the channel for the closest view. When the water is high the waves put on quite a show crashing in. Below is a panoramic photo of Devil’s Churn as well as a second photo at the opening of the channel.

A trail from the Visitor Center led to another section of coast covered with lava. The Spouting Horn is located here as well as Thor’s Well, a depression in the rock where the water rushes in, shoots up and is pulled back down into the “well,” creating an interesting effect that photographers love to capture. Below is a photo of Thor’s Well.

I walked as close as I dared as I didn’t want to be caught by a sneaker wave. I so enjoyed seeing water forced through holes in the rock and then soaring high into the air. It was mesmerizing and I stayed for quite awhile taking in the power of the waves.

After some time near the water I headed inland to walk the Big Spruce Trail along Cape Creek. I entered into what looked like a rainforest where everything dripped and trees were covered with thick moss like in the photo below. But is it moss or lichen? I did some research and still don’t know and feel I should …. it seems the older I get and the more I see, the less I know. Oh well, it was thick, spongy and so nice to touch.

Sitka Spruce trees thrive on the Oregon Coast where it is cool, rainy and foggy. They are very large trees, the third largest after the coastal redwood and Douglas fir and live a long time, up to 800 years. Here is some new information I learned about them; the wood is great for making musical instruments including guitars, harps, violins and pianos. Today’s Native Americans still make traditional wooden flutes out of Sitka Spruce. The trees have had a myriad of other uses, one example is that nearly all of the airplanes of the Allied Forces in WWI and WWII were largely made from Sitka Spruce.

The Big Spruce at the end of the trail is one of the largest on the Oregon Coast and is noted to be almost 600 years old, over 185 feet tall with a circumference of 40 feet.

I am glad I decided to walk the Big Spruce Trail later in the afternoon after my visit to see the blow holes on the coast. The ranger had told me when I checked into the Visitor Center earlier that afternoon that a class of “well behaved” 3rd graders were n the trail at the time. The trail was so narrow perched above a creek that as I walked I was trying to imagine how a group of school kids would have fared single file on it. Perhaps they caught the trail closer to the end at the Big Spruce which was possible from the campground. Either way, when I did my walk I had the trail, forest and creek to myself.

At Cape Perpetua a road leads to the top of the headland, the highest point on the Oregon Coast with views that are supposed to stretch for 37 miles. I didn’t end up going for a couple of reasons – it was later in the afternoon and I wanted to get back and I didn’t feel that day like driving the truck up a windy road to the top. To be honest, I don’t really like driving the truck that much, well really at all. I guess I miss my Toyota 4-runner. Luckily, Mark doesn’t feel that way about the truck as he is after all #bethsdriver. Of course, now I wish I had as I knew the view would be stupendous and it was a clear day. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) that was started in the 1930’s by President Roosevelt built a shelter up there for checking out the view. They also completed trails, campgrounds and other improvements at Cape Perpetua. During our travels we have seen the result of many CCC projects and I am constantly impressed by this program whose efforts still provide so much to our country today.

I have mentioned in past blogs how much I enjoy checking out historic churches on our travels. If I hear about one I always try to find it. I had read about the Little Log Church in the town of Yachats which is the closest town to Cape Perpetua. At first I had a little trouble finding the church, but was glad I made the effort. It is darling and even though it was not open, I could peek into the windows and see inside. This is one of the few log churches I have seen on our travels.

And so we bid goodbye to our great campsite near the sea at Seal Rocks RV Cove. We knew we would miss the view! But it was time to head to our new location up the coast in Pacific City.

Newport is a great town to explore on the Oregon Coast. In this post I wanted to share some of the places we visited. A number of years ago before our RVing days we stayed in Newport, but this time we explored a couple of places we hadn’t seen before. The Oregon Coast Aquarium was one of those places and it was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours seeing marine animals. For those of you that have been to the Monterey Aquarium, it is not near as big or have the variety of seal life. But we still found it to be nicely done.

One of the best parts is the “Passages of the Deep” which is a long undersea tunnel to walk through while a variety of sharks, rays, and other fish swim over and around both sides. I especially liked the school of mackerel that swirled around closely together in a silvery mass for protection.

We had a good view of the sea otters during feeding time. I was surprised to learn that sea otters disappeared from the Oregon Coast over a century ago after being hunted to extinction. An attempt was made to reintroduce them in the 1970’s but failed. Sea otters have always been my favorite sea animal and I found it sad that they have not made a comeback in Oregon like they did in parts of California. Here is a fun fact about sea otters: they have the densest or thickest fur of any animal on earth, which certainly got them in trouble when they were hunted in great numbers so many years ago.

As a bird lover I really enjoyed the Seabird Aviary. I had a close look at a number of Tufted Puffins, Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres and Pigeon Guillemots. I was rather amazed how many birds they had and how nice their pools and enclosures were.

There were a variety of tanks where people were welcome to touch Sea Anemones, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Star Fish, Sea Snails and various kelp. During my beach and tide pool wandering in Oregon, I had hoped to see Sea Urchins but was not successful.

The Aquarium features other animal exhibits including sea lions, pelicans, octopus (which were hiding) and even a turkey vulture exhibit, which surprised me. This isn’t your typical marine animal, but apparently the Aquarium noted their importance as scavengers along the Coast. In addition, a pair of vultures raised by humans could not be returned to the wild and ended up here. I always hope to see jelly fish exhibits at aquariums and they have one here as well. It is mesmerizing watching them float through the water and changing their shapes.

Although the octopus evaded us at the Aquarium, I had a great look at one at the Hatfield Marine Science Center located a short distance away. Visitors can watch octopus feedings several days a week and I found it fascinating. A staff member spent some time introducing us to the resident Giant Pacific Octopus and allowed the octopus to wrap its arms around her arms. She said the octopus knew her and liked to rough house around during feedings. It was strange to hear the sounds when she pried the suckers off her arms. While they played together, she also fed bits of fish, clam and shrimp (the favorite). Staff have toys for the octopus to play with since living in a tank doesn’t afford them much opportunity to exercise as they would in the wild, catching prey and fending off predators. It was interesting to watch the octopus play with balls, rings and a toy shape sorter lid. The staff person also poured water on the octopus during the feeding which she said was enjoyable like a massage.

The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest known octopus species. Males can weigh up to 100 pounds and measure up to 98 inches in length. They are sometimes brought to the Center by local fishermen who find them in their catches. Once at the Center, they are kept in a holding tank to get acclimated and are evaluated to assure they are healthy enough to keep and display. They remain at the Center for six to nine months before being released back to the wild. The life span of an octopus is three to five years.

At the entrance to this marine center is an unusual and interesting exhibit – a large piece of concrete dock that was once used in commercial fisheries in Japan. The dock was ripped from its mooring during the March 2011 tsunami and since it had built in flotation, floated across the Pacific. It was discovered washed ashore on a Newport beach on June 5, 2012. After arrival, it had to be thoroughly cleaned of all marine life due to threat of invasive species causing environmental or economic harm. Over 118 different Japanese species were found on this piece of dock. Today the Center displays the dock as a memorial to honor the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami victims.

Speaking of tsunami’s, Mark says he always thinks about them while on the Coast and finds it a little unnerving. He never had to worry about them growing up in Tucson, Arizona 😊. We saw many warnings about heading to high ground if an earthquake occurs. There was a warning about it on our paperwork from Seal Rocks RV Cove as well. It said that if an earthquake occurred to run, not walk to the designated higher point above the RV Park. As we drove up and down Highway 101 we saw many signs telling us that we were entering and then leaving low lying areas that were tsunami hazard zones.

The Yaquina Head Natural Area several miles north of Newport is a place to see incredible ocean views, wildlife, tide pools and Oregon’s tallest lighthouse.

I took a walk up Salal Hill for even better views of Yaquina Head, the lighthouse and beaches in both directions.

I remembered eating at a really good fish shack the first time we came to Newport years ago and hoped it was still there. I couldn’t remember the name, but when I saw it on the side of Highway 101, I knew that was the place. It is an atmospheric eatery with crab 🦀 pots bubbling outside, picnic tables and inside a wide array of fresh fish for purchase or fish meals to order. Luckily there was seating inside too as it was a little cool outside. We had clam chowder, halibut fish and chips and what they call, “smoked salmon candy.” Actually I ended up eating here twice, once on my own and the second time with Mark. It was still as good as I remembered.

Hope you enjoyed a little tour of Newport – more to come on our Oregon Coast wanderings!