The Oregon coast: better than Disneyland!

Sea palms (Postelsia) or as I dubbed them, miniature Lorax trees at Rocky Creek State Park, north of Newport. Copyright (c) 2012 Wendee Holtcamp 

I took Sam to the Central Oregon coast two weekends ago (and this past one, we went to Astoria, Cannon Beach and the north Oregon coast, but those pics will have to wait until another day- maybe tomorrow!) The Devil's Punchbowl shown in this photo can be seen in the tiny town of Otter Rock. At high tide, the ocean splashes up through the hole in the rock. We went at high tide, but it didn't splash so much. Maybe it was a lowish high tide. Sam wondered why the water inside the "bowl" is a different color than the ocean. I think it's probably an effect of the depth but I'm not sure.

Another view of the Devil's punchbowl and the gorgeous rocky coastline. We arrived on Friday night, on a cloudy, drizzly (aka typical) day on the Oregon coast (I took these punchbowl photos on Sunday, actually) and it was pretty cloudy all Saturday too. We were the guests of Dick Cutler and the Inn at Otter Crest, an awesome condo and hotel/resort in Otter Rock, Oregon where I'd stayed on my last year's trip also. I didn't get a photo but it has the coolest "tram" that takes you from the parking lot at the bottom of the hill to the lodge units which are placed up a steep mountainside. We were at the very top! It is sort of like an elevator, and it went pretty slow, but it was kind of a fun experience. Especially when a group of kids were in it with us, and we were going downhill, and one of the young ones said, "is this moved by people power?" Out of the mouths of babes! Ha!

The first order of the day was to see the Japanese dock that washed all the way across the sea to Newport! It has become a popular tourist attraction! See it soon, though, as they are about to cut it up and haul it off. It originally had seaweed growing all over it and other images on the web show it in all its glory, but they "torched" it to kill everything, after collecting samples for scientists to study. They thought an oceanic journey would kill everything but no... at least three species are potentially invasive, so they were concerned about economic and ecological repercussions. I also attended a meeting of the two U.S. Oregon Congressmen and representatives of various boating and fishing industries, to discuss what to do about possible repercussions if ships at sea run into some big debris like this floating dock.

People clearly do not wish to obey the No Trespassing signs. :)

Just below the Inn at Otter Crest, there's a nice beach where a lot of people go and have campfires.  I love campfires so much, and only wish we could have had one. Nothing is more awesome than hanging out by a campfire with friends or a loved one.  People also look for agates which are common on the Oregon coast especially in this area. We looked for agates but I couldn't remember what they looked like in the unpolished form and I was confusing them for geodes in my mind.

So he was trying to crack them open...

Another view of Otter Crest beach

A nice bench!

Later, we stopped by Rocky Creek State Park to do some tide pool explorin'. When I got there, I realized I had been here before, but only as far as this. I had taken some photos on last year's visit.

Sam found this ginormous skunk cabbage leaf on the trail down to the tide pool area. Of course, he has to hide his face behind it... He so loves his photo taken...

A view of the vista at Rocky Creek State Park.

Then we climbed down onto the rocky shore below. 

Sam walking on the volcanic rock. It reminded me of the Galapagos Islands. Minus the iguanas. And Sally Lightfoot crabs.

And then... I spotted them. What the heck? Miniature Lorax trees growing on the rocks?

I got closer, and marveled at the awesomeness that is the mini-Lorax tree seaweed. OK really they are called sea palms, or scientific name Postelsia. And they're edible and very nutritious! While Sam explored, I sat and watched and photographed the waves splashing the Lorax trees, er, sea palms, for a long time. I had such a sense of peace.

A cool shot of the ocean splashing on the rocks and the sea palms.

They are just the coolest things ever!

A fun shot of a wave coming in. It was cool how the color in the wave is more green than the deeper blue/aqua of the rest. Kind of similar to how the color inside of the devil's punchbowl was more green. It must have something to do with the reflection of the sun and the depth. See, I'm solving the conundrum using my own photographs!

 

I had this tiny daisy in my hair, as I am inclined to do, and it fell into the water, and I thought it looked kinda cool. There were also mussels all over the place.

Later that day, we stopped by the Whale Museum, just opened in Depoe Bay, and since there was a second low tide later in the day, we decided to go tide pooling at Boiler Bay at the recommendation of the people at the Whale Museum. It wasn't a super low tide, and we had to totally bush-whack through the freakin jungle to get to the rocky ledge, but it was cool once we did. Then on the way back up we discovered an easier path up the bank.

It's so named because of a schooner that ran aground and then the oil tanks exploded. Some of the metal is still present in the bay, including one of the engine oilers - seen here - that is visible at low tide.
 

I just love me some starfish.

More starfish!

This is such a funny photo of Sam throwing a piece of seaweed at me!

Another view of Boiler Bay

Sam found this very bizarre hollow tube of some sort of seaweed. Reminds me of the weird horn-like hair growths on some of the Star Wars characters.

I wanted to add a few images I took with my phone. We ate at Oceanbleu at Gino's in the historic Bayfront area of Newport, on the recommendation of Yelp, and it didn't disappoint. Both Sam and I agreed it was the best seafood we had on our entire Oregon trip. I decided that even though I've been vegetarian since the beginning of the year, I would have some of the locally caught wild salmon while here. It didn't disappoint! Their clam chowder was delicious too.

I took a similar photo of this shop last year but love this one because you can see Sam and my reflection in the image. Ha ha! The shop was open this time and I got some pretty funny gifts in here...

I took Sam to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and we saw some pretty cool tide pools but it wasn't that low of a low tide this day - not anything like when I went last year. Anyway these are the cobbles on the cobblestone beach that I think are so cool. I didn't take pics with my good camera because it was super drizzly.

We also went to the Sea Lion caves near Florence, where we not only saw Steller sea lions but we bought and then consumed enormous quantities of fudge.

Goodbye to Oregon! For now...

A seagull playing in the freshwater creek that spills into the Pacific on the Oregon coast, north of Newport. Copyright (c) 2011 Wendee Holtcamp

"Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain." - Mark Twain

I'm home now! In a couple days, I'll add some from my visit to my dad's Crackerbox palace (aka log cabin in the woods) and a few others from my trip to Portland. But for now, I wanted to post the final images from the Central Oregon coast. On the last day of our trip (Friday), we went on a truly crazy wild dune buggy ride at Sandland Adventures. The dune buggy ride at Sand Master Park had nothing on this one!

We met the dune buggy driver at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which is technically part of the Siuslaw National Forest.

It was an absolutely beautiful area, with mountains and evergreen trees but with miles and miles of cafe-au-lait colored sand dunes - but we were told not to bring cameras or cell phones because if it gets lost in the sand, it's gone for good. And the dune buggy ride was like a roller coaster. We were strapped in tight and thank God for that! We went down several extremely high and steep dunes - the highest being a whopping 390 feet drop! I thought it was quite fun and it gave me butterflies but not everyone in our group was loving it!

Riding in the buggy up and around and down the dunes can be a massive adrenaline rush especially if you don't like heights or not being in control... And lack of control is an issue I have devoted the last few years overcoming and I can honestly say I am not really scared of flying anymore (though I had some mild trepidation before up in the helicopter the day before, I did it and was not scared!) - and I can also imagine that if the driver had pushed it just a little bit more, I probably would've been a bit scared. But I had a blast!

So, after almost dying (ha ha - just kidding) on the dune buggy ride, we headed to a much calmer experience in historic downtown Florence. We checked out this yummy bakery (which had a delicious gluten-free cheddar-dill scone) and then went to the Siuslaw River Coffee Roasters where I had a soy misto redeye, with Mexican chocolate...and then we wandered around a bit and shopped.

And while out, our fearless leader Rebecah decided she wanted to sit on some motorcycles of these guys who were on the street. So we did. And borrowed their jackets. I didn't get a shot of Rebecah but below are a couple pics of me and Eileen on our turn on the bikes. No, we didn't ride them!Me on the bike. I would never drive a motorcycle - too scary! I have ridden on several in the past, but couldn't do it on a regular basis. Drivers are just too careless...Would you?
One of Conde McCoullough's famous Oregon bridges - in downtown/Old town Florence. After this, we headed back to Newport where our cars were, but not before stopping in Yachats (pronounced Yah-hots) for lunch at the Green Salmon Cafe and Teahouse, a place recommended to me by one of my Twitter followers (follow me on Twitter here)! It was awesome! Here's their menu. I had the sustainable tuna melt, and this delish ginger coffee - called Kopi Jahe.
We took this silly hat photo at The Drift Inn restaurant in Yachats the night before - which had a really diverse menu and good food. The place had a quirky feel, which made me feel right at home! It had some info about the Oregon Country Fair, which naturally made me think of my brother! Anyway, after saying our goodbyes, we went our separate ways. My flight didn't leave until midnight, so I drove slowly back to Portland via the coast.
I decided to stop roadside and watch the ocean for a while. This spot just north of Newport is where I stopped, photographed, relaxed, journaled and listened to the waves.
These seagulls were all hanging out where the freshwater creek spilled into the ocean and after a bit of watching them I realized they were drinking the water. They were also splashing and bathing in it! I didn't know seagulls bathe in the freshwater, but they certainly did. Ya learn something new every day!
Another shot of the area - love these rounded river rocks.
And a view of a large piece of driftwood!
After staring for a while, I also noticed that there were these pillars of sand on top of the larger rocks in the creek bed. Pretty cool.The wave is chasing me! So, until next time... Which may not be too far away. I am taking my kiddos on a summer trip to California so my daughter can look at a few colleges and originally I was going to go to San Francisco and then drive south to L.A., now I'm thinking seriously of driving north to the Oregon coast instead and taking my kids to experience some of this awesomeness! I need to pitch some articles on the cool stuff I saw! The ones I'm leaning towards are sandboarding, the Rogue Brewery, and some family travel pieces. Oh and some culinary/food ideas. Oregon is big on farm to fork. And did you know that 99.9% of commercial hazelnuts come from Oregon? See now you have learned at least two new things today!

Sea lions, tide pools and sunsets

I'm a day behind on my photos, so here is what happened yesterday... In the morning we woke and went to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (a Bureau of Land Management-BLM-designation), just north of Newport, Oregon. This is - big surprise - the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, which is Oregon's tallest lighthouse at 93 feet tall. The light has been active since 1873. Newport is on the northern part of the Central Oregon Coast - the region we're exploring.
As you walk down some stairs, you get to a cobblestone beach - which is at low tide in this photo. Rebecah (Director, Central Oregon Coast Association) said that it sounds really neat when the water is up and the waves wash over the cobblestones.
A closer view of the gray rocks/cobblestones.
As you walk further out, the cobbles give way to rocky tidepools where you see seaweeds, seastars, anemones, mussels and so much more. This is Rebecah checking them out.
A purple-colored ochre seastar.
Another view of seaweeds, seastars, anemones
All of the rocky islands and islets off the Oregon coast are protected as part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. This is Eileen checking out the sign on the walkway down to the beach.
A view of the islets and the cliffs from Yaquina Head ONA.
Nest we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and we got "kisses" from a California sea lion named Lea. After that we meandered the aquarium which is very large and impressive. My photos didn't turn our fabulous and I prefer the natural areas but it really was a nice one, especially for kids.
This was one of my favorite places so far. I don't know why but I just had a blast getting a tour of this brewery. It's not even a microbrewery anymore, but a regional brewery because it's larger in size. It's officially called the Rogue Ales World Headquarters and we even met the brewmeister himself, John Maier.
The brewery has a restaurant called Brewer's on the Bay and it overlooks the scenic Newport Bayfront where boats are docked in their slips. They make a gazillion (OK maybe not QUITE that many) and they also sell other companys' beers. You can order a sampler, which I did. I had them listed out and of course I lost the paper... so these may not be in the right order as shown but I tried the Hazelnut Brown, Ginger (not listed on their beer list, and it is a beer not a soda pop drink), Mom Hefeweizen, Chamamellow (with chamomile), Orange Honey Ale. My fave was the hazelnut! But what I REALLY loved was - get this - the chocolate stout ice cream float!!! Of course, when I saw it on the menu, I had to try it. I thought it sounded completely disgusting but in fact it was freaking delicious!!! Go figure.
Next, we wandered around the Newport Historic Bayfront area. I wandered off to find the public bathroom when I heard a sea lion barking. I thought maybe it was some artificial sound to attract people to some store, but no, in fact it was a group of them hanging on a dock. They remind me so much of that children's book Sammy the Sea Lion (wasn't that what it was called? Now I cant find it on Google). Anyway so... they're just cute and cantankerous. These people are hanging over the dock looking at...
These guys. Ar ar ar! Here's a video I recorded.
Big boy!
Love this sign in one of the windows. As a Cancer I totally wanted the crab hat. But alas the store was closed.
I bought some handmade truffles not to mention a boatload of saltwater taffy!
This was the alcohol day, I guess! Next we went to the Flying Dutchman Winery, owned by Richard (Dick) Cutler and his family (he also manages the Inn at Otter Crest where we stayed this night - another stellar resort. I'm getting seriously spoiled). The Flying Dutchman doesn't have their own vineyard but instead buy grapes from five Oregon vineyards and then make the wines here in the salt air along the coast. I believe he said they don't sell it at any restaurants or stores, and so it's very exclusive and several of their wines have won awards. I'm no wine connoisseur but I had fun tasting them!
And THIS is the view they have out the back of their winery!! The yellow flowering things are Scottish broom which is apparently a non-native weed, but it still makes for a pretty picture. But the scenery would be gorgeous without them too. What a view. Dick told us that his kids are involved in the biz too so he has grandkids underfoot and he couldn't ask for anything more. I think I am beginning to know where I may want to move after my kids graduate from high school! We have been blessed with sun every day, but that's not that typical of the Oregon coast.
I thought this made a cool pic!
Richard graciously gave us each a bottle of wine, signed by him. Wow! What a gift! They are like $38 bottles of wine...
Me, Pat Cusick (who works at the PR firm representing the Oregon coast), Rebeca, Dan High (sales manager at the winery), and Eileen a writer who wrote How to Be A Sister: A Love Story with a Twist of Autism about growing up with an autistic sister. She also has an autism blog at Psychology Today, and now works at Media America writing about the Oregon coast. Here's some of her stuff on the Travel Oregon blog. There were not many writers on this trip. One cancelled last minute but they've had up to 13 in past years. This area is absolutely fantabulous and the trip is great. I think I've gained about 10 pounds...
After the winery, we ate dinner at "the original" Mo's - a local Oregon chain - and then stopped to shoot this pic on the way to the hotel (The Inn at Otter Crest). The Oregon coast has a lot of these rivers flowing into the ocean. The Inn at Otter Crest is set on 35 forested acres. The rooms are condos that owners rent out so each one is different but they have fireplaces, desks, kitchenettes. The condos are set up on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and I watched the sun set through the window. And... I saw the green flash for the first time ever!! I actually had thought maybe it was an urban myth, or something people tell others they have seen as sort of an inside joke , but no I really saw it right after the sun sank into the sea (I used to think the Green Flash was a superhero! Ha!)
This is Gull Rock which was visible out my room's window.