It was a four day/three night whirlwind trip to the Oregon coast. We camped, visited lighthouses and beaches, and honed our family camping skills. We chose to camp at Beverly Beach, which is a short jaunt to the sand and water, as well as being located between Lincoln City and Newport. On our way, we stopped at the Devil's Punch Bowl-the remnants of two caves just north of our camp grounds. Dave had his first sighting of whales. They were blowing water up and then flipping their tails in the air before submerging themselves. Our first night at Beverly Beach we set up camp and enjoyed a yummy dinner. We also took a walk to the beach and checked out the waves. The girls went to sleep fairly quickly. Each night, after the girls were in the tent, Dave pulled out his guitar and played for a while. It was very soothing.
The next morning we were off for an early hike up the creek near our campgrounds. We were impressed by the large trees with root structures that had developed above ground. We followed a Great Blue Heron along the creek for a while and found a play structure at the other end of the campground. On our way back we checked out the camp "store" which had brochures about bird watching and local areas of interest. After lunch, we skipped nap time and headed over to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We began at the interpretive center where we learned lots of useful information about the area-including how the rock "breccia" is made. The girls sat with rapt attention during a 12 minute video detailing the the history of the lighthouse. It turned out that Phoebe was not tall enough to climb the lighthouse stairs, so we all bypassed the interior tour and just walked around, checked out the birds on the nearby rocks, and then headed down to a tide pool area. We lucked out and were able to enter the area at low tide. Instead of sand, the coast was full of breccia-volcanic rock that cools immediately when hitting the water and then breaks into individual rocks. The rocks are made smooth by the ocean and when the waves move them against each other it sounds like applause. We also saw small crabs, sea anemones, sea urchins, and sea stars in that tide pool. Then we drove to the south side of Newport to see another lighthouse that was built directly on top of a two story home. The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was the original lighthouse for the area, but it was found it could not be seen from the north. So, it was decided to "fix" it-which meant building a new one to the north. This house has period furniture and information about the family who lived in the house during the use of the lighthouse. After all this exhausting fun, we headed back to camp for dinner. After dinner we made a camp fire, roasted some marshmallows and made s'mores. The girls loved them. (We loved them, too.) We tried to teach the girls the joy of letting them catch on fire, burn 'til they're black, and then popping 'em into your mouth, but they weren't having any of it. They preferred white and slightly mushy. Then it was bedtime.
On our third morning, we woke with the first light and ate breakfast before setting off to the Newport Aquarium. We arrived before opening time and sat in the car for a little while making arrangements to meet up with Manghelli later in Lincoln City, but it was worth it to warm up again. As we entered the building we noticed the signs for "Shark Day." We had the girls pose by a model of Marlin and Bruce the shark from "Finding Nemo." We told the girls that "fish are friends, not food." They didn't get it. We headed down the hall to check out the new exhibit "Claws." There was information about all types of crustaceans. We saw land and water crabs. As we stopped by tanks with shrimp, lobster and crab, Jada kept remarking "looks like dinner!" There was even a video where they led a crustacean dance. Jada tried to get into it, but the girls just stared. After this section we moved into an entire room with tanks of jellyfish. The girls thought they were pretty-especially later when they saw stuffed jellyfish in the gift shop. Phoebe was excited about the tide pool exhibit where you are allowed to reach your hands in and touch sea stars, urchins, and anemones. During our visit to the aviary, Phoebe learned to recognize Puffins. Ellen was looking forward to the large tank where we walk through 3 separate aquariums inside an 8-foot tube. There are even sections of the floor where you can see into the tank below. In one of these, there were divers cleaning the plexiglass as we walked through. Apparently, local divers volunteer to come in and keep the exhibit clean. They also use this opportunity to try out new equipment. We noticed that they had to use suction cups so they would not push themselves away from the glass each time they rubbed with the cleaning equipment. In the third section, we arrived just in time for the keeper talk about the sharks. We learned many interesting facts about sharks and spent quite a lot of time just watching them swim around. At this point we wandered through to see the sea lions, otters, and even an octopus. Last stop was the gift shop where the girls chose books about tide pools, Phoebe chose a t-shirt with a puffin, and Ellen a t-shirt with a shark. Then we headed back to camp for lunch, before a trip to Lincoln City to meet up with Laurie and Barb to play in the sand. While there we got to see tons of seals laying on the sand across the jetty from us in the fog. Ellen spent the rest of the time digging a hole to China while Phoebe used an airplane mold to make an air armada. Then we had dinner further into the city, and then bid Laurie and Barb farewell. Back at camp, we had s'mores again and cleaned up before bed in anticipation of our return home the next morning.
The last day we broke camp early and headed out to breakfast at the new Pig 'N Pancake in Lincoln City. Ellen's appetite impressed us-we even had to order more food! After a quick trip through the outlet mall for school clothes for Ellen and new sunglasses for Phoebe the movie star, we headed home. What a trip! The best part is that Jada and I learned that we can actually camp on our own. (Although we prefer the help, Manghelli!)