Oregon Coast

Fri, Nov. 4th - Sun, Nov. 13th

We arrived in Portland on Friday and spent the weekend with Aunt Dorothy and David and Karen. On Sunday Karen and I went for a hike here at Powell Butte Nature Park, not far from their home, while the guys watched football. It is 570 acres on an extinct volcano with views of the Cascade peaks, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams to the north, Mt. Hood to the east and Mt. Jefferson to the southeast.

Monday we drove south to Corvallis and spent three days camped at the fairgrounds. We walked this bike path into town, thru the Oregon State campus and around downtown, about six miles. This is the Irish Bend covered bridge built in the 1920s and moved here to the bike path in 1988 from Monroe, Oregon.

This building on campus is where Michelle O'Bama's brother is the basketball coach. John says he's had a losing record for the last three years, so he will probably be looking for a job next year.

Walking on the bike path along the Willamette River in Corvallis.

Thursday we moved further south to Newport where we camped four nights at South Beach State Park. Oregon state parks are awesome and there's one about every twenty miles along the coast. This is the trail from our campground down to the beach.

A short ways down the beach, John is standing next to the bay with the Yakina Bay Bridge in the background. There is a lighthouse on the north side of the bay and another on the southside. There are 11 lighthouses along the Oregon coast.

Another view along the coast.

We drove south to Florence to do a little sight seeing. This is a view of Heceta Head Lighthouse on the point, and the lighthouse keeper's house that is now a museum. Straight down at the bottom of this cliff where we are standing are hundreds of sea lions barking their heads off, making a huge ruckus. Two years ago when we stopped here, there were thousands of them up and down the beach and all over in the water.




Looking straight down over the cliff at the sea lions.
 

 

 

 

Zooming in on the sea lions.

Sunset on the beach back at our campground. Monday we head further south to Brookings near the California border. Brookings is supposed to have the warmest weather on the Oregon coast and I am ready for warmer weather!

Searching for the sun, but probably won't see much till we get to southern California in late December, after a long visit with John's sister in central California.

Happy sailing,

Tarra