The Oregon Coast

After a fun week in Kent, WA with Laura and Chris, we headed south to Oregon. We crossed into Oregon in Astoria where the mouth of the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.

Haystack Rock 

The Oregon coast is known for its beautiful beaches with large outcroppings of rock along the shore. We stopped at a few viewpoints on our way to our campground. Here are a few samples of what we saw. Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach is most recognizable.

In case you forgot what we look like, we posed at the overlook above!






We arrived at our campground which was located on the bay at Rockaway Beach. This was our view from behind our trailer.

After getting settled, we drove over to Rockaway Beach to take a stroll. It was a cool day, and the water in the Pacific is much colder than the Atlantic, so you don't usually see swimmers.

Back at the campground, we watched the gulls feeding on what the fishermen left behind on the dock as the sun was setting.

The next day, we continued down the coast passing more beautiful scenery on our way to Newport Beach.











We were lucky to get a campsite at South Beach State Park in Newport for two nights. It's a large wooded park with paved paths that lead through grassy dunes to the beach.

From the dunes, we could see the bridge that we crossed to get to the campground. Newport is on both sides of the bridge.

We took our mountain bikes out for a ride and came upon this sign. Good to know, but we sure hoped we wouldn't need to use this information!









Our ride took us down to the harbor where we crossed the bridge the day before.

Lee is looking for the sea lions that we can hear barking from here. He also is looking to see if he can find the brew pub! We found the Rogue Brewery, but they have a pub across the harbor.

Meanwhile, I was photographing the birds in and around the bridge.  The osprey made a nest on what appeared to be the tsunami warning siren post. The two birds were standing guard against an attack by gulls. I couldn't see if there were eggs or chicks inside.

The cormorants were all over the underside of the bridge.










That night we found the Rogue Brew Pub. We enjoyed one of their local brews and a game of Jenga while waiting for our order of fish & chips.




















After dinner we walked across the street along the dock, following the barking sound until we found the source. Sea lions filled the dock.

A sea lion pup sleeping through all the noise!

In the morning, we left the coast and headed east for the first time in three months! Our next stop, Bend, Oregon.