We were leaving the campground by 8h44 this morning under a gloriously sunny sky. A perfect day for sand dunes.Saunders Lake, Tugman State Park, Eel Lake, Clear Lake. Umpka Lighthouse View Point, Winchester Bay, Reedsport. Historic bridge over the Umpka River, Smith River, Gardiner.
Huge reforestation on the hill sides on both left and right of the road.
Tahkenitch Lake with very pretty cottages lining its shores.
We stopped at Dunes Overlook. We climbed up a very steep dune and behold the sea...met 3 fishermen all set up to catch sea perch. One of them really knew his business. A perfect day for fishing!
Siltcoos, Dunes City, Woahink Lake, Honeyman State Park, Glenada.
In Florence, we followed Rhododendron Rd. (there are many many gated communities...) to the North Jetty (you can see it in the 2nd photo way off in the distance). This jetty was built in 1986 with over 1,300,000 tons of stone which had to be mined and moved to this site. Designed by the US Corps of Engineers, the contractor actually finished it one year ahead of schedule. A major feat to be sure.
We enjoyed walking the beach where the rocks were covered by barnacles who emitted light sounds and if you looked carefully they were moving inside their openings.
Sutton Lake, Sea Lions Cave (we could see a few of them swimming from where we were standing ... we didn't actually pay to go and see the Cave).
Cape Creek, Heceta Head Lighthouse .. the sea is so blue. We enjoyed a very relaxed lunch sitting on the beach (photo). We watched as two crows and seagulls squabbled over bags of chips which had been left unattended on the beach.
Yachats, lots of homes dot the hills and down below. Waldport, very pretty town.
Alsea Bay, lily pads. Seal Rock.
Newport, Oregon Coast Aquarium. The six-acre, 40,000-squre-foot aquarium features more than 15,000 marine animals representing some 500 species. Indoor and outdoor exhibits feature coastal sea life, including sea otters, harbour seals, sea lions, jellyfish and giant Pacific octopus. They had a touch pool filled with sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers (very squishy), and sea urchins (who hug your finger if you put it between their spines). What was unbelievable was a 200-foot acrylic tunnel running through three ocean habitats. Imagine having a leopard shark swim over your head...wolf eels, bat rays, and so many more fish. That was just amazing.
One of the outside attractions is an aviary where you walk in and see tufted puffins, common murres (yes the same ones we had photographed on top of large rock yesterday), pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets and oyster catchers ... pretty neat. We also watched as they fed the sea lions, the seals and the otters. A great show ... We were very impressed by this aquarium. Oh yes and they had an anaconda (really big one that slithered in his aquarium), lizards, crocodiles and alligators (there was one who wanted out...). So so much to see.
Wish the grand kids had been with us.
We drove on and got to our campground around 5h30. A very nice one surrounded by trees, very green, and, we had dinner out on the picnic table ... it was 20+ degrees ... finally!!!
Ross is already asleep and now it is my turn. Another great day!
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