Day 13: To the Pacific

We drove to Newport, OR, our first glimpse of the Pacific!

 We stopped at Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, which was pretty.

  Then we hiked down to the beach. Unfortunately it was very foggy and windy and COLD! When we left Albany it was 99 degrees, in Newport it was 59!! What a difference!

Newport looked like a nice little town, so we went and walked around the little shops along the harbor. There was a dock where all these sea lions were congregating, making the biggest racket with their barking! They were really fun to watch It was quite a spectacle to observe!

We decided to eat a late lunch at Mo's, famous for its clam chowder!

 It was right on the water with views of boats and seagulls! Ben and I ate Alaskan Cod sandwiches and Daryl ate clam chowder and a mixed seafood dish. All we very good, especially the Marion Berry Cobbler for dessert.

Then we went to see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, the tallest in Oregon, which provided some really great scenic photos. Again, it was really windy and foggy and cold, but it was worth it for the views!

We also stopped at the Cape Perpetua Scenic viewpoint, an area known as "Devil's Churn". This is where we got to see the first tide pools and climb around on the big rocks. There were anemones, starfish, crabs and more! We had so much fun!

The rocks and boulders and cliffs make this Pacific coast so much different than anything we've seen on the East Coast!

By the time we got on the road, we still had 100 miles before our camp site at Bandon Beach, so it was a late night drive. I don't think we missed too much though, because by the time it got dark, it was so foggy, we could not see the beach views anyway!
It was around 10 pm when we arrived at Bandon Beach State Park, a nice full hook-up site, but unfortunately back-in, which was really tight and difficult in the dark. Daryl is getting to be a pro at it, though! We all had some late night snacks/ food and went to bed!