Oregon Coast Aquarium

Yesterday was supposed to be a kayaking day, but it was cool and cloudy, with a thunderstorm expected, so we opted for the aquarium instead. What a wonderful place! It is supposedly ranked second to the famous aquarium in Monterey. I've never been to the Monterey one, so this one is first in my book! There are both indoor and outdoors displays, and it reminds me of Hogle Zoo at home in that different areas of the buildings and the grounds house different "zones" as well as different species. Indoors, there's a coastal zone, an open ocean zone, a tidal zone, and an invertabrate zone, to name a few. Outdoors, there's an aviary with water and shore birds, a sea otter pool, and a sea lion and harbor seal pool. The outdoor pools all have both above and below ground viewing areas so you can see the animals doing all kinds of different things. One indoor exhibit was called "Oddballs" and featured creatures with unusual adaptations for defense, hunting, breeding, etc. Each tank housed, not only sea creatures, but beautiful art glass blown at a local gallery that was fashioned into shapes resembling coral, seaweed, etc. It was stunning. The seahorse and fish photos show some of the glass, and no, the seahorse photo should not be turned. He (or she?) was hanging on that way. Each area of the aquarium had many volunteers ready and able to provide interesting information about the animals. They were so knowledgeable and accommodating. In the tide pool area, where you can reach in and gently touch urchins, anemones, and others, I watched a volunteer gently scoop up sea cucumber into a pyrex dish so a wheelchair-bound woman who couldn't reach down into the pool could touch it. We watched volunteers hand feed the sea otters. They (the otters, not the volunteers!) are huge--much larger than river otters--50 to 70 pounds, and of course, very cute. The three they have here have been either orphaned or injured and were not able to be rehabilitated back into the wild. One of them, misnamed Hunter, was picked up again after being released because he was unable to hunt for food. He would hang around the piers, begging for food, and was even jumping into peoples' kayaks! Wouldn't that be a surprise!

Hatfield Marine Science Museum. And Beer

We spent yesterday at the Hatfield Marine Science Museum in Newport, only about two miles from the campground. It is one of the research centers for Oregon State University, and is an amazing place, full of very well-done and interesting displays, many of them hands-on and/or interactive. We watched them feed their new octopus, petted anemones and urchins in their tide pool display, and watched a Coast Guard guy jump from a little orange helicoptor for a simulated practice rescue in the bay. Yesterday happened to be their annual "Seafest," so there was live music, food vendors, and even more hands-on stuff out in the courtyard. You could throw a life preserver to save a man overboard (a target, not a live person), practice casting with fishing rods, shake fins with a life-sized model of a newborn grey whale, and more. They offer a guided, mile-long estuary walk daily at 11 a.m. which I will definitely do while we're here.

The vendor lines were food were long, so we asked someone about lunch, and she recommended the Rogue Brewery, which was close by. You have to walk through the brewery, past stainless steel brewing vats a couple of stories high, to climb the stairs to the restaurant upstairs. They make something like 30 different beers and ales from pale to dark, and many of their beers have won international competitions. Steve chose a glass of their Dead Guy ale, which is their most popular, and loved it. I'm not a beer drinker, so I can't comment. I can, however, comment on their Wild Coho Salmon Sandwich, served on their homemade beer bread--awesome!!! They give brewery tours every day at 3 p.m., so we may be going back. Steve wants to try the Shakespeare Stout and the Cheddar Soup made with their ale. I want to try the Kobe Beef Chili with more of that great bread.

Thursday night and Friday morning

Late yesterday afternoon, this vehicle pulled in right across the "street" from us. It's a German version, called a Frankia" of our rig, also made with a Mercedes diesel engine. It's the same length as ours--24 feet--but is a Class A rather than a Class C, a novelty for us because they don't make A's that small in the USA. It's owned by a very nice British couple named Howard and Sue, from Hampshire. They bought it in Germany, took it home to England (19% sales tax there!), and had it shipped to the USA in November. They are touring all over North America, including Canada and Baja, and will be here 11 months total. We toured and admired eavch others' rigs, and then, after they asked if we'd fancy a drink, spent the evening sipping wine in their "motor caravan," as they say in the UK.

This morning we left Nehalem Bay and headed south. Stopped in Tillamook for crab cakes, local rockfish fillets, Espresso Mocha ice cream cones at the cheese factory for breakfast, and Freddie Meyer's for groceries. We drove separately rather than hooking up the car, and met up at the Southbeach State park campground. The drive followed highway 101, mostly fairly narrow 2-lane, first through beautiful green meadows where the dairy cows were grazing, then along the ocean. Lots of cows--unlike Utah, it's so many cows to the acre rather than the other way around. Southbeach is about 3 miles south of the city of Newport, which we had to drive through to get here. Looks like a nice town--kind of a combination of modern conveniences (big box stores) but a big historic beach area, a lighthouse, and lots of fun, independent shops and restaurants. Oh, and a large quilt shop! There's supposed to be a lot to do in the area. I'm planning a walk down to the Hospitality Yurt to pick up trail maps for cycling, kayaking, and hiking.

Tide Pools and Neahkahnie Mountain

Yesterday we poked around in the marine gardens (tide pools) at Haystack Rock. It was a cold, cloudy, windy day, and the beach photo captures the mood perfectly. The tide pools (not in the photo) themselves were quite nice, although there were a lot of people there; what made them even nicer was that there was a volunteer who explained about the different animals living there and answered questions. For examples, we found out that starfish are no longer called "starfish"--as of about 3 years ago, they are "sea stars" because they don't have gills and are not really fish. Same problem with ":jellyfish," although it wasn't clear what their official name now is. Maybe just "jellies." Haystack Rock is a nesting place for many different kinds of birds as well as a hunting ground for bald eagles and peregrine falcons; peregrines are the fastest animals on earth, and they even attack the much larger bald eagle. They dive-bomb them using their bodies and aiming for the shoulder to break the wing so the eagle will fall into the ocean where the falcon can them pick them off.

We were freezing after our tide pool walk and went to Mo's (Famous Clam Chowder) intending to have breakfast, but they had switched to their lunch menu by the time we got there. I asked a server there where to go, and she said that Lazy Susan's downtown Cannon Beach had "amazing" breakfasts, and gave us directions. She was right! A darling little house converted into a cafe, tucked in off the street, walls made of rough wooden planks, and just 8 tables, overlooking a pretty garden. Eclectic decorating, including flower photos, dried starfish, I mean sea stars, and a sign that read "Be Nice or Leave." I had a hard time choosing between the oatmeal waffle with fresh strawberries and bananas and the "John's Special"--two poached eggs on top of sauteed potatoes covered with melted Tillamook cheese. I ended up going with John and it was wonderful. I also took home a fresh Marionberry scone which I saved this morning for today's breakfast.

Today we did Diane's other "must do" hike--Neahkahnie Mountain--with Michael and Tracy, another couple staying in the campground. On the way over to their campsite we spotted the mother deer and her twin fawns that many of the campers had reported seeing. The photo must be the girl. She stayed close to mom for the most part and moved slowly and cautiously. Her brother was too hard to get a decent shot of. All he wanted to do was play. He kept racing back and forth, trying to get mom and sis to do something more exciting than nibble at grass; it didn't work. This last photo is the view of Nehalem Beach from the top of the mountain. It was a clear day and the views were stunning in all directions.

Tomorrow we leave here and head for our next location--South Beach State Park, about 100 miles south, near Newport. There's supposed to be a lot to do there--wonderful kayaking, a really good bike trail, and a nice aquarium in Newport. On the way, we'll stop in Tillamook for groceries, one more batch of crab cakes, and one last ice cream cone. I'm going for the Espresso Mocha.

Post-Rally Fun

On Sunday, while Steve attended a presentation on solar panels, I drove into Tillamook to see the quilt show with Diane ( internet name Mrsfish, wife of i flyfish) Weiss, who is one of the co-organizers of this rally. She is a beginning quilter,having just finished her first quilt top and starting her second, but seems to be hooked. On the way, we stopped at the quilt shop in Wheeler, Creative Fabrics. It's a nice shop, although not nearly as nice as Center Diamond in Cannon Beach, and I picked up a couple of cool patterns by a local designer--one of sea turtles and the other pineapples, both made up of Log Cabin strips. Very unusual and fun. Diane lived in this area for many years and loves to kayak, cycle, and hike. She pointed out her favorite seafood restaurant in the area (Pirate's Cove in Garibaldi) and told us about two "must do" hikes. Yesterday we did one of them, and these are some of pictures. It's in Oswald West State Park, and is actually a section of the Oregon Coast Trail, which meanders along the beaches and costal mountains the full 362 miles of the Oregon Coast, and then (I think) meets up with the Pacific Coast Trail that does the same thing in California. The trailhead/beach parking is right on Highway 101, and then you have to hike a half a mile down to where the beach and the Coast Trail actually start. The hike to the beach is through the forest and along a stream, with several footbridges. The first photo is us standing on one of those bridges; the stream behind us empties out onto the beach. The beach itself is called Short Sands Beach, and is a little jewel, tucked into a small, sheltered bay between two capes. It's a popular surfing beach, especially for beginners, because it's very safe, with no riptides. There were several dozen surfers out there yesterday, all in full wetsuits because the water is pretty icy. The picture with the tree in it is a view from the trail going up to Cape Falcon, and shows the far end of the beach cove. The beach itself is just off to the left. When we got out to Cape Falcon (2 miles) we had a great view of the beach and of the Nehalem spit. Coming back, we cut down to beach instead of going all the way through the forest so Ellie could be off-leash. The tide was starting to come in, but a few tide pools were still exposed, and we saw several starfish in orange, tan, and purple. On the way back to the trailhead at the top of the beach, I spotted the "I [heart] the Pacific" sign someone had writen in the sand, and made Steve snap a picture. I [heart] the Pacific too!

Pre-Rally Rallying

These pictures were taking on our little excursion to Cannon Beach the other day. It's a fun little town with a beautiful beach. The big rock, called a sea stack, in the center photo, is called Haystack Rock. It's 235 feet tall, and is the third largest ocean monolith in the world. Steve didn't know they kept track of such things, and neither did I, but there you go. At low tide there are wonderful tide pools at the rock, and there are even ranger-led tide pools walks there. We hope to do that next week. Puffins and other birds nest on the rock itself. We ate at Mo's, which is right on the breach and is justifiably famous for its clam chowder. The third picture is a view of where we're caming. The state park is located on that sandy spit. Just the other side of the spit, which you can't see very well in the picture is Nehalem Bay , the town of Nehalem, and the Nehalem River. We took our kayaks and paddled in the river yesterday. Very nice! Lots of little vacation rental homes on the lower part, even some permanently-moored houseboats, and then civilization disappears the farther upriver you get.

When we got back to camp after our paddle, the View/Navion population had swelled from about 10 rigs to about 25, with people continuing to arrive every few minutes. We rarely see another RV like ours on the road or in campgrounds, so to have so many in one place is really fun. They've come from as far away as New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, and Texas. Lots from California and Washington, and a very nice couple, Ken and Mary, from Green River, Wyoming. Most are retired folks, of course, but a few are still working and/or quite young. Andy and Jodie from New Y0rk, who look to be in their 40's, sold their house and business 7 months ago and are full-timing it their Navion. Kate, who apears to be late 60's, travels alone with her dog, Goggles. So does Sue, who travels with her whippet and Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is into coursing, and travels all over the country with them to attend coursing events. Gordon and Sandy are bikers--motorcycle and bicycles--who keep a Gold Wing in Europe to travel on. They have followed the Tour d'France and the Giro d'Italia, and ridden up Alp Duez (not sure of the spelling), which is one of the famous peaks in the Tour. John Ruch has hiked the intire 2000 miles of the Appalachian trail; it took him ten years. Everyone is so nice and fun to talk to. It can take 20 minutes to take your trash to the dump area because you keep geting waylaid by someone and stop to visit.

Official registration starts this morning, but the first official event is the potluck cocktail and hors d'oevures at 5 p.m. But I've already been on a beach walk with Claudia, have a trip into town planned with Sue later this morning, and a bike ride with Gordon and Sandy this afternoon. Whew!

Checked in at Nehalem Bay

These are the other hike pictures that Blogger wouldn't let me post yesterday. The first is wildflowers along the trail. The second is the bald eagle. It is the dot in the middle of the photo. If you enlarge the photo, you can see him (or her) clearly.

We got to Nehalem Bay State Park a couple of hours ago, after stopping in Tillamook for an ice cream lunch. Steve had a Tillamook Mudslide cone and I had the 3 scoop sampler--French Silk, Mountain Huckleberry, and Pistachio Pecan. I liked the French Silk the best. Nehalem Bay State Park is huge--over 300 sites, I think. It snuggles against the dunes between the Pacific Ocean and Nehalem Bay. There is a boat launch on the bay, and it's supposed to be good clamming and crabbing and kayaking. There is also a horse camp, and you can rent horses for trail or beach rides. We are here for 10 days. The View/Navion rally is this weekend, and people are starting to trickle in. We met a coupole in the Tillamook Cheese Factory parking lot from Oregon that are on their way here, and another guy from Virginia that will be here tomorrow.We met Lynn and Claudia from Iowa this afternoon, camped in our loop, very nice people.

The weather seems to be improving. I don't know if I mentioned that a local said this has been a much colder than usual June--they're calling it June-uary. But it hasn't rained in a week now, and today is blue skies. Steve is even in his shorts and short-sleeved T-shirt--a first for this trip--out there puttering with his kayak. I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to short sleeves yet, but it certainly is nice enough to sit outside and read or knit.