The included breakfast was cereal, various breads, chocolate milk, yoghurt, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and breakfast potatoes. Even a pancake maker! Orange, apple and cranberry juice (obviously). Not a bad spread an all the better for not having to pay the standard $5 charge for it. Free breakfast always tastes better, I think.
Our first stop of the day was to visit, from a distance, the Umpqua Lighthouse, set in a 110 acre park - the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. The lighthouse was built in 1894, at the mouth of the Umpqua River. The lighthouse is open for tours in the summer, but we were just passing through.
As we drove along the Oregon Coast Trail, Jose told us about the Oregon Trail, a 2000-mile route crossing from East to West. I was surprised to hear it only lasted about twenty years, from 1840-1860 when the railroad arrived. We saw some great scenery along the way, and it's so much easier to travel to Oregon by bus - why didn't those early pioneers take a bus tour? Dummies!
We made a stop at Oregon Dunes. They have forty miles of sand dunes, but fortunately, we were only going to walk a little bit. We arrived about five hundred feet up (well, the parking lot was) so we had great views over the dunes. There's a trail here, so we all decided to go for a wander onto the dunes. As you can see from the path it was a bit of a trek up, but we made it.
There were some great views of the Pacific and the dunes, and there was also time for some group photos - our tour was coming to an end, unfortunately, so it was a chance to get a few shots of the guys. Well, I didn't obviously, cos it's all about me, but the others took photos of me. Well, I think so. On our way back down the trail to the bus, we spotted a single chipmunk (Jose had promised us loads, but we only found one - I think we frightened them off with all the noise). Call me suspicious, but did I see driver Johnny packing up his pet chipmunk as we got back on the bus? Surely not! We did spot some kind of blue bird back at the parking lot, so it wasn't a total natural history write-off.
At 10.30am we arrived at our lunch stop. Yikes, that's a little early, even for me! We stopped at Florence, on the banks of the Siuslaw River, and I have to say, as stops go, this was one of the most tedious of the entire trip. There's not a lot to do here. There's a tea house, a port, a bridge and some little shops. That said, it could've been worse - it could have been raining! (It did a little, but not too much.) I can't help thinking this sign post was telling you where to go if you wanted something interesting to do. Not sure why we had to stop here for two hours (well, I do, "lunch"), but it was 10.30 in the morning (I think I mentioned that). The rest of the day doesn't bode well - maybe we have a long way to travel, with little enroute, but there has to be a better stop than this (or just make this 30 minutes!)
We found what remains of the old ferry crossing, which transported people across the river between Florence and Glenada until the Suislaw River Bridge was opened to traffic in 1936.
We moseyed over to the bridge to take a closer look (we haven't moseyed in ages). It was designed by Oregon's State Bridge Engineer, Conde B McCullough with art deco style decoration.
One store that we found was a little more entertaining for both Di and me. It was called Books 'N' Bears. Yes, you guessed it, it was a book shop, but with a smattering of furry guys and gals scattered around the place. I got to hang out with them while Di and Paul checked out the book selections. Even though we'd walked two-thirds across the bridge, and met with the books and bears, we were still back at the bus forty minutes early! In the meantime, Dave had gone off and found a good coffee and cake shop - hmph, maybe I should've gone with him?
Our next stop was to see another lighthouse, and a pretty impressive bridge. We stopped at Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint, at in reality we stayed on the beach below the viewpoint, at the mouth of Cape Creek. The light was first illuminated in 1894 and it is rated as the strongest light on the Oregon coast. The little house to the right of the lighthouse is now a Bed and Breakfast, if you happen to be passing this way.
This stop also included a look at the Cape Creek Historical Bridge, another of McCullough's designs. If you want to know a little more about Oregon's bridges - and you will see quite a few of them on this trip (or at least my photos), you can check out this little document. Cape Creek lets out into the Pacific across the beach at the Viewpoint.
We drove through Yachats (pronounced YAH-Hots apparently) which was a very scenic spot.
Shortly after, we arrived at Newport for our included visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Considering the pain that was the very long 10.30am lunch stop at Florence this morning, two hours for the aquarium really wasn't enough - three would have been better, although, I suppose, some people would have been bored. As we entered we arrived at Tidal Flats Overlook which studies the Yaquina Bay coastal wetland.
Then we headed into the aquarium 'proper', the Passages of the Deep exhibit where underwater walkways take us through different undersea habitats. Orford Reef is an area of narrow crevasses and swaying seaweed, home for many species of Rockfish. In Halibut Flats, a submerged shipwreck is populated by a large variety of fish. The longest tunnel in the exhibit is Open Sea and represents just that - this is where you'll find the sharks and rays.
Next stop, for us, was the Seabird Aviary. Here we found pigeon guillemots and tufted puffins (left and middle below) as well as rhinoceros auklets and black oystercatchers. These generally live at sea, and perch on Oregon's rocky coast in order to breed. While we were there, one of the keepers came out to talk about feeding the birds, how they observe behaviours and interact with the birds within the exhibit.
We found there were a couple of other animal interaction events around the park - with the sea lions and the otters - before we caught the bus, so we made sure we got to that area of the park at the right time. We headed to the sea lions where the keepers were there to show how they worked with the animals to enable them to examine them for any medical conditions, and also using food to reinforce the activities they want from them. It's not on a SeaWorld scale, but the habitats looked engaging. I could live there - seeing as they have room service!
Before the otters, we had time to go inside and check out a few invertebrates (creatures without backbones). I'd never seen an orange jellyfish! I was a bit freaked out by the world's largest crab. Able to live to one hundred years old, they can get a leg span of thirteen feet - can you imagine? I don't actually want to imagine. This one wasn't that big, but he's still a little creepy.
Next we headed for the scaly reptile guys. I'd love to tell you I remember what these are, but I can't remember. The gator-y guys seem to have a bump on their nose, which is also more pointed, so I think that makes them crocodiles rather than alligators (like we get in Florida).
We just had time to head over to the Sea Otter pool to see them get lunch. Boy, I could learn a few things from these guys. The speed they got through those clams, breaking them open and eating the slimy stuff inside. They were very cute and I was surprised how large they were.
I grabbed a photo on this nice metal fish on the way to the gift shop, but there wasn't much time so we were a bit rushed - not the greatest range of stuff - a lot of it, but mostly boring (in my opinion), even the t-shirts were dull. It was pretty expensive too - even the sale shirts were $20! They even had bear clothes, only $4.99 but they were pretty horrible. They did have quite a nice Hairy Ottter t-shirt, which was an otter dressed like Harry Potter, with cape, spectacles and tie, but at $20 I didn't bother. In fact I didn't buy anything.
Overall, I gave the aquarium three Teds. It's not very extensive and the gift shop prices were a little too high, in my opinion. That said, it's a nice little aquarium. I'm coloured, I suppose, because of the number of times I've been to SeaWorld. I say we didn't have enough time here, but I did spot a few of our fellow travellers sitting on benches so they'd obviously had enough! Then we got back on the bus and headed for Yaquina Bay and another light house.
We only had about fifteen minutes for a quick dash into our last stop of the day - the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, the oldest building in Newport. Built in 1871, it was decommissioned just three years later and replaced by the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It is also the only Oregon lighthouse with the living quarters attached. Not to mention it's the only historic wooden Oregon lighthouse still standing. Too much information?
They have a great view of the Bay - it was a nice day for the visit. While we weren't allowed into the lantern room, they do have a Lightship lamp. It has a Fresnel Lens used with a fog signal in California and is the type used on lightships.
Across the car park was a great view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge. It was another Works Progress Administration (WPA) project begun in 1934. The bridge was completed in 1936. This is another bridge designed by Conde B McCullough. As we headed back to the bus, we saw a chap who had his two ferrets out on a lead getting some fresh air. They were almost as cute as me! While we were hanging out with the other furry guys, Jose thought it would be funny to have Johnny drive away, but we all just waved. When he stopped and we got on the bus Johnny insisted "He made me do it!"
Just a few minutes down the road and we were at our hotel on the beach, Shilo Inn. Another red carpet (well, a little one) so they must have heard I was coming - and take a look at my room, it's huge! What a location! There are fantastic sea views from my room (sorry about the photo - we couldn't open the window!) There was no time to hang around, though, as Johnny had offered us a ride down to Fred Meyers, the local supermarket.
Once we'd dropped off our shopping in the room, we decided to head down to the beach. It was 90 steps down (we'd worry about the getting back up later!)
The beach was beautiful, the waves pouring onto the beach, driftwood scattered. It was lovely to see dogs being walked and playing on the beach - they do seem to love playing frisbee. You don't get that back home - so many of the beaches have barred dogs during the summer.
I took the opportunity of being on the beach to do a little advertising. It was nothing to do with me procrastinating over those steps!
Well, there was no putting it off any longer, I had dinner to get to! One last photo and it was off to the steps. Our initial target was that bench you can see, half way up.
Obviously I had no trouble getting half way up (I even took time out for a photo while Di caught up) - that is the heavy breathing you can hear (well, imagine). Anyway, even I was having trouble by the time I got to the top. Next time I'll get Di to carry me. It's why I have an assistant, after all.
We'd booked in for dinner at 7.30pm (Di gets too hungry for dinner at eight) in the hotel restaurant and we got a table at the window, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, ready for the sunset. We decided to start with some local beer. I had a Rogue Dead Guy while Paul had a Rogue Hazelnut Brown. Got to say I preferred the Dead Guy. We then ordered an Oregon Pinot Noir for $29 along with chowder or salad.
Di's take it or leave it "choice" was the butternut squash ravioli, which was a little salty, but good, she said. Paul's pork chop was three times thicker than what he'd consider "normal". I was too busy concentrating on dessert! I had the Molten Chocolate Lava Cake - it would've been better with some ice cream, or more cream (there was only a tiny amount). Meanwhile, Dave settled on a Creme Brulee Cheesecake. With the view of the sunset over the ocean, it was a great evening.
