4 Year Anniversary :: Newport, OR

It just worked out that I had a long weekend off just after our 4-year anniversary, so we planned a mini vacation to celebrate. We have been told by so many people that we just have to get to the coast sometime, and similarly, we had heard how cool Newport is, so we decided to head there. Our original plan was to go to Newport for a day and a half, and then drive up to Portland for a day and a half, but after driving 4 hrs to Newport, we decided it would be too much driving and instead stayed in Newport the whole three days. We camped at Beverly Beach State Park the first night, which was really beautiful, but packed, and got a cheap hotel the second night. We live in a section of OR that is high desert, so it is dry and brushy, and well, deserty. West of the Cascades OR is green and lush. It was a gorgeous drive with great views of the mountains as well.

When we first got to the coast it was cooler out (the highs were in the 50's and 60's), but sunny. Our second two days were overcast, so we didn't have as great of views, but it was still nice. It looks warm in this picture because of the blue skies, but it was chilly and really windy! We got to see some guys kite boarding and wind surfing, which was cool. They were wearing full wet suits! i hear the oregon coast water is never warm.

Beverly Beach State Park, OR

Part of the rocky coastline from Yaquina Head "Outstanding Natural Area." This is the headland where an old, but currently functioning light house is. It juts almost a mile out to sea!

We ended up at Yaquina Head at low tide, which was cool because we got to explore the tide pools. These are sea anenomies...I called them "green nasties" because, although they look cool when they are open like this, they are nasty looking when they fold in their light green tentacles...kind of like a green nasty blob.

A bed of muscles.

the coastline from Yaquina Head

The lighthouse at Yaquina Head.

a starfish in a tide pool.

Sorry about the sideways picture, but I was taking them directly off the camera, so it wouldn't let me turn it. I know it's annoying to view them sideways. But, this is a fresnel lense at the top of the lighthouse. In the late 1800's it cost $11,000 and was shipped from France!

A view down the lighthouse stairs.

fishing boats in the harbor.

We had been walking to dinner in the "historic bayfront" and could hear sea lions barking, but couldn't see them. We wandered out onto this deck and bam - there they were, right below us! It was really cool! This one was posing for everyone :).

There were a bunch of them...

It was a really cool trip...not too overdone, but enough sight-seeing and relaxing to make it just right. We are not huge beach people, but it was a great time to see a part of OR that we hadn't seen yet, and there was enough stuff to explore that it made it fun. If you ever have a chance to get to the coast, it's totally worth it!