As we headed down the road I found a geocache at a view point that gave us an awesome view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse. They say that this lighthouse is the “Oregon Lighthouse” it gets more pictures taken of it than any other lighthouse on the coast. Unfortunately the fog was back so it looks kind of hazy.
Len also discovered a colony of Stellar Sea Lions just hanging out on a outcropping. Stellar Sea Lions tend to be bigger that California Sea Lions and they are a lighter brown. We think that the tide was higher when they got up on to this rock and it seemed like it was a long way from the ocean.
After we saw the Sea Lions we stopped at
Seal Rock. It was called this because there used to be numerous seals that used
to sit out on this large rock and area, however they do not come around this
area anymore.
There are a number of wood carvers in
this area. Here are some samples of some of their work. They use only cedar and
carve out of a complete piece. They had some really cute projects that we hadn’t
seen before, these carvings were for fences, the bears are designed to sit on
the fence rails.
After purchasing a new bear we headed
towards Newport. We decided to stop at the Pig N Pancake for Lunch. This
restaurant is a franchise in found only on the Oregon Coast. The same family
owns all the restaurants since 1961. They have excellent food. It is a must for us every time we come to the
coast. We decided not to spend much time in Newport because we thought we would
come back this far and spend a whole day. Newport is the home of the Oregon
Coast Aquarium. This is the place where they house Keiko the whale from the
Free Willy movie. I got to see him in 1998 right before they moved him to
Iceland. So it was through Newport and the onward to the Devil’s Punch Bowl.
The Devil’s Punch Bowl is hard to
explain so here is a picture. We did find out that during low tide you can walk
from Otter Rock and walk right up inside of it. That would be amazing, but you
would definitely have to judge your tides correctly.
After the punch bowl we headed discovered Cape Fowlweather. Not the same way that Captain James Cook did on his third trip around the world. There is a small gift shop there and for a change is was a little sunny and the wind was not wailing the way it usually does here.
Next onto Depoe
Bay. Depoe Bay holds the record for the world’s smallest bay. This place is
renowned for whale watching and even has a whale watching center that is manned
by volunteers every day to see how many migrating grey whales they see. Len has
been looking for Grey Whales this entire adventure but just hasn’t seen one. We
found a great place for some fresh caramel corn, so we bought a bag to munch on
for a tour of the Three Capes Scenic Loop.
The Three Capes Scenic Loop encompasses
Cape Meares, Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. Since we were coming from the
south, the first town was Pacific City where Cape Kiwanda is. Cape Kiwanda is home to the Dory boats, which
are small lifesaving type boats. The tide was high so we couldn’t walk out to
the large rock.
The next area was Cape Lookout which you
will see from this view of the cape forming a bay at Netarts.
After that we went to Cape Meares to see the
lighthouse. The road has been closed to through traffic but luckily that occurred
right after the turnoff to the light house. We never seem to be here when this
lighthouse is open, but we still got a great picture.
So by now it was 5:30 and we decided it
was time to head back to the Condo. We are going to relax tomorrow and try to
get caught up on the blog and some rest. I am looking forward to sleeping in.
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