The Oregon Coast

Okay, okay…so I know I’ve been a little lax about the posts lately.  Part of that is because we’ve been staying in Oregon’s state parks instead of RV parks so there hasn’t been reliable Wi-Fi (although the parks system here is amazing – lots of sites with power/water hookups and other great amenities.)  But we’ve also been having so much fun that I keep putting the blog on the back burner.  It’s been fantastic to explore all the little towns along the Oregon coast – each seems to have its own character and charm.  And it seems like every few miles there’s some stately lighthouse to see or a wide sandy beach to walk on (but not for swimming this time of year…that water is cold!).  And highway 101 hugs the coast for much of the drive, providing some spectacular ocean views.

Well, at least when there’s no fog the views are fantastic.  Unfortunately we’ve run into fog about 50% of the time.  It’s still lovely, but the photos don’t turn out quite as impressive when all the rocks along the coast are enshrouded in mist.  But notice how the road follows the coast – it makes for a great drive no matter the weather.

But we try to take advantage of the sunny days.  The shoreline near the town of Cannon Beach was gorgeous.  That enormous monolith is Haystack Rock, rising 235 feet up from the sea.

Even though the water is too cold for swimming or snorkeling, we still managed to see some sea life up close and personal at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

We spent a half hour watching the staff feed the sea lions at the aquarium.  Later we discovered we could have fed a bunch of wild sea lions for free just a few miles away at the town docks. 

We have a little more than two weeks left on the road trip, so we are doing our best to soak up as much of the cool beach weather as we can before returning to the fiery land-locked oven that is Phoenix.  Is it really still over 100 degrees there?  Yikes!