Oregon Day 2: Newport, Oregon Dunes, & Lighthouses

 

Thursday morning we spent exploring Newport, Oregon.  They have a beautiful town on the bay with lots of cute shops, restaurants, and seafood markets.

 



 

These sea lions were sleeping right beside the dock.  We heard them barking the night before but couldn't see them...Thursday morning, there they were!

Kellan and daddy on the dock

Mommy and Kellan on the docks...it was a foggy morning.  There is a really pretty bridge but its hard to see.

 

 

A better picture of the bridge

There are two lighthouses in Newport.  This one is Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and is located near the port and bay.



 

This one is Yaquina Head Lighthouse and it is located on the ocean.  We actually saw a grey whale come up and blow water several times while visiting this lighthouse.  It was pretty exciting, especially since I've never seen a whale in the wild before.  Of course my camera battery died right when we got to this lighthouse.  We had to take this picture with Michael's phone.  We plugged it in at the visitor's center :)

A mural on one of the buildings along the bay.

Lots of crab pots ready to use...

 

 

We left Newport and kept driving south down the coast.  We stopped along the way to check out more lighthouses, other attractions, and viewpoints.

 

 

Heceta Head Lighthouse was one huge DISAPPOINTMENT!  Every time I googled Oregon lighthouses this one was supposedly the most photographed and beautiful lighthouse.  This is what we saw when we got to the beach that it overlooks from up on a cliff.  It was covered in a huge black tent while its being renovated!  *sigh* How sad...oh well, I guess everything can't always go perfectly as planned.  It was a short hike to get up to it but with it looking like that, we just decided to skip the hike.

 

Our next stop was the Sea Lion Caves.  We took an elevator down to the cave but this time of year there are no sea lions inside.  (Michael said he considered telling one of the employees that his wife was already pretty upset about the most picturesque lighthouse in Oregon being covered up so they might want to start to do something to get a sea lion to go in that cave.)  They stay in the caves only during the winter months or severe weather.  Although I've seen some reviews from other travelers that were there in early summer and the sea lions were in.  So I'm really not sure if there is an exact time frame for how they travel.  This is their actual habitat in the wild so the owners of the caves have no control of the sea lions comings and goings.

 

 

 

This is the opening of the cave from up above.

Next we stopped at Mo's for lunch.  There were Mo's all over the Oregon coast and they specialize in chowder.  We figured we had to stop and eat at one since we had passed so many.





 

 

I got the fish tacos and Michael got some kind of seafood platter (I think...I'm really not sure what he ordered).  The chowder was good...my fish tacos were OK.  It was a decent place just not anywhere I would go out of my way to eat again.

 

Kellan fell asleep in the car after lunch.  This is his whale that we bought him after our whale sighting :)

 

Next we headed to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  These are no ordinary dunes.  They stretch for 40 miles and are as high as 50 feet in some places.  It was quite. a. hike. to get up to the top.  I'm really glad I wasn't the one with Kellan on my back.  The pictures really do not show how steep and high this part was.

 

Mommy trying to cuddle with Kellan in the sand...

 

 

 

Kellan loved playing (and eating) the sand.  I found sand in all of the folds and crevices of his clothes and I dumped out a pile from my own shoes.

 

 

 

Our last sightseeing adventure for Day 2 was the Umpqua River Lighthouse.  It was right at the mouth of the Umpqua River where it flows into the ocean.  Actually that's not true...we raced to get to the Cape Arago Lighthouse that was further down the coast.  We got there before the sun set but it had actually been closed down and you couldn't go up to it.  It sits on an island with sheer cliffs and we could see it in the distance but you couldn't really make it out that well in a picture.  Apparently it has a bridge to it that has been washed out in the past.

 We stopped for the night in Coos Bay and ate at a fabulous restaurant called the Coach House.  It was kind of away from the downtown and off the beaten path but it had good reviews online so we decided to try it.  I'm so glad we did.  They had an inside bar area but they have turned a greenhouse into an outdoor restaurant full of flowers and hanging baskets.  We ate in the greenhouse and not only was the restaurant itself unique but they had fantastic food.  If you are ever in Coos Bay, Oregon we highly recommend it!

 

Our waitress was SO NICE and even brought Kellan his own little "The Coach House" apron to keep.  He was over picture time by this point and just wanted to eat everything in sight.

 

I don't even remember what Michael had...prawns and something, twice baked potato, and vegetables

 

I definitely remember what I had!  Cilantro chicken with Monterrey jack cheese, twice baked potato, and mixed vegetables.

 

 This was the end of a looooong but full Day 2.  I can't believe all of this was just Day 2...we were really moving!  Come back tomorrow to find out what we did after we left the coast and headed inland!