South Beach, Newport, Oregon

August 20 - 25, 2008

Thousand Trails - Whaler's Rest, South Beach, Oregon


Arrived at Whaler's Rest after a 35-minute drive up the coast in the pouring rain. We found out later that this was the most rain the coast had received all year in this short a time! We got to Whaler's Rest and I was soooo looking forward to cell service and DirecTV for the Red Sox only to find mud everywhere, no cell and no Red Sox.

In talking with Susan and Bob, and Ken agrees, the Oregon Coast has to have some of the most beautiful scenery we have seen yet, but the fog (and now the rain) and the general lack of sunshine has "dampened" our spirits and we are all ready to head in a different direction! Susan and Bob are joining us here next week and we'll spend a few days together before we head for central Oregon and they head home. There's a lot to do here...let's hope the weather will cooperate!!

Our site at Whaler's Rest is covered by those giant Douglas fir trees...we had some sun yesterday, but with this much cover, it will take weeks to dry this place out. We need to carry Barney to his "spot" so he doesn't walk thru mud puddles and track it back in the coach. We decided that was a bit much and went exploring yesterday to find another campground. We'll leave here Monday to a spot with asphalt drives and sites...never thought I would be so excited! Oh, and, I checked...there is cell service; although the TV problem is with our DirecTV DVR but hopefully the new one will reach us soon!

We took our chairs and books down to the beach for awhile yesterday. The roar of the Pacific Ocean is always immense. We took a little walk and came upon a small seal. I wasn't sure if he was in trouble or just resting in the sun but Ken said we should leave him alone for his mom to come back for him. He was awfully cute!! (He didn't keep his eyes open very long...he was looking up into the sun.)

We played golf for the first time in a long while at Agate Beach Golf Course. It is a 9-hole course and we were able to walk it and get some exercise. At $18.00/9 we will probably try to play here again! We played with an older couple who live near Portland and winter in Palm Springs. So, you see, there are snowbirds on this coast too.

It's Saturday (I think) and we've had two and a half days of sunshine! This is so different from what we've become used to. Today we visited the local farmer's market and then ventured to historic Nye Beach. From the late 1800's, the public has been coming to Nye Beach to seek "pleasure, respite and rejuvenation." Today, the seaside neighborhood retains some of the charm

of its history in a warm, friendly village atmosphere of shops, services, restaurants, art galleries and hotels by the sea. We stopped at The Chowder Bowl and became official "chowderheads" when we had a bowl of chowder and garlic bread on their patio dining area. It was nice sitting there soaking up the sun. This is Yaquina (pronounced, as I am sure you are all anxious to know, Yah-kwin-ah) Head Lighthouse as seen from the beach.

Later we visited Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, built in 1871, and housed both the light and the keeper's quarters. The keeper, Charles Pierce, paid a salary of $1,000/year, and his wife lived in the last remaining Oregon wooden lighthouse with their seven children. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1874 when it became apparent that the light was not as visible as needed.

This is the view heading to the lighthouse.

August 25 - September 4, 2008

Port of Newport RV Park, Newport, Oregon

After spending another rainy day under the trees at Whaler's Rest, we have today arrived at the Port of Newport RV Park. What a happy day!! We're now in the sunlight, with cell service, fast internet and the Red Sox!! Wouldn't you know it, though, the Red Sox aren't on tonight and I have to wait to watch them until tomorrow! I am having a hard time getting used to watching them at 4:00 in the afternoon; they're done by 7:00 and I have to watch regular reruns!!

This picture was taken from the bridge connecting South Beach to Newport. This is the Port of Newport RV Park and Marina where we are staying. And here's the bridge from the marina.

Our first day here we went for a walk after dinner and heard the "bark" of sea lions. We walked down to the end of the marina and found the sound was coming from the other side of the bay where there are a couple of fish processing plants. We couldn't see the sea lions but we sure could hear them! We'll try to get over there later this week to see if we can see them. However, with the window open last night, instead of the chirping of grasshoppers, we were serenaded by the barking of sea lions...not quite the same thing!!

We did spend an afternoon along the historic Bayfront of Newport, right across the bay from where we were staying. We visited the ever-present souvenir shops and walked out to the docks along the bay side. We finally got to see where the serenading was coming from.

There must have been 20 or so sea lions, each weighing at least 1,000 pounds, basking in the sun. We found one swimming around, looking for a spot to stop!

Whenever he (or she) got close to the float, the sea lions already there started "barking" to keep him away.

As Ken said, these sea lions are probably as common to this area as seagulls are to Cape Cod.

We have gone back a few times to watch the sea lions...they are really fun to watch.

This is truly a vacation spot where people come to fish or crab. Just about everyone in the park here is gone all day long and return to steam their crabs and grill their fish.

We played golf at Olalla Valley Golf Course on the best weather day we have had here on the coast. Of course we were going inland about 3 miles and actually broke into a sweat on a couple of holes. I was told when I called that it was a walkable 9 hole course; however we found holes 6, 7 and 8 were some of the tallest hills I have ever had to walk and by 8, my legs felt like butter. We managed to finish off with typical scores so we were happy!

How bad is this: I went with Ken to get a haircut! My last haircut cost a fortune and was terrible...I realized too late that the hairdresser was thinning out my already thin hair! So I decided to try one of those "family" haircut centers. Let's just say I can't wait to get home to have Frank cut my hair and fix the damage that's been done!!

Susan and Bob joined us the day after his 59th birthday, but we celebrated anyway! What a delicious Boston Creme Cake!

The next day we visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They had numerous viewing opportunities, above-ground and through underwater windows. There were indoor exhibits, outdoor areas, touching tanks, a theater and the Passages of the Deep Tunnel. The only drawback is we went on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend (what can I say...we forgot what day it was)! There were so many people around, I came home with a headache! But, not before we got some decent pictures.

These are sea anemones. There must be millions of different species of anemones.

The jellyfish really showed up with their blue background!

I took this picture shortly before we had to leave because of the deafening noise of kids screaming in the "tunnel"!

Not only did we see the ocean dwellers, they also had exhibits of the birds that lived by the sea. Here is the puffin. And...sorry...I don't know what this threesome are called. We'll just call them Larry, Moe and Curley.

We had a beautiful day on the Discovery, an aquarium-style cruise into the Pacific Ocean. (This was our second time on the Pacific, the first being a catamaran cruise we did while in Hawaii.) We spent two hours, cruising from Yaquina Bay into the ocean, searching for whatever we could find. Not too far into the ocean, the captain saw a "spout", asking us if we could smell the breath of a whale.

And there it was, a gray whale...no...two gray whales!!

We tried this once in Bar Harbor, only to get 100 yards from the pier, and the fog socked us in for the entire trip (still can't believe they didn't give us our money back!!??)

What a sight!! We knew we had really had a great "viewing" when the captain of the ship came out with his own camera to catch the sights!!!

We did a lot of "rockin' and rollin'" while watching the whales. The instructions before the cruise set out were reinforced by the signs at the bathrooms!

We ended the day with a trip through the Undersea Gardens, basically a ship of some sort made into an aquarium below and a gift shop on top. Although, I have to say, it was fun seeing the wolf eel, white sturgeon, different rockfish, starfish and those ever faithful anemones!!

After the morning fog, we woke up one day to a cloudless, blue sky and decided this was the day to go sit on the beach. We packed our chairs and books and, as an afterthought, our sweatshirts. Good, thing! Even though the sun was shining brightly the wind off of the water was again very cold. To warm up, we brought Bob and Susan to the Chowder Bowl and we had yet another bowl of clam chowder. Our final vote for clam chowder in Newport is: Chowder Bowl and Georgie's both very good; Mo's on the Bayfront not so good. I have also had enough chowder now to keep me for at least a couple of weeks!

We then went back to the Bayfront to use our tickets at the Wax Works and Ripley's; you know, those things tourists spend their money on that aren't really worth it! We had to wait till we got home to see the figures at Wax Works...it was so dark in there, you couldn't tell if the figures were good or not. Well, we managed to meet Dolly and Kenny; and, Susan and I got up close and personal with Johnny Depp.

We seem to be having an affair with Oregon Coast Lighthouses. We visited Yaquina Head Lighthouse today and again found all views absolutely spectacular...what a way to spend our last day on the Oregon Coast!!!

We did climb the 110 steps up to the top of the lighthouse; even me, although I had some burning muscles when we returned to solid ground!


We found some harbor seals at the tidal pool. What a difference from the sea lions visited in town. They are much quieter and a lot less obtrusive!

You're going to see some more pictures of the Oregon coast...after all, this is the last time we'll be here till who knows when.

You will even find some dunes on the west coast.

We ended the day with dinner at the Rogue Brewery (second time for Ken and I). Great food; lousy entrance! And, not always a great smell going in; but the food was pretty darn good!

Tomorrow we'll be saying goodbye to the Oregon Coast and to Susan and Bob. In our travels to date, Susan and Bob have only been a short drive away...we'll miss them as they had back east as we go south. Safe travels, you two. And, thanks for the memories (so far...I know there will be a lot more to come)!