Oregon 2010

Sunset at Gleneden Beach

      Many years ago, Allen and I spent our honeymoon traveling through Oregon.  We spent time snowboarding in Mt. Hood and then explored the coast.  It was a grand vacation!  For our anniversary last year we went back to the coast.  I LOVE the ocean!  I can watch the waves roll in and out forever (literally) and never get bored.  I can spend even longer in the tide pools, staring at the amazing creatures.  I love to hold really still and look into one little pool, waiting for something new (and probably microscopic) to move and show itself.  I love the seaweed smell and the wet, cool breeze.  I love that salty taste on my lips.  Even as I write this, I'm starting to feel that longing feeling, like homesickness, that I get for the ocean.  Needless to say, I took a thousand pictures (almost literally).  I wish I could share them all with you but I don't think I can- it would take WAY too long to download them all.  So I'll do some of the highlights (like Allen seasick on the whale-less watching tour).  Allen is such a good sport!



Medium and Baby Orcas


When we first arrived at the coast we went to Depoe Bay just to check out the Whale Watching Center.  As I stood there watching the great, vast ocean, I couldn't help but think of how much was hiding under the surface.  I turned to Allen and said, "I want to see a whale so bad.  I know they're out there".  No kidding, not five minutes later, four Orcas came rolling  into view.  I watched them rise and dive as they came right into the bay in a line.  I about cried!  They were so amazing and beautiful.  There was a Large one, two medium sized ones and a baby (calf). We watched them play in the bay for an hour.  We were able to get close enough to them that we could hear them blow!  It was the coolest thing EVER!  The people at the Whale Watching center said it was rare to see Orca this time of year.  Our vacation was off to a great start!





 This is the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  The stairs moved slightly as we walked up them.  We had to wait in line to go up because they didn't want too many people on the stairs at once.  It's a state park and it has the best tide pools and bird watching.  Thousands of seabirds come to lays their eggs on the giant rock out-croppings just off shore here.  All kinds of sea birds with eggs on the rocks- they don't build nests.



Light house stairs from the top looking down

   

Can you see me?  It's a long bridge.

The forests in Oregon are so GREEN. Just plain green.  There is so much vegatation.  There are ferns that are as tall as me everywhere you look.  The trees, which are so lush already, are also covered with vines.  It's like layers of plant life everywhere.  The air here is moist and cool.  We love hiking in these forests.  This hike was through old growth (which means even more and bigger green).  We crossed a suspension bridge and then circled below to a water fall.  You can see a little of the bridge in the background of the waterfall.



Looking down from the bridge



On the hike back, we passed a group (family reunion) that were ALL wearing BYU sweatshirts- no joke! 

Drift Creek Falls



The best tide pools are at the Lighthouse.  If you look behind Allen, you can see the water line on the rocks.  That is how deep it is when the tide is in.  It would be way over his head.  There where sea lions and a bunch of nesting sea birds on the rocks around the tide pools while we were there.  I guess, some of the birds spend most of their time out at sea and only come inland during nesting season. 

This is a sunflower star.  It has around 20 legs.  It was poking out from under a rock.  I love these!  They can get VERY large (for a sea star that is).  I had a list in my mind of all the things I wanted to see in the tide pools.  I got them all- except the nudibrach wasn't the same species that I was hoping to find.  It was still AMAZING though (at least to me).

A bunch of sea stars.  They come in different colors.

This is the nudibranch (the little orange thing in the middle).  I looked for one the whole time and finally the ranger working there found this one for me.  Okay, for the record, the ones I've seen in the past are a bit more spectacular and bigger than this one.  But I think this little guy shows how great this world is because, there are so many different kinds of life everywhere and a lot of it we never see or even know is there.  Tide pools are amazinig that way, there is so much there but a lot of it no one ever sees.

It's surrounded by urchins.  Notice how big the urchins really are in the next pictures.




Red and purple urchins are the same species, just different colors.

Urchins are sooo cool!  Really.  Besides having hard spines, they have long, skinny, bendable "arms" with little suction cups on the end.  They grab whatever they can get a hold of and cover themselves as best they can. It is actually pretty hard to pull the rocks and shells off of them.  In fact, their suction cups don't give, their little "arms" break off.  Good thing their invertabrates and can grow them back.  The big orange blob is called a Gumbu Chieten.  They are invertabrates as well but, being in the Chieten family, have eight plates underneth.  Kind of like a spine.  They are quite big- about a foot long.  They have really cool yellow undersides with a "foot" type structure, kind of like a snail.  I got in touble by a ranger for picking one up to show some other people there.  I know better than to pick up things in a State Park Tide Pool.  I couldn't help it though, they were as fascinated as I am by everything.  I wanted to show them MORE! 

The urchin beds are really incredible.  They actually burrow into the rock.  When they are gone, they leave behind all these little holes.  Very cool considering that they make holes in ROCK by wiggling their spines around.

This is at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.  They have very cool tunnels that you are surrounded by water and critters.  I caught this picture of Allen with a little friend.  It looks like the fish is having a good day too!

I laugh every time I look at this

This is the whale-less watching tour we took.  Allen got pretty darn sick.  It was rough water.  I even began to feel sick myself.  Even the seals were having a hard time getting on the bouy!

"Worst $16 I've ever spent on a vacation. Possibly the worst $16 I've spent- EVER!"

Surfing was by far my favorite part of the trip and Allens too.  The whole time we were there I just wanted to "hug" the ocean.  Whenever I see the ocean, I have this crazy desire to be part of it.  Unfortunately, the ocean in Oregon is very, very cold.  We kept saying we'd like to try surfing but it's so cold.  The night before we went surfing, we let the waves lap over our feet and no kidding, our feet went numb incredibly fast.  That is when we decided we would have to wait for a different venue to try surfing.  The next morning, we went out on the beach and there was a group surfing.  We asked them about it (and if they get hypothermia) and they informed us that the wet suits keep them toasty.  So, being Allen and Lori, we said "why not?"  and we drove to the Ossies Surf Shop and they hooked us up with surf boards, instructor, wet suits, boots and gloves. We even had a face mask type thing to keep or heads and faces warm.  As it turns out, the wet suits are really good and I was working so hard that the cold was not an issue!  The air temp was around 52 and sunny and the water was about 52 as well.
It was so fun!!!!  Can't describe fun, checks hurt from smiling fun!  (everything else hurt the next day fun).

My favorite time was when Allen crashed into me.  I was trying to paddle out and I looked up when I heard him yell "look out!!!"  I turned to run but you know how running in waist deep water works, not at all so he hit me.  We both got pumbled by the wave he was riding.  When we came up laughing, the instructer just shook his head as if to say, "you two have the whole ocean and you hit into each other?".  My only regret is that we waited until the last day to try it.  We would have spent more time at it, if we weren't too sore.

Surfing was the highlight of the trip!  For the record, wet suits are NOT becoming on anyone especially when the picture is taken from this angle.