Newport to Eugene - Beautiful Oregon

Cucumber Sea Star

Sea Lions and Seals

Oh, Boy!!!!! We are back on the Oregon coast. We arrived in Newport at the Port of Newport Marina which is a little less then half way down the coast. It’s not a beautiful campground, but it's really cool and there are places for Phaedra and me to walk though I didn’t get the tug thrown a lot. We are right under the famous Newport bridge and did see the fog roll in which was a sight.  This is so different from Hood River: here sights and sounds are really part of the ocean.  There are foghorns calling each night and the sea gulls' mournful cries fly overhead.  The marina has beautiful yatchs and sailboats.  We even walked out on the piers to check the boats out.  Right nearby, there is a science center, Hatfield Marine Science Center, which is a research station for Oregon State University.  We stayed home while Mama and Papa saw a Giant Pacific Octopus being fed and learned

about other ocean creatures.  Who cares about stupid octopuses anyway?  Not us!


Our friends from Sanibel, Joann and Bob, drove down from their summer place near Seattle and visited us the first 2 days. We really enjoyed them. They all went to the Rogue Brewery right next to the campground the first night and celebrated Mama’s birthday (she just turned 39, you know) at an ocean front restaurant the second night. They spent a lot of time at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a park

Western Gull and chicks

shared by the BLM and Oregon parks.  There is a really pretty lighthouse and below it is a very rocky shoreline with cool tide pools, lots of birds, and harbor seals. Over the time we were in this area, Mama and Papa saw young Peregrine Falcons, baby Western Gulls, baby Brandt’s Cormorants and sooooo many seals.  One was a baby. This has really become a baby trip for all of us.

Tsunami Pier

After our friends left, we traveled up the coast to Lincoln City to visit the sights stopping at Depot Bay, the world’s smallest harbor. Phaedra and I got to go along to help them look for whales. None swam by - otherwise our outstanding eye sight would have found them for the folks!  I bet all of you remember the terrible tsunami that hit Japan.  Anyway, when we were in Newport, there was this place called Agate Beach where a pier from Japan washed on shore.  It was washed away in the tsunami, floated all the way across the Pacific Ocean and landed on this beach.  It is huge!  Bigger that the Brooklyn Bridge, I bet.  Papa says no, but I think I know more than he does.  I’ll let him think he is right, though.  All of us girls have to humor him every once in a while.  We also spent a day riding south to Florence to go to a dealer to have our hitch looked at. That was about as much fun as getting my teeth cleaned.  The scenery was great, though, with wonderful views of the ocean and big trees that a boy dog would love.

From Newport we went on to Winchester Bay.  The marina there had the neatest campground - with views out to the ocean and then boats on the other side. We were surrounded by water on 3 sides with a dog walking path all the way around.  One day we were walking and all of a sudden there was this really, really loud ROAR!  I thought the spots on my body were going to jump right off.  Then I thought it was a tsunami!  Well, I’m still here, but the day was soooo windy that the waves were crashing and banging on the rocks.  I was really scared on that walk.

The best part for me was that there are huge sand dunes going for miles and I was able to run, run run. Papa wanted to ride an ATV but never did. Phaedra and I took the folks on a hike which ended up above the sand dunes and we saw tons of these little buzzing ants - they were really the ATVs.  It looked like lots of fun, but kinda scary the way the zipped up to the top of a huge dune and then flew down again with sand flying from the paddles on their back wheels.

We went south to our friend, Pat Kelly’s area of Coos Bay. We drove along the coast to a special area called Simpson Reef and saw Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals, California Sea Lions and Stellar Sea Lions. Boy, did the folks have a great time. We ended up in Bandon which had wonderful rock formations sticking up right out of the sand.

It was then on to Eugene, Oregon to visit with Saralee and Ralph who introduced Mom to Dad many,many, many years ago. Along the way, we passed huge herds of Roosevelt Elk.  They live in an area that has been designated a refuge.  There were babies!

Animal House

The campground that Ralph found, was next to Dexter Lake which was well known for The Dexter Lake Club that appeared in the movie Animal House from a long, long, long time ago. They had to go one night to have a drink. Remember the original Food Fight?  That was from the University of Oregon at a fraternity party.  Wish I had been there, then!

Eugene has some fantastic gardens.  We visited the Hesse Gardens which are amazing because Ralph and Saralee made them.  Ralph built a building in the garden.  It has trains running around in it.  All of them walked all over the gardens and on their river, played with the trains, drank Margaritas,  and played with cats.  Guess where we were... at home in the RV.  I hate cats! Those gardens were better than ones that they have paid money to visit Mama said. Saralee and Ralph took them all over the area and visited University of Oregon’s campus, various covered bridges and spent a day at King Estates, a winery.

Well, all good things must come to an end, but something new is always just around the corner.  Next stop is the giant redwoods in Northern California.

Phaedra will keep you posted on the Redwoods when we get back to you.  And, be sure to check out the video below of the Giant Pacific Octopus - he's cool. 

Licks and Wags for now.

Zoe the Great!  (And her faithful sidekick, Phaedra!)