Sun, Sand, and Sea Lions

On Saturday morning we left Newport and headed south with clear blue skies. During the first stretch sandy beaches were the order of the day, with the occasional rock outcrops. The similarities to Long Beach were striking...




But soon we were climbing up and could see a changing landscape through the trees.




At a pull-out we spied an option to get down to the rocky shores of Cape Perpetua...




At the top of the access the warnings were clear...




But we figured those warnings were probably just general guidelines and absolutely no harm could be done skirting the edge of the so called "funnel of doom"...




Actually, the tide was out and we were not in harms way (and it's not really called the "funnel of doom"). It was a beautiful area and we took the opportunity to explore the rock outcroppings and tide-pools, occasionally taking time to pause and absorb it all.














Dad took this picture that summed the area up: wind-swept trees and vistas of sand, rock, and endless ocean...




Above the beach was a lookout. Dad isn't wild about heights so I made the short trek from the parking lot to the view-point.






A nice couple from Portland took my pic. Everyone we have met on this trip has been incredibly friendly...at this rate Canadians are in danger of losing their "friendliest people" status!




The weather was holding well, and as we continued south we felt lucky that we had such a clear, crisp day. We stopped to take in the view of the much photographed lighthouse at Heceta Head.






Looking the other way I found some interesting cliff features...



...with a few familiar residents hanging out at the bottom.




As we continued on past Florence the terrain altered to include areas of sand, especially around "Dune City"...




We skipped the dune-buggy rentals, however, and continued on the Coos Bay for lunch. We stretched our legs on the wharf...




...all the time being carefully watched.




While arriving in Coos Bay we noticed a significant weather change was upon up and considering this, and the time of day, we decided to divert inland instead of continuing south to Crescent City. It was a good call as the downpour started very soon after starting out. We ended up in Eugene and will spend Sunday copying material from John's family binder, stopping by Albany, and slowly making our way north.