Its been a couple of years since we have taken the kids to the coast for anything longer than a day trip, and Matthew and I have been wanting to head down there for a little family vacation for months. With summer coming to an end here in just a few weeks, we knew we better get a room booked and time off work taken if we were ever going to make it happen. We decided to stay in Lincoln City at the same hotel we stayed at the last time we took the kids to the beach for vacation (check out the pictures - I cant believe how small Rowan was)!! Lincoln City has a lot of memories for us...Matthew and I got engaged there, we spread his moms ashes there, its where we first found out that we would be able to buy our house, and of course it has been the sight of many fun family vacations for us!
We left the house early on Wednesday morning, and drove straight through Lincoln City (we couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm) to a place that someone had recommended to Matthew - Fogarty Creek. Its a really great little state park where a creek and the ocean meet. The beach is mostly tiny rocks instead of sand and it was covered in layers of seaweed:
We crossed the creek and headed towards an area with high cliff walls and little carved out caves. I loved the way the tree roots look hanging down bare over the cliffs!
The kids and I in a 'cave':
The kids had so much fun exploring this area, and climbing up and over the rocks. They even found a little tunnel to peek through:
I loved this little crop of funky rock formations - in the picture it looks big but its actually the small area to Killian's left in the picture above where they are climbing the rocks:
Killian was so proud to have gotten to the top of this rock - it was a slippery steep climb up, but he carved footholds along the way and kept at it until he made it to the top. I love the way the cliffs look in the background, there were so many different layers of color and types of rock:
We spent some time looking out at the ocean, and watching the waves crash on the rocks:
Along with the seaweed that was washed up everywhere, we also found all sorts of small treasures:
We played on the beach for a couple hours, ate the lunch we had packed, and then headed back towards Lincoln City. On our way back we saw a cool glass blowing studio and stopped to check it out. For a mere $65 (and up!) people could come in and have a hand in blowing their very own glass float. We weren't ready to fork over that much dough for a float, no matter how pretty they were. But we did have a great time watching other people make theirs, glass blowing truly is a work of art and its amazing to watch people create such beautiful pieces.
This is the first float we watched being made, we came in when it was about halfway done:
I love the colors - it looks like a little earth to me:
We got to watch the next one start to finish. To begin, they stick a metal rod in this glowing oven, and pull out a clump of melted glass on the end. They then roll that glass through shards of colored glass and head over to the next oven to melt it all together:
After a lot of rolling and pinching and shaping, the customer got to blow the glass using a long tube attached to the pipe while the glass maker scores and shapes it. It would be so much fun to learn how to do this, the kids and Matthew and I were entranced through the whole demonstration.
We went and checked into the hotel, unloaded and had a snack while we sat on the balcony and looked out at the ocean. Right in front of our hotel a family had built the biggest sand castle ever! it was so cool looking the kids couldn't wait to get down and check it out.
Unfortunately by the time we got back from dinner and had a chance to go check it out, it was all smashed down :( But they still had a great time running around and hopping from mound to mound. We played on the beach for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
We got up early on Thursday morning, had a quick breakfast of coffee and muffins, and then headed down to Newport to spend the morning at the aquarium. They had a new exhibit called Swampland that we were excited to check out, as well as their regular exhibits (like the Passages of the Deep shark tunnel that the kids couldn't wait to go through). The Swampland exhibit was small and pretty disappointing. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of new or interesting animals, and we were through the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. They did still have the crazy Japanese Spider Crabs that we saw the last time we were there. These crabs are huge - they can grow to have a leg span of 13 feet and weigh over 40 pounds! I think they are sort of creepy and mad looking myself:
We saw the jellyfish which I love:
This cute little sea otter:
Rowan and I had been talking about sea otters before visiting the aquarium, and I googled pictures for her because she couldn't remember what they looked like. While doing that we found that there is simply nothing cuter in this world than a baby sea otter! Rowan and I spent 15 minutes oohing and ahhing over those cute little ones, but we both agreed that we like the adults just as much as the babies!
After winding our way around outside, we finally came to the Passages of the Deep exhibit. The kids loved the sunken ship:
And of course - the shark tunnel! They move fast and its hard to get a good picture, but we saw all sorts of sharks and sting rays swimming over, under and all around us:
Then on the way out - the biggest shark of all...a Megalodon skull! The kids and I were pretty scared of this prehistoric fishy!
One of the guys at Matthews work had suggested that we head over to the Mark Hatfield marine science center, located next to the aquarium. Right up front they had tons of touch pools, which the kids love. We touched everything from anemones, to sea cucumbers, to flat fish and fuzzy corals.
This was the weirdest fish I have ever seen, especially when he was swimming because he stayed flat and just sort of flopped around. So strange!
Killian and I were walking past another fish tank, and I said to him "Look! That fish looks like it doesn't have an eye" to which Killian replied "That's because it doesn't have an eye"! We did a double take, and sure enough the fish was missing its eye. It seemed to get around just fine, but its probably a good thing that its in an aquarium...it would never see danger coming its way!
Before we had left on vacation I had been searching for things to do in the area when I found information on the Yaquina Head lighthouse and tide pools. We didn't know exactly where they were, but had noticed a sign near the aquarium that said something about a historic lighthouse. So after we finished up at the science center, we followed the signs, thinking it would take us to the lighthouse I had seen in the pictures. Turns out, there are two Yaquina lighthouses and we ended up at the Yaquina Bay one. It looked like a regular old house with a light on top - definitely not what you expect when you think 'lighthouse':
Turns out that it was not very effective because ships couldn't see it around the corner of the bay. It was closed within 3 years, and the new one at Yaquina Head was built. It was still a cool little place to visit, and during our tour through the place I fell in love with this stove:
How much fun would it have been to cook on that thing?! Its so much more visually appealing to me than anything you would find in a modern kitchen these days!
We followed the steps down from the lighthouse to the beach, and found some awesome sand dunes for the kids to run around on. They were so excited, and spent all their time running up and falling down the dunes. I love this picture of Rowan because she is so happy...its such a cool thing to see your children so filled with joy!
Our next stop for the day was the Rogue Brewery on the Bay. Matthew had looked it up and found out that they offered free brewery tours, and since one of his big interests right now is home brewing it was something he was really excited to do. Everyone had to don these super spiffy safety glasses for the tour. As Rowan likes to say - safety first!
The tour was pretty much a big disapointment. We couldnt hear the tour guide half the time, and they timed it just right so that there was nothing to actually see during our tour. The most excitment we got was watching some guys power wash out some old plastic barrels. The bottleing and packing line was shut down, and there was nothing happening with the brew tanks. Boring! However, I have never seen so many cases of beer in one place before...so I guess that was something new!
Matthew and the kids outside the brewery:
We were all tired and hungry after the tour because it was close to 4 and none of us had eaten since breakfast. We headed back to Lincoln City and grabbed dinner, along with smores makings and some beer since we had worked up a thirst for it at the brewery. Our hotel had these really cool fire pit areas set up so after dinner we went out there and roasted marshmellows with the kids. We headed down to the beach again, and the kids built sandcastles while Matthew and I played frisbee in the sand. Rowan spent a lot of time watching the waves, she is always so fasinated by the ocean:
We were back to the hotel in time to grab another beer and sit and watch the sunset. I love this picture that Matthew took of the beer on the railing...I didnt know he had taken it until I got home and downloaded all the pictures. I think I should leave the camera alone with him more often!
As the sun was setting, we caught sight of something you dont normally see on Oregon beaches....surfers! There were two guys out paddling around and trying to catch a good wave. They didnt seem to be able to get out far enough to actually ride a wave in, but they were entertaining to watch nonetheless!
The next morning we did another quickie breakfast after we checked out of the hotel and headed to the outlet malls that are in Lincoln City. We scored some amazing deals on back to school clothes for the kids, and we were in and out of the place fast enough that neither of the guys went cross eyed and twitchy from shopping overload. I could have easily stayed for an hour or two more ;)
With the 'chores' done for the day, we went out in search of the real Yaquina Head lighthouse, and were pretty excited when we found it. Now thats what a lighthouse is supposed to look like!
The lighthouse is rather small, so they only let small groups of people up at a time. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we took our turn heading up (and then down) the 109 steps to the top:
The view from the top was amazing - I can only imagine how cool it would be to be up in that tower watching a storm come in off the ocean! Even though the day was sunny and reasonably warm for the Oregon coast, it was super windy on the point where the lighthouse was! It took a few tries before we could get a picture of Rowan and I without our hair whipping around our faces. The boys didnt have any such problem of course!
On a side note - its pictures like that this make me realize just how tall Killian is! Matthew and I are both almost 6 feet tall...and here Killy is as tall as Matthews shoulders and he isnt even 10 years old yet. My goodness that boy is going to be tall...I am just waiting for the day when I have to look up at my baby towering over me! Sniff. He is growing up so fast!!
The view from the cliff by the lighthouse was so pretty - I love when there are little caves that the tide splashes through:
After leaving the lighthouse, we went in search of some man made tidepools that I had read about online. A ranger told us that they were just down the road, but when we got to where he had directed us there were no tidepools in sight! I dont know if we just got there at the wrong time of day or what, but we could not find even a hint that the tide pools were close by. We would have explored further, but the beach was closed because seals had been spotted using it. Since they are protected, no people are allowed on the beach while they are near. I was totally disappointed, because I had really been looking forward to checking this area out. All was not lost though. On our way back to the car, Killian spotted a fuzzy little caterpillar crawling along the yellow curb. As we bent closer to inspect it, we realized that there were lots and lots of fuzzy little caterpillars crawling along the curb. Rowan was pleased that they seemed to all like yellow, which is her favorite color. And she was even more pleased to be able to hold one of the little creatures! I remember growing up there were always tons of fat black and orange fuzzy caterpillars in our yard but I haven't seen those, or any other caterpillar in years. Having the kids all excited to hold them made up for the disappointment at not finding the tide pools.
We made a couple more stops on our way out of town to pick up small gifts for a few friends, and then it was back on the road again, headed towards home. This was the perfect end of summer vacation, and we all had so much fun. I love being with Matthew and the kids, spending time checking out new things or just laying around watching the sun set. They really are my very favorite people in the world to spend time with, and vacations like this make me even more grateful to have the wonderful family that I do. We all decided that we need to get down to the beach at least once a year for an overnight, and more often than that for day trips. Its a place we all enjoy so much and I am looking forward to making many more memories on those sandy beaches!
We left the house early on Wednesday morning, and drove straight through Lincoln City (we couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm) to a place that someone had recommended to Matthew - Fogarty Creek. Its a really great little state park where a creek and the ocean meet. The beach is mostly tiny rocks instead of sand and it was covered in layers of seaweed:
We crossed the creek and headed towards an area with high cliff walls and little carved out caves. I loved the way the tree roots look hanging down bare over the cliffs!
The kids and I in a 'cave':
The kids had so much fun exploring this area, and climbing up and over the rocks. They even found a little tunnel to peek through:
I loved this little crop of funky rock formations - in the picture it looks big but its actually the small area to Killian's left in the picture above where they are climbing the rocks:
Killian was so proud to have gotten to the top of this rock - it was a slippery steep climb up, but he carved footholds along the way and kept at it until he made it to the top. I love the way the cliffs look in the background, there were so many different layers of color and types of rock:
We spent some time looking out at the ocean, and watching the waves crash on the rocks:
Along with the seaweed that was washed up everywhere, we also found all sorts of small treasures:
We played on the beach for a couple hours, ate the lunch we had packed, and then headed back towards Lincoln City. On our way back we saw a cool glass blowing studio and stopped to check it out. For a mere $65 (and up!) people could come in and have a hand in blowing their very own glass float. We weren't ready to fork over that much dough for a float, no matter how pretty they were. But we did have a great time watching other people make theirs, glass blowing truly is a work of art and its amazing to watch people create such beautiful pieces.
This is the first float we watched being made, we came in when it was about halfway done:
I love the colors - it looks like a little earth to me:
We got to watch the next one start to finish. To begin, they stick a metal rod in this glowing oven, and pull out a clump of melted glass on the end. They then roll that glass through shards of colored glass and head over to the next oven to melt it all together:
After a lot of rolling and pinching and shaping, the customer got to blow the glass using a long tube attached to the pipe while the glass maker scores and shapes it. It would be so much fun to learn how to do this, the kids and Matthew and I were entranced through the whole demonstration.
We went and checked into the hotel, unloaded and had a snack while we sat on the balcony and looked out at the ocean. Right in front of our hotel a family had built the biggest sand castle ever! it was so cool looking the kids couldn't wait to get down and check it out.
Unfortunately by the time we got back from dinner and had a chance to go check it out, it was all smashed down :( But they still had a great time running around and hopping from mound to mound. We played on the beach for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
We got up early on Thursday morning, had a quick breakfast of coffee and muffins, and then headed down to Newport to spend the morning at the aquarium. They had a new exhibit called Swampland that we were excited to check out, as well as their regular exhibits (like the Passages of the Deep shark tunnel that the kids couldn't wait to go through). The Swampland exhibit was small and pretty disappointing. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of new or interesting animals, and we were through the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. They did still have the crazy Japanese Spider Crabs that we saw the last time we were there. These crabs are huge - they can grow to have a leg span of 13 feet and weigh over 40 pounds! I think they are sort of creepy and mad looking myself:
We saw the jellyfish which I love:
This cute little sea otter:
Rowan and I had been talking about sea otters before visiting the aquarium, and I googled pictures for her because she couldn't remember what they looked like. While doing that we found that there is simply nothing cuter in this world than a baby sea otter! Rowan and I spent 15 minutes oohing and ahhing over those cute little ones, but we both agreed that we like the adults just as much as the babies!
After winding our way around outside, we finally came to the Passages of the Deep exhibit. The kids loved the sunken ship:
And of course - the shark tunnel! They move fast and its hard to get a good picture, but we saw all sorts of sharks and sting rays swimming over, under and all around us:
Then on the way out - the biggest shark of all...a Megalodon skull! The kids and I were pretty scared of this prehistoric fishy!
One of the guys at Matthews work had suggested that we head over to the Mark Hatfield marine science center, located next to the aquarium. Right up front they had tons of touch pools, which the kids love. We touched everything from anemones, to sea cucumbers, to flat fish and fuzzy corals.
This was the weirdest fish I have ever seen, especially when he was swimming because he stayed flat and just sort of flopped around. So strange!
Killian and I were walking past another fish tank, and I said to him "Look! That fish looks like it doesn't have an eye" to which Killian replied "That's because it doesn't have an eye"! We did a double take, and sure enough the fish was missing its eye. It seemed to get around just fine, but its probably a good thing that its in an aquarium...it would never see danger coming its way!
Before we had left on vacation I had been searching for things to do in the area when I found information on the Yaquina Head lighthouse and tide pools. We didn't know exactly where they were, but had noticed a sign near the aquarium that said something about a historic lighthouse. So after we finished up at the science center, we followed the signs, thinking it would take us to the lighthouse I had seen in the pictures. Turns out, there are two Yaquina lighthouses and we ended up at the Yaquina Bay one. It looked like a regular old house with a light on top - definitely not what you expect when you think 'lighthouse':
Turns out that it was not very effective because ships couldn't see it around the corner of the bay. It was closed within 3 years, and the new one at Yaquina Head was built. It was still a cool little place to visit, and during our tour through the place I fell in love with this stove:
How much fun would it have been to cook on that thing?! Its so much more visually appealing to me than anything you would find in a modern kitchen these days!
We followed the steps down from the lighthouse to the beach, and found some awesome sand dunes for the kids to run around on. They were so excited, and spent all their time running up and falling down the dunes. I love this picture of Rowan because she is so happy...its such a cool thing to see your children so filled with joy!
Our next stop for the day was the Rogue Brewery on the Bay. Matthew had looked it up and found out that they offered free brewery tours, and since one of his big interests right now is home brewing it was something he was really excited to do. Everyone had to don these super spiffy safety glasses for the tour. As Rowan likes to say - safety first!
The tour was pretty much a big disapointment. We couldnt hear the tour guide half the time, and they timed it just right so that there was nothing to actually see during our tour. The most excitment we got was watching some guys power wash out some old plastic barrels. The bottleing and packing line was shut down, and there was nothing happening with the brew tanks. Boring! However, I have never seen so many cases of beer in one place before...so I guess that was something new!
Matthew and the kids outside the brewery:
We were all tired and hungry after the tour because it was close to 4 and none of us had eaten since breakfast. We headed back to Lincoln City and grabbed dinner, along with smores makings and some beer since we had worked up a thirst for it at the brewery. Our hotel had these really cool fire pit areas set up so after dinner we went out there and roasted marshmellows with the kids. We headed down to the beach again, and the kids built sandcastles while Matthew and I played frisbee in the sand. Rowan spent a lot of time watching the waves, she is always so fasinated by the ocean:
We were back to the hotel in time to grab another beer and sit and watch the sunset. I love this picture that Matthew took of the beer on the railing...I didnt know he had taken it until I got home and downloaded all the pictures. I think I should leave the camera alone with him more often!
As the sun was setting, we caught sight of something you dont normally see on Oregon beaches....surfers! There were two guys out paddling around and trying to catch a good wave. They didnt seem to be able to get out far enough to actually ride a wave in, but they were entertaining to watch nonetheless!
The next morning we did another quickie breakfast after we checked out of the hotel and headed to the outlet malls that are in Lincoln City. We scored some amazing deals on back to school clothes for the kids, and we were in and out of the place fast enough that neither of the guys went cross eyed and twitchy from shopping overload. I could have easily stayed for an hour or two more ;)
With the 'chores' done for the day, we went out in search of the real Yaquina Head lighthouse, and were pretty excited when we found it. Now thats what a lighthouse is supposed to look like!
The lighthouse is rather small, so they only let small groups of people up at a time. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we took our turn heading up (and then down) the 109 steps to the top:
The view from the top was amazing - I can only imagine how cool it would be to be up in that tower watching a storm come in off the ocean! Even though the day was sunny and reasonably warm for the Oregon coast, it was super windy on the point where the lighthouse was! It took a few tries before we could get a picture of Rowan and I without our hair whipping around our faces. The boys didnt have any such problem of course!
On a side note - its pictures like that this make me realize just how tall Killian is! Matthew and I are both almost 6 feet tall...and here Killy is as tall as Matthews shoulders and he isnt even 10 years old yet. My goodness that boy is going to be tall...I am just waiting for the day when I have to look up at my baby towering over me! Sniff. He is growing up so fast!!
The view from the cliff by the lighthouse was so pretty - I love when there are little caves that the tide splashes through:
After leaving the lighthouse, we went in search of some man made tidepools that I had read about online. A ranger told us that they were just down the road, but when we got to where he had directed us there were no tidepools in sight! I dont know if we just got there at the wrong time of day or what, but we could not find even a hint that the tide pools were close by. We would have explored further, but the beach was closed because seals had been spotted using it. Since they are protected, no people are allowed on the beach while they are near. I was totally disappointed, because I had really been looking forward to checking this area out. All was not lost though. On our way back to the car, Killian spotted a fuzzy little caterpillar crawling along the yellow curb. As we bent closer to inspect it, we realized that there were lots and lots of fuzzy little caterpillars crawling along the curb. Rowan was pleased that they seemed to all like yellow, which is her favorite color. And she was even more pleased to be able to hold one of the little creatures! I remember growing up there were always tons of fat black and orange fuzzy caterpillars in our yard but I haven't seen those, or any other caterpillar in years. Having the kids all excited to hold them made up for the disappointment at not finding the tide pools.
We made a couple more stops on our way out of town to pick up small gifts for a few friends, and then it was back on the road again, headed towards home. This was the perfect end of summer vacation, and we all had so much fun. I love being with Matthew and the kids, spending time checking out new things or just laying around watching the sun set. They really are my very favorite people in the world to spend time with, and vacations like this make me even more grateful to have the wonderful family that I do. We all decided that we need to get down to the beach at least once a year for an overnight, and more often than that for day trips. Its a place we all enjoy so much and I am looking forward to making many more memories on those sandy beaches!