The Oregon coastline is sooo cool!

We visited the Oregon coast very briefly about 15 years ago and loved it. Ever since then we have wanted to go back and see it again at a more leisurely pace-  we’re so glad we did!  

The Oregon coast is so cool in so many ways…….Refreshing cool temps and ocean breezes…….94 public parks and campgrounds dotting the entire coastline  - so many that you have to pick and choose the ones you stop at……Beautiful scenery - rugged cliffs, old growth forests, sea stacks, sand dunes and sandy beaches……. Lots of marine wildlife – gray whales, stellar sea lions, harbor seals,  many varieties of sea birds- murres, puffins, pelicans, guillemots, peregrine falcons, eagles, and loons………tide pools teaming with sea stars, anemones , crabs and fish……… human history  dating back 12,000 years ago! 


It has rained quite a bit the last few weeks and we have learned some of the weather forecasters adjectives for the rainy, cool weather in June - "June gloom" and "Juneuary". Very fitting we think! Everyone here can't wait for summer to finally arrive - any day now would be just fine!

One of those "June gloom" rainy days - we're so wet we might as well have been swimming!

Oregon coast highlights:

The views from the capes, coves and dunes along the coast.....

Cape Perpetua on one of those special sunny days!

Thunder Rock Cove

Natural Bridges

Oregon Dunes National Park

Sea caves and a waterfall at low tide

Exploring the best tide pools along the coast...

Sea stars and anemones

Purple sea urchins the water is so clear you can't tell these sea urchins were completley submersed

Sea slug - underwater in a tide pool

Seeing the very large dock that washed up on the shore from the tsunami in Japan...

65 foot dock from Japan washed up on the beach in Newport

Japanese dock on the beach at low tide

Lots of marine wildlife.....

Harbor seals - disguised as logs

Stellar sea lions

Click on the arrow to see the noisy sea lions

Fishing for dungeness crab - an easy catch, there are lots of them!

Commom Murre rookery

Lewis and Clark National Park....

Replica of Fort Clatsop 1805 in Astoria

Clatsop indian dugout canoe

Watching a gray whale blowing bubbles. They use the bubbles as a net to catch fish. Gray whales move quite slow and don't have a big dorsal fin so they don't put on  as much of a"show" as the Orcas and Humpbacks do.

Click on the arrow to see the gray whale

 

Lighthouses and shipwrecks along the coast....

Yaquina Head Lighthouse and tide pool area

Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale from 1906

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse - the only wooden lighthouse on the coast

Tillamook Lighthouse

We're planning to stay a little while longer in the Pacific NW - it's such a beautiful part of our country - especially in the summer! Plus, we still have a few more national parks we want to explore -  Redwood National Park, Crater Lake National Park , Columbia River Gorge, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens National Park!