Oregon Coast with Blackhams

In August of 2009 our good friends, Ches and Stephanie Blackham, invited us to go to the Oregon coast with them in September 2010. Of course, we said, "Of course!!" It seemed like the day was never going to get here so we could go and now it is almost a month past. Between Clark and I we took over 600 photos so it has taken a while for me to whittle the number down. Here are some of my favorites.

We flew in the Cessna P210 that Clark is partners in. We flew to Rexburg, ID, and picked up Ches and Steph and then directly to Newport, OR. Pilot and copilot keeping us on course.
In August of 09 Stephanie did some serious vacation house hunting for us and came up with the perfect little place. I would recommend Fairhaven Vacation Rentals in Newport to anyone. http://www.fairhavenvacationrentals.com/home.htm It was nice to come "home" instead of going back to the motel. We cooked a few evening meals here and ate all of our breakfasts here.

The house was just a block from Nye Beach, a beautiful stretch of sandy shore with one little block of tide pools. The weather while we were there was anything from rainy to foggy to one day of sunshine. This is a shot of the tide pools the first day we were there. By the next Friday just before we left, the whole thing was covered with sand. I'm glad we saw them early in our visit. The tide pools were one of Steph's main "want to see" things. Mine were the lighthouses. There are 12 lighthouses on the Oregon coast. We were able to see five of them and we got to go inside three of them. This is the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It is south of Newport and north of Florence. After Heceta Head, we drove down the coast to Florence, OR. We had lunch at the Hot Rod Grill. This was one of the booths. It was a really fun place. After we left the diner, Steph and I did some shopping in "Old Town Florence." Some super fun shops. Ches and Clark did some geocaching. We all were happy.

When we were headed back to Newport we stopped at the Sea Lion Cave. Alas, there were no sea lions in the cave. They were all out in the ocean.

This is a privately owned lighthouse you can only see from the highway.

As a remembrance-of-our-trip gift, I made pillowcases for each of us. I looked in Vernal and couldn't find any fabric that touched me. When I was in JoAnn's fabrics in Provo this piece was perfect. The sentiments expressed were just right for our trip. We spent one day at the Aquarium in Newport. It is a world class facility. We got there just in time for the Albino Burmese Python/Boa (I don't remember) petting time. Steph marched right up and then she talked me into trying. Thank you to Mick, he is often saying "I can do hard things." I kept telling myself that as I reached tentative fingers forward. It really did have a different feel than I expected. It was more dry, but yet not scaley. Clark took about 25 rapid shot photos. I think he wanted sufficient proof I really did it. We were lucky to escape with our lives! There was a little bubble inside the piranha tank. Clark took a turn "swimming with the man eaters". One of the tide pools at the aquarium. I never knew star fish, officially known as sea stars, came in so many colors or sizes. Clark had to crawl through the alligator habitat tunnel. This was a very brightly colored shopping center near the aquarium. We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not (I can't believe I wasted money on that) and the Wax Museum next door. Clark took his turn at the microphone and I tickled the ivories.

I have my name in lights. Well, at least on a roadside sign. We spent one day in the Tillamook, OR, area. A brother of one of Ches's friends works at the cheese factory so we got a personalized tour. Cheese was tasty, but the ice cream was super tasty. While in Tillamook we visited the air museum. I took photos of lots of the planes, but my favorite war bird has always been the Corsair. Some of you may remember the TV show, Black Sheep Squadron. This plane was the "star" of that show. This is the Cape Meares lighthouse. When you are walking down the path from the parking lot to the lighthouse you can see the beautiful light portion and you anticipate seeing the wonderful building. Then when you get there, some disappointment sets in. It is not very tall. It was not open to the public. This is an incredible tree called the Octopus Tree. It is huge. This is the Yaquina Head lighthouse just north of Newport. We took a tour of it. They had a fun older guy dressed in period costume leading a discussion about the lighthouse. This is about the most we saw of the whales. BUT we did see this many times. I was hoping to see something like Sea World. Naw, these gray whales are not very show offy. You will see a spray/spout and then if you are looking close, you might see the tail/fluke. It was a great treat. We had wanted to see some whales and were even ready to pay for a whale watching expedition. Instead we were treated to this at several different locations on this day. We had plenty of pancakes left over from breakfast on Thursday, the only sunny day of the whole trip, and we took them down to the beach. Clark drew quite a following. He even had them catching the morsels in mid air. I had made quite a deal out of the fact that I would have my feet in both the Atlantic and Pacific within a month. Little did I know how frigidly cold the Pacific would be. Our feet were numb in short order. Clark took his promise a little more seriously. He was wet up to his chest -- and shivering like crazy. He was ready to get back to the house and the hot tub.

Also included in our Ripley's/Wax Ticket was the Undersea Gardens. It was an aquarium that had a diver put on a show. It was by far the best of the three.This is the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. It is on the south end of the city of Newport. The house was pretty roomy for the lightkeepers family. It was only in use a short time. Stephanie got her turn to be famous also. At the end of the trip it appeared that our luggage had multiplied. Clark was wondering how we would fit it all in. But being the packer extraordinaire that he is, he did it and still had room for the four of us. It was a super vacation. The country was just beautiful. But the best part was visiting with Ches and Steph. We both moved to Midland, TX, the same weekend in May of 1977 and have maintained a long distance friendship. Thanks, Steph, for putting this whole thing together. Love you.