Oregon Vacation 2013 Day 8.

This is not the last post about our Oregon trip....but this was our last official full day of our fabulous Oregon vacation. And it was a great one!! We started the day with Shari's homemade waffles with blueberries, and scrambled eggs. Jones family request. Thanks Shari!!

We got ready for the day and headed towards Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It's just so amazing in every single direction no matter where you are along that Oregon coast!! I cannot get enough of it!

 

Darin and Logan took this shot from the top of a huge hiking hill they decided to climb spur of the moment. 

We love the sea life here as much as the lighthouse. The seals are always fun to watch and you can hear the thousands of birds on the huge rocks as soon as you get out of the car. 

After the lighthouse we headed to the beach. We spent a big part of the day at the beach just north around the cliffs from The Devil's Punch Bowl. Not sure what the beach is officially called. But it is amazing. It's where all the surfers are and more people are on the beach because the cove is protected from the never-ending winds. These rocks will be long gone under the tide before we leave this beach. FYI-The tiny dark people walking along the beach on the left are Shari and Larry. They didn't go much further because they said beyond the cove it's so windy it's like a totally different place. That's the Oregon coast. In fact, here at the beach it was between 55-60 degrees most of the time we were here. And an hour away at Darin's conference in Salem, it was 90 degrees. When Shari was driving here, she started to get worried because I had told them to bring warmer clothes and they were only 60 minutes away....and it was HOT. I told her just trust me....and sure enough, every mile they got closer, their thermometer dropped. So this day at this protected beach was pretty much the heat wave of the trip.

 

 

Darin and Logan had rented boogie boards and a wet suit for Logan, the night before. They were out in the waves forever, with the other surfers and body surfers. It stays really shallow when you go straight out where the surfers are.

After a long time I saw them paddling for area of the cove furthest out in the water. I thought it was weird that they were going over there and just watched them. They finally made their way back to the beach along the rocks. I guess when they were out surfing, Logan had drifted north beyond the shallow area. When Darin told him to come back, he couldn't touch and he couldn't get back no matter how hard he paddled. Darin went to get him and before he knew it they were both caught in a fast moving current headed out to sea. A riptide. They could not go back to where the surfers were. So they had to try to get to the rocks. They paddled hard and Darin had to get a little serious with Logan to make him paddle harder than he thought he could. They made it! Very scary!! Had they not made it, they would have gone right out and around the corner to the open sea and the Devil's Punch Bowl. Yikes! Logan wasn't quite himself the rest of the time at the beach. I think it may have actually scared him!

 

 

As we were driving back from the beach, I had my eye out for whale-watching boats. And sure enough, we spotted three boats all in one area just past Depoe Bay. We pulled into a Worldmark resort parking lot and ran to the cliff. There she blows!! It was the same whale over and over. It was HUGE! Maybe one of the biggest I've seen. And do you think we have a single darn good picture of the thing?! NO! It's just really hard to watch the amazing thing, wait for it, have the camera ready and capture it while it's out of the water....and not miss it all at the same time. Sigh. That whale surfaced a bunch of times. When it went too far north we hopped back in the car and followed it to the Boiler bay lookout. And holy smokes!!! I go a little crazy when I see whales. I like them. A lot!! At one point it came out of the water so close and so huge that I was freaking out! I was running towards the outer end of the cliff and a group of people were walking towards me. I was like, "Are you serious? You people are missing a serious whale show!!" They had no idea and turned around. Not sure if they were watching me or the whale...either way I'm sure it was entertaining. That's why Darin missed it all....he thought it was more hilarious to film me hyperventilating about the whale! We were closer to that whale than the boats....and we didn't even pay to see it!! Wahoo!

At home we all did a bit of unwinding, packing, vegging, eating, relaxing on the perfect porch, etc. Shari and Larry went kite flying and lost their kite after it was about a mile in the air.
And then....no brainer......back down to our beach for one last evening stroll. Darin and Logan tossed the football. Ellie stuffed her pockets with shells and treasures and was usually off on her own at the edge of the water. I just tried to seer the moment into my being....permanently. The breeze. The waves. The smell. The perfection. I will be back. I will always be back!!