Beluga's excellent adventure

Astoria, Newport and Florence.....we've had a lovely time in each of these places, but the time has come to leave the coast and move inland....sigh. I love the place we are and hate to leave but, I can't wait to see what's next!

I made one omission from the last post, I wanted to show you the beautiful bracelet that our friend, Cara, made for me. She creates and sells these beautiful pieces through her company, MANA253. I took no pictures of us at our lunch in Olympia and I was surprised by her thoughtful gift.

OK, back to Astoria. We had a nice, private site with sweet green views at Lewis and Clark RV and Golf Course.

We had great weather. Misty, cool temps. in the morning gave way to beautiful sunny skies for the rest of the day. We always gravitate to the water, so we spent more than a few days on the ocean and river beaches. We watched local fishing boats, ocean going cargo ships, locals fishing from the shore and terns, pelicans, Murre and sea lions plying the waters in front of us. I put an app on my phone that shows us the names and information about every ship we see, fun!

just the way I like it!

beaching is tiring.....

opening day of some sort of salmon fishing, I can't keep them straight.....

white pelicans

sea gull parking lot

lots of tiny jellies on the Columbia River beach

We did some exploring in the low inland mountains, searching for an Elk feeding station. We did find it, sans elk, but we had lunch under a beautiful old tree and enjoyed the day anyway.

pretty off road track

fox glove everywhere

You know we ate plenty of fresh seafood, in great restaurants and in the front seat of the Jeep! Oh, and those Oregon Pinot Noirs!

Salmon and Cioppino at Bridgewater Grill

oh Dave...

Bow picker Tuna fish and chips Mmmmmm

Bow Picker's fish is good enough to stand in this long, long line!

it's not all about seafood ya know....

We walked around the town, strolled through the quirky Saturday Market and made a couple purchases at the "oldest family run shoe store west of the Mississippi"!

weeping pine?

Bubbles!

After a few weeks in Astoria, we moved about 100 miles inland to another favorite stop, McMinnville. Last year we were lucky enough to be there during their wonderful international airshow, but the entire town was fully booked this year, so we visited a few wineries and made reservations for next year's show.

Back to the coast and a new to us spot, Newport. We'd driven through the area many times but had never stopped to check it out so..... I evidently picked a very high end "Motorcoach Resort" right above the beach. Pacific Shores is a private ownership resort filled with Prevost, Newmar, Country Coach, every Tiffin model ever made, etc. and more Jeeps than I've ever seen in one place (except a dealership), and little old Beluga! The sites were lovely and large, and the park's location was great. As per our usual pattern, we explored the area, beached and ate!

pretty precarious fishing spot, but he got one!

The weather wasn't stellar. Our entire stay it was misty and cool. When the ever-present marine layer would pull back a bit we'd get glimpses of spectacular scenery.

More often than not though, this is what we saw.....

where are you going without me?

We did manage a few beach "walks" with Taos, just below the RV Resort.

Of course, on our last afternoon the sun broke through, and we discovered a beautiful lighthouse high on mountainous sand dune (Yaquina Head Lighthouse) just a few minutes away! Ah well, something to check out more the next time!