Sunday - north to Newport

Peach cobbler bubbling in the oven, fresh Chinook Salmon on the grill, the roar of the wild Pacific ocean in the background.......

I lie.

 At least about the first two fantasies.  I AM listening to the roar of the waves crashing, but the peaches are still on the counter, not yet transformed into a cobbler and we just finished eating a pizza from 1285 Restobar.  Other things intervened.

This morning I had the best plans to experience all three, but then we decided to take the dogs and drive north on 101 to Newport.  I'll always take a drive, especially along the ocean, so after lunch we set off.  The day was clear, cool, and - you guessed it, windy. It was such a beautiful drive up into the mountains with the ever present ocean crashing on the rocks off to our left.

many vista points along the way with stunning views every way you turn

This is called Seal Rock and we could hear them....

Dave looks for them

Lewis and Sasha hear them too!

Finally we saw a few seals swimming at the base of the rocks, but I couldn't get a good picture of them.  I had to be satisfied just watching them swim, dive and surface in the pounding surf.

Don't hate me, I can't remember the name of this lighthouse, there are so many!

We arrived in Newport, crossing the huge bridge over Yaquina bay.  We drove around the area a bit, and found ourselves in the port area, full of commercial fishing boats and processing plants.  One side of the street was replete with the usual tourist traps and tee shirt stores, the other was a busy working pier area with fork lifts whizzing around and men in tall rubber boots hosing out loading docks.  The smell of fish was strong.   Interesting contrast.   Just across the bay, behind the fishing fleet, was NOAA's pacific northwest headquarters, and a large Coast Guard station.  Lots of moving parts for us to watch.

two seals on the rock jetty, enjoying the sun and a busy cormorant fishing in the background
Finally, all that barking lead us to a sighting!

Heceta Head
I love the way the waves wash in at low tide here, they look like the lace border on  beautiful blue dress

low tide view of the lower sand dunes on our way back down toward Florence

close up of the above dunes.
So interesting to think that tomorrow the patterns in the sand  may be totally different

So, after a very busy driving day, we (I) just weren't up to peeling peaches and making a cobbler, or buying some lovely salmon and getting the grill out to prepare it.   Perhaps tomorrow.