After baseball on Wednesday, we hit the road and drove to Russ and Julie's. We had a lovely visit and on Thursday headed toward the coast. We arrived in Newport in time for lunch at Mo's, followed by a walk along the docks and seeing the noisy (& stinky) seal lions. Then, it was off to Hatfield Marine Science Center for some touch tank time.
Our little marine biologist was very gentle with the sea creatures and did not repeat his performance of falling in like last summer.
Shannon brought Mitch over to the albatross display and "taught" him about the dangers of ingesting plastics. She was very taken by it all.
Afterward, we went to Coast Park. Mitch remembered this slide from our trip 4 years ago and was desperate to visit again. It was a huge success with both of them!
Shannon loved to spin...
She couldn't get enough of it! Then we were able to check in to our hotel where the kids donned suits and we went to the beach.
The raced through the waves and Shannon managed to land face first. We walked back up the hill and enjoyed time in the hotel pool - saline, not chlorine! - while poor BJ soaked his back and neck in the hot tub.
Then we had dinner on the balcony
before a pre-bedtime beach stroll.
The sun set on our first day and we were happy to curl up by the fireplace and enjoy our night's rest.
Friday morning we headed to Cobble Beach, arriving just before the tide covered the pools. We saw great crashing waves and harbor seals on the rocks.
Then we walked around Yaquina Head lighthouse. The whales were migrating off the coast and others saw their spouts, but alas, no cries of "thar she blows" came from our crew.
Then, at Mitchell's urging, we walked up the hill behind the lighthouse to admire the view.
When we reached the top, the sun came out and we were rewarded with panoramic sights.
The descent was punctuated with shouts of "Walk!" as the kids raced (literally) to the bottom.
We headed to Agate Beach next to take advantage of the sun.
The kids played in the sand and we lounged on a beach log in the sun.
Shannon was overjoyed to fly her new mariposa kite. She twirled and danced on the sand, as the kite dipped and bobbed above her, singing to herself all the while.
Mitch and his dad completed the castle and then we went back to Nye Beach and had lunch at a streetside cafe, followed by the requisite ice cream cones.
Our final outing of the day was to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I was taken aback by the Green Moray Eel. It was huge (thigh-thick!) and way too snaky.
We loved watching the seals and seal lions swim around, and then saw them get fed and do some antics for their handlers.
They thought this fish liked them!
The shark tunnel was awesome. See the big 7 Gill Shark above BJ? There were lots of them. Apparently kids can have sleepovers in that tunnel. Oh the nightmares!
Shark bait!
We capped off the evening with a walk to dinner, a sunset snuggle,
and an impromptu visit with Allysa!
Then the kids said farewell to the sea from our balcony before heading to bed.
Saturday we got up and hit the road, making it to Wilsonville to see Quin pitch for L-C State and then enjoying a scenic trip down the Gorge. We stopped at Vista House outside Corbett. The kids were more interested in a man's drone than the view!
This may have been our family's farewell tour of the Oregon Coast...and we enjoyed ourselves mightily! If only the homework elves had come by and corrected papers in my absence!
