Monday, June 11 - TT Whalers Rest, South Beach, OR 97366

Yay, wake to sunshine today! This is more like it and it should get to a high of 18C.

We are ready at 10am when we are collected at our door and taken on another day out.  First stop is the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse - the earliest aid to navigation and the site of the first recorded landfall by Captain James Cook on March 7, 1778.  Unfortunately the lighthouse doesn’t open until noon so we make do with photos of the outside.  It is also a nice spot to get good photos of the Yaquina Bridge, the link from Newport south.

Yaquina Bridge

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

The Oregon Oyster Farm is also on the list of sight seeing ventures we are enjoying today.  Kim does the tasting for us, and he gets to try four types, from huge Pacific Oysters, smaller ones, then the Kumomoto’s (all from the river) and then the tiny 4 year old natural (unfarmed) ones from the sea.  I think I have that all in the right order.  However, the connoisseur still proclaims Bluff as the best in the world, could he be a tad biased perhaps?

Go on, slip it down!!

Then we get a carpark right in the middle of the old Port town which we drove thru yesterday but today we get a chance to walk around the little village.  Kim is drawn in to the 2 Kids Candy Store where he buys a pound of assorted saltwater taffy, just to try it you know, but I am agog at the 2lb Giant Gummy Bears, how would one go about eating one of those?

2lb Gummy Bears for $29.95 in any flavour you like! That would stick your teeth together!

Near the Under Sea Gardens, male California Sea Lions have commandeered the docks to soak up the rays (sun not sting), others are swimming around in the calm sea.  They were easy to find, just follow the barking!  The sheila Sea Lions wisely stay south in California year round where it is warmer and the shopping is better. The males visit them during the summer months, who knows for what purpose!!

A fishing boat has come in to the pier and they are filleting the fresh fish ready for the buyers who are patiently queuing.  It's impressive, I wish my filleting knife was as sharp as that - they whisk those fillets off the bone like butter and the skin departs just as fast.

After another lovely day out seeing the sights and this time in the sun which makes it even more of a day to be treasured, we are dropped off at home with a plan to meet up back at L&L for HH and dinner.  So in the meantime we wander down to see what the beach looks like up close and personal.  It is expansive, goes for miles and miles and in the distance the wind is whipping up the sea spray, misting the horizon.  There is a couple of hardy souls who have barricaded themselves behind  a temporary driftwood shelter sunbathing, but man that wind is cold, it feels like it is coming straight from the North Pole.

This would be a perfect BloKarting beach!  Note the blue sky : )

It’s my birthday in NZ today even though I have to wait until tomorrow here, but that is no reason we can’t celebrate now.  Lois has made us her famous hamburger soup, she made it for us last year too and it is every bit as good as we remember.  Thank you, you guys are a delight!