Another Long One

We woke up running today... we were out the door by 8AM, went to the Yaquina Beach Park and walked around looking at shells, bull kelp, rockweed, crab shells and seagulls until 9:45. We then headed straight to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for a DELIGHTFUL three hour tour. It was a beautifully laid out aquarium, with a couple great walk through tanks, and a couple giant spider crabs (but smaller than the ones I saw in Shanghai). The seal feeding was cool too.

Without a break, we headed down the street a couple blocks to the Hatfield Marine Science Center. It's run by Oregon State University, and although it was small, it was fun... they had lots of skeletons, and lots of small tanks... and a great gift store!

Afterwards we got back on Hwy 101, and took off, heading to the Sea Lion Cave, about 35 miles south of Newport. The highway is on the coast the entire time, and we had a lovely time on each curve. The cave itself is below a 280 foot elevator shaft in the solid rock. It was loud with the lion's barking and the waves crashing. They were piled up on the rocks, climbing over each other. Even though it smelled rather stagnant with sea lion smells, I had a great time! They claim that it is the world's largest sea cave. Huh! They had great views of the ocean too!

And everywhere we visited, they had souvenir patches! Yey!

When we got back to Newport, around 5:30, we stopped off at the "Newport Cafe", and I had a toasted, tasty grilled chicken breast sandwich (with avocado) and a bowl of clam chowder. The cafe is a block away from our hotel, so we're probably going to visit it again for breakfast!

Right now, we're back at the hotel... although today it was marvelously sunny out, we are listening to the rain pound on the roof. Glad we're back! We're gonna watch Miss Potter! My artist friend has never seen it before! Will probably show up later tonight!

Jp