The Kroekers

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Our fabulous Oregon vacation continues...


A few nights into our stay in Lincoln City, we realized that fires on the beach at night was allowed, so one night we had a marshmallow roast. It was a really warm night with no wind, so the conditions were perfect. What an awesome experience!!








About a 10 minute walk south along the beach from our condo...




...was a narrow inlet into a bay. On one side was a jetty that the seals, sea lions and pelicans would love to sun themselves on. On the days that the surf was a more rough, we would see seals and sea lions swimming a few feet from the beach, popping their heads out of the water, looking for their safe beach.
On the bay was a little, historical town called "Taft". It is officially part of Lincoln City, but used to be its own town. We found this restaurant called "Mo's" that serves world-famous clam chowder. Unfortunately I am not a true blogger like my sister-in-law, or I would have pics of our food now! But you will just have to trust me, the clam chowder was like nothing I have ever tasted!!

More random beautiful sunset/beach shots.

The fog made for some stunning views.



About 20 minutes south of Lincoln City is the town of Newport. Of course we had to stop at a lookout on the way and take some more beautiful coast pictures. And yes, the weather was this good the entire time we were there. Even the locals couldn't believe how warm it was!!

Just before Newport was this lighthouse call "Yaquina Head". We stood in the line-up (one of only 2 line-ups that we stood in the entire 10 days...the other one was at Mo's), and went up these 150+ stairs to the top. Gabi was absolutely terrified, but the rest of us enjoyed the experience.

We then went into Newport and found the historic waterfront. The first picture is of the bridge that was built in the 1930's. We found out that it cost $1 million to build at the time. Apparantly it was recently repainted for a whopping $8 million! How times have changed. The second is a pic of my beautiful children. So relaxed and having such a great time!!
As we were exploring the waterfront stores, we heard the barking of sea lions. Following the sound, we found this warf covered with sea lions sunning themselves. The story, we found out, was that this used to be a warf for boats to tie up to until the sea lions claimed it for themselves, and destroyed in because of their weight. It was decided to just leave what was left as a tourist attraction.
This rock was also covered with seals and sea lions.


This boat is called "The Rocket". We decided to bite the bullet and go on it. We wore survival suits that the Coast Guard wears. The captain took us out on open ocean for an hour... he made sure that we hit huge waves and got soaked, going 45 miles an hour. It was the most fun we have ever had, and worth every penny!!


Saturday, August 25, 2007

Beautiful Sunsets










The Oregon Coast

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the coast. Our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I should have taken more pictures.... it was interesting, but the best part was the fabulous ice cream!



About an hour and a half later we arrived at our condo in Lincoln City, and saw THIS from the balcony!!

I never got tired of the view.


This was our condo complex from the beach.


More pictures of the beach in front of our condo...


There was this neat group of rocks that we loved to explore whenever the tide went out.



Portland continued...

While we were exploring Portland on their amazing transit system (we took the streetcar and the MAX train), we found this tram.


At the top was a brand new hospital.

We got an beautiful view of the city too.