Day 50 and 51: Around Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon Coast

After a good breakfast, we leave Marvin and Grace, and drive toward Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast. The sun was bright and the sky was clear when we leave McMinnville, but as soon as we are on the other side of the Coastal Range, it gets cloudy, even very cloudy, and the temperature drops down. But we are on the Oregon Coast! And the whole coast is part of the public domain, as some farsighted people decided a long time ago. A great decision!

 

Our first stop is at Cape Foulweather, under a thick crowd of clouds. This cape was the first sight to be seen and named by Captain James Cook in the Northwest. We then go down the Cape to Agate Beach, covered with tiny dunes. Unfortunately, no agate is to be found. On the way out of the beach, we meet this couple searching for the dock from Japan. And we learn that on June 5^th of 2012, a large dock section washed up on Agate Beach, a large piece of debris from the Japanese Tsunami. Well, it’s gone.

 

Another stop at Lost Creep SP. While Red studies, Yellow walks along the shore on the rocky beach, looking for precious rocks. It doesn’t seem to be that easy to find those agates and other stones. But it’s great to be looking at the Pacific Ocean.

 

We stop at MacDonald’s in Newport, OR, to take advantage of their free wifi again, from inside the RV. And we settle in at Beverly Beach SP campground. Red continues her studies while Yellow cooks a Greek-style quinoa salad for the next lunches, and some sautéed potatoes and chicken, that we eat for dinner with a green salad and a Pyramid Hefeweizen beer.

The next day, despite the mist and the chill, we ride our bikes, first to Devil’s Punch Bowl SP. We get on our bike pretty early, as we have to be visiting the area while the tide is at its lowest point. The Punch Bowl is a huge bowl, with an opening through which the oceanic waves come crashing inside.

 

Then we bike to Yaquina Head Outstanding Area, still through the mist.

 

 

 

We first stop at Cobble Beach, which is a magnificent cobble stone beach, surrounded by awesome tide pools. Starfish, sea anemones and purple urchins are populating those pools.

 

 

Seals and pelicans are hanging out on the rocks a little bit farther from the shore, and on the horizon, we can see the whales breathing and barely getting out of the water.

 

 

We visit the lighthouse, which doesn’t look that high from outside, but walking to the top is not the easiest thing to do for somebody that has fear of heights.

 

 

This lighthouse was built in the 1870’s, and still uses its original 1868 French-made fixed Fresnel lens. Walking around the lighthouse, we can see again a lot of whales around.

 

And it’s in the chill that we bike back to our campsite, after a 12 mile ride. We eat lunch with a hot tea to warm ourselves, and Red returns to her books and online studies. Yellow plans the next days and takes a walk on Beverly Beach, still looking for some interesting stones under the chilly mist. He finally finds some shell fossils, but no agate. May be tomorrow…