Down the Coast I: Fun in Perpetua, and More!

Amazing last few days! Perfect weather, good food, great hiking... beautiful.

Started out in a yurt at South Beach State Park, in Newport, Oregon.

Like camping, but without putting up a tent (and it's heated)—not bad at all!



Next morning had maybe the best meal of the trip: breakfast at the Coffee House in Newport. Very good crab cakes benedict, and delicious fried oysters, from right there in Yaquina Bay.



Boats in Yaquina Bay

Speaking of geographic features, here's a map of the spots on this first post:

View Down the Coast I in a larger map

As you can see, our next stop was the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area.

Did a great hike, and made a new friend:




Hike ended at some tide pools, where some helpful rangers showed us some of the sea-life.

They even encouraged us to touch—turns out sea anemone stingers are sticky, and fast!



Cool shelter back on top of the Cape, built by CCC crews and still in pretty good shape:




Nearby, a view of some sea lions:


Stopped for lunch in Florence, where we saw one of the many cool art-deco-meets-Egyptian-ish bridges on Highway 101.

Designed by Conde McCullough.

Also did a quick walk through the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.


Interesting scenery, though I imagine that we'll always remember it for other reasons. Nothing major, but it was the site of the trip's only real mishap...

And then we hit California, and almost as soon as we crossed the border we were surrounded by opportunities to walk right up to trees like these:

In Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.

Absolutely amazing.

More to come!