Pacific Exploration Further South

The weather on Friday was supposed to be spectacular, so we set out on an adventure.  This was our sea by our caravan as we pulled out that day.  

It was a high tide, the waves were breaking right near the sea wall.

This is the view looking south.

Earlier before we left I had seen a group of seals out in the water so I zoomed in and saw them with their flippers sticking up, I googled it and apparently they sleep while floating in a group and stick their flippers up.. funny, huh?

We stopped at Georgies Grill for lunch and Dayle had a Dungeness crab wedge salad.

I had halibut fish and chips!

After lunch we drove around the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, look at that blue sky!

Then we snapped a photo of the Yaquina Bay Bridge which we would soon be driving over to head south.  

Years ago we'd found this little beach access and walked down on the beach and saw people with bags of agates.. we began looking and we ourselves found a large collection of them!  Funny as we've checked each time we're here since and not one agate to be found.  It's so odd how that goes.  Dayle took Buddy for a nice beach walk but no agates were found.

I spied a fishing boat and zoomed in for a shot.

And then we hit the road south as I had wanted dearly to return to see the Heceta Head Lighthouse south of Waldport and North of Florence, Oregon.  We had never gone down to the park below it but we did this time!  There is a rocky beach and protected cove there and up on the hill is the beautiful lightkeeper's house.  The lighthouse is behind those trees on the left, someone needs to cut some of those darn trees down so you can see it from the park!  :-)

I think of the families that lived here over the years and hopefully had many happy times in this beautiful home.

People sure were enjoying the beach.

Dayle was wearing his Purple Heart cap and a man in the car parked next to us thanked him for his service and then they began sharing war stories.  I listened and enjoyed the view of the Pacific Ocean.

I walked down the sidewalk and saw this fun old VW "truck" that had a canvas cover of the pickup bed.  Have you ever seen one like this?

We then got back on highway 101 and as the road curved up the hill I pulled off at a viewpoint.. this was the moment I'd been waiting for.. an opportunity to capture images of the picturesque Heceta Head Lighthouse!  Do you see it?  This shot encompasses the whole scene.

A bit of zoom takes you closer so you can see the lighthouse and outbuildings.  I think this just may be the most picturesque of Oregon lighthouses!

There is a light that flashes on and off and I can't tell you how hard I tried to get a photo when it was bright.  :-)

  
The closest of all.. I was very pleased with the shots I got on my pocket sized Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS60.

We then drove on to visit Florence.. no photos there but we were amazed at how much growth of this town, it used to be small and sleepy with a fun old town on the Siuslaw River.  Funny story.. I googled "best restaurants in Florence" and told Dayle.. this is weird, all the places are Italian!".. then I realized I had googled Florence, Italy!  LOL!  Below is a photo of the Salal plants that are outside our caravan/trailer.  Salal berries were an important food source for the local native people.

We had a LONG drive that day and I kept an eagle eye on the sun as it was setting and we got "home" just in time to snap a few images of a fire-y sky.

See the bird in the sky?

Day is done.. gone the sun.. from the lake, from the hills, from the sky...

Saturday had some morning rain and more nice weather the rest of the day.. then we've had a few days of a lot of rain, but we still enjoy ourselves here.  My sister Denise drove down for a visit yesterday and we went out for dinner and some adventuring.  She spent the night in a hotel and is here now visiting with us.  Another lunch out together and then she heads home.  I hope your week will be wonderful.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)