ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Because of our scoot trip yesterday up the coast, we had to retrace the route in the rig on Wednesday as far as Cape Perpetua.  After that we just took in the sights, picking out houses we would settle for,

pulling over for out-of-nowhere tailgating log trucks,

Pavloving our way to fearsome-sounding attractions

that turn out to be in pussycat mode.

So we abandoned the natural scene, made our way to Newport, and the

The RV parking was in outer Siberia, but we dutifully parked there instead of in the nearly deserted auto lot.  We had our doubts about a “minor” aquarium after the disappointment we had at Charleston last June, but they were entirely misplaced.  This indeed is a gem, mostly because they concentrate on things other aquariums don’t, especially invertebrates.  Their displays of these were excellent.  Highly recommended.

We spent the night in Newport at the Harbor Village RV “resort,” mainly because it was located right downtown by the docks and old town.  Other than that, it was only ok, and a bit pricy for what you get at $30. The wifi was useless; we couldn’t get online from our site.  The bathrooms had incredibly cheap doorknob locks that simply wouldn’t unlock without five minutes of jimmying in and out.  We took a stroll at 5:00 into town, foolishly leaving the camera behind.  We hadn’t gone a few hundred yards when we began to hear a lot of barking.  Sea lions, not dogs.  We continued along the harbor (hundreds of docked boats) and got into the old town area, which is right on the water.  The barking got louder and louder and finally we found them.  Hundreds of sea lions perched on a rock jetty basking in the setting sun.  I’m telling you, the colors and the scene were gorgeous, and our camera is a mile away in the rig.  Augh!  ALWAYS take your camera, dummy.  A bunch more sea lions were right under the wharf we were standing on, lying on floating docks in huddled masses, sleeping, grunting, bellowing when one of them moved around.  Quite a sight and sound.  Now we know where all the alleged Sea Lion Cave dwellers were hanging out.

We pulled out Thursday morning in a drizzle, which kept up most of the day and got nastier when the wind came up along the coast.  First stop was

Our weather luck got a bonus when we got inside the lighthouse and found ourselves at the back of a line of 56 schoolkids on an outing.  You can only get so many at a time up the spiral staircase, so we had a bit of a wait before getting a sighting of the century-old keeper ghost.  Ooooh.  Spooky.

OK, so it’s hard to get excited in your umpteenth lighthouse.  But it was neat to get a shot of the light as it was going off.  It’s surprising that such a small source can be magnified and concentrated to be seen twenty miles at sea.  That’s the power of the Fresnel lens (all those ribs you see below), invented and built in the 1800’s and still in use today.

Back outside for the slosh back to the rig off in the distance

 

and a final look back at the Yaquina scene.

A bit further up the coast is another of those dread-sounding features, this time the Devil’s Punchbowl.  They seem to do an awful lot of honoring of Satan in these parts.  Anyway, again a great name, but the reality at this point in time was pretty tame.  It’s an interesting formation, but nothing much was going on.  The water is supposed to surge through the small opening you can see at the center, and explode up around the bowl, but not today.

 However, this stop DID have other advantages.

No, we didn’t partake, despite my quest for the ultimate butterfat.  The rain may have stopped, but it still was windy and cold.  It called for something other than ice cream.  Our wishes were answered.

This is the third outpost of Mo’s that we have encountered.  The original, large restaurant is in Newport, but we didn’t stop in there.  But that promise of “world famous” clam chowder was irresistible now.  Mo was a brassy woman who ran the original place for about 40 years.  It’s still in family hands, and they didn’t disappoint.  I’m a sucker for sourdough bread, and this was some of the best I’ve had.  The chowder was pretty darn good, too.  That IS the remnants of a pat of butter that is swirling in my “bowl,” and hot cider in the background.  Just what the doctor ordered.  Well, maybe not my cardiologist.

Our goal for the night was Tillamook, but we pulled off for one more viewpoint.  Unfortunately, it appears that sightseeing there, along with everything else, is illegal.  Are we having fun yet?