Bend, OR

Florence seems to be my own central point of my coastal trips as it is always the 1st coastal town I come to. Maybe because Florence is the central location for Hwy 101 on the Oregon coast. I go to Florence mainly for 3 reasons, to travel to other destinations on 101, to visit the casino once a year and to hit the sand as often as possible as Florence has probably the biggest area of dunes in which to play on as well as long beaches in which to walk or ride horses.

The OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center gives a different meaning to dealing with science. The center has a different approach to help visitors better understand the why’s of the actions that are taken when it comes to marine science. The way the different sciences are explained and shown are easy to understand, even for the younger children. While most children would not understand the complexity of sciences the Marine center has interactive displays with easy to understand interpretive signs

Down on the bay front of Old Newport are the docks which house mainly commercial fishing vessels. These vessels are what bring the fresh seafood to Newport. During the day, wandering among these ships, which seem bigger than life due to its size is one thing but at night it is a totally different world and atmosphere. I found this out quite by accident. While in town I chose to have dinner on the bay front and when I was done I wasn’t ready to move on down the coast to my next destination and so I wandered and somehow or another I wandered among the docks, past these ships that seemed so quiet when just an hour before they were full of life.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, contrary to popular consensus, always seems to be one of my favorite lighthouses so far as it is the only lighthouse that has ever had a family living in it. Also the display of intricate artwork and the well kept furnishings actually made me feel as if I was back in [...]

The Natural Outstanding Area is part of the Yaquina Head lighthouse, not to be confused with the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. The construction of Yaquina Head ultimately shut down Yaquina Bays lighthouse and the owners of the Yaquina Bay then moved back to Cape Cod. Yaquina Head’s lighthouse sits a mile out to see on a rugged headland and is purported to be the tallest lighthouse in Oregon.

Remember when Ripley’s Believe it or Not used to be on TV all the time and for some of us we’d watch each episode with comments like OMG! & no way, how cool or I didn’t know that? Well somewhere between then and now the show has disappointingly disappeared as it was rich with real historical & amazing facts.

During my recent visit to the coast, the UnderseaGardens was on my list of places to visit, simply because I had never been there. The gardens are a much smaller version of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and takes maybe 45 minutes to go through their complete set of exhibits but it had a couple of unique things that I haven’t seen anywhere else which also set them apart.

Across the way from Cooks Chasm is the Heceta Head lighthouse. The lighthouse some of you may remember, was in the middle of a controversial subject of demolition not to long back. So far Heceta, built in 1894 still stands and still shines as one of the Oregon Coasts brightest and farthest reaching lights out upon the sea.

Enter in through the gift shop, make your way along the path that sits above the coastline and provides for a magnificent view and ends at the elevator that will take you down into the ocean’s cavern, 200′ below. The path also has whale watching viewers and the whales are there and they are huge!

Unbeknown to many, Cooks Chasm is actually considered a bay. This is despite the fact that it looks totally like the part of the ocean. Resting at the base of the Cummins Creek Wilderness, Cooks is one of those amazing sites. The difference between high and low tides totally changes the look and accessibility of different parts of the chasm. At high tide you get a wonderful display of the surging ocean that pounds against the walls of this chasm as well as forces the ocean into a blow hole to give the show of the spouting horn, likened to a minature geyser.