Seaside adventures

My Mom and sister and nephew came to visit last weekend. Big adventure! It was great fun. On the first day, we went into the Gorge and hiked partway up Multnomah Falls, then checked out the scenic gorge highway on the way home. The next day, we drove down the Oregon coast- starting with the tidepools at Indian Point beach. It's always exciting to be able to see wildlife so up-close: starfish, anemones, crabs, sponges, snails, mussels, barnacles and limpets, even a few little fish, right there at arm's length. Jacob was just beside himself, but I think Mom and Lisa were almost as excited.

From there, we headed south down US hwy 101 to Newport (Agate beach, to be more specific), where we stayed the night after playing a bit on Agate beach, and checking out the sea lions and waterfront in Newport. The sea lions like to hang out below one of the piers on some old wooden platforms, much like the ones at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Jacob had never seen them so close, so that was pretty exciting too. The next morning, we checked out the Yaquina Head Lighthouse visitor center, where Jacob became a Junior Ranger by passing a test about the lighthouse and the area. Go Jacob! The lighthouse itself wasn't open yet, so we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium (also in Newport) for a while- it's a really spectacular aquarium, not huge but very very diverse and really well-designed. Inside, there are great marine and tidepool displays; outside, you walk among piles of rocks and native plants (much like a tidepool area) to find a large aviary with Murres and Puffins and other seabirds, nice sea otter and seal enclosures, and a great octopus hideaway (they're shy, but it's set up to accommodate both their shyness, and our desire to see them) among others. Nice bonus for us nature geeks: almost all of the plants are labeled, so you can identify what it is you're seeing. It's almost a nature walk.

From there, we went back to the lighthouse. Outside, we saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree nearby, as well as hundreds (thousands?) of other smaller seabirds (puffins, murres, gulls, etc), and either sea lions or harbor seals on the surrounding rocks. Jacob and Philip and I climbed to the top of the lighthouse while Lisa and Mom watched the birds and seals below.

We were all hoping for clear skies, but it was not to be. Lisa and Jacob really wanted to see Mts Hood and St. Helens, but we only got a glimpse of St Helens on the first day. The day after we got back from the beach though, we headed up toward St. Helens to see if maybe we could catch a glimpse. We drove toward Johnston Ridge Observatory, but stopped just below the clouds at another smaller observatory. From there we could see up the Toutle river valley toward the mountain, but not the mountain itself, though we did see a mind-blowing video of the eruption in the visitor center. Outside the center, I saw a couple of hummingbirds before Jacob spotted a herd of elk in the valley below. Good eye, Jacob! We stopped to get a picture of a bridge on the way home, and Jacob and I walked down a little path into the woods, just to see what was there, and stumbled across a rotting elk carcass (cool!). Jacob, unable to contain himself, ran off to show his Mom (Lisa), who wasn't quite as impressed. I think Phil wanted to take the skull or something, but it was still pretty smelly- some of the skin was still attached to the ribs. Unfortunately, no antlers.

It was a great weekend.

In 1986 a freak wind in the Hami oasis, western China, sucked up 13 schoolchildren and deposited them unharmed in sand dunes and scrub 12 miles away. They were found two days later, suffering only from scratches caused by the swirling sands.