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Sea Lions and Starfish: The Oregon Coast  

08/10/07 - Florence, OR

Our final day touring the gorgeous and never-ending coastlines of Washington and Oregon

(Shutterfly photo album - WA & OR coast)

Another day on the Oregon coast, and the sun is still shining!  If it took half of the day yesterday to hit our stride and find the coastal beauty that we seeked (suck?), today the majesty of the Pacific was on us from the start.  Even the inland portions of today's tourism was impressive, starting with the Munson Creek Waterfall just south of Tillamook.  At 319 feet, it's the tallest waterfall in the coastal range.  Somehow, we just don't seem to be getting bored with the waterfalls...

Gorgeous rocky-cliff coastline covered with redwood, sitka spruce and Douglas fir (like we know our trees all of a sudden).  Today we didn't feel like wasting our time eating, so we lunched quickly on delicious Subway brand sandwiches (Subway, eat fresh!) on an obstructed view bench in what would otherwise be picturesque Depoe Bay.

It's been a week or so since we were on the wildlife spotting beat, but our next couple of stops, Seal Rock and Strawberry Hill State Parks, are known for their ability to get close up to the sea lions and tide pools, and also see gray whales cavorting off shore.  Seal Rock was first, and seemed pretty cool until we stopped off at Strawberry Hill.  Having seen a few in the past couple of weeks, we didn't think that we'd ever be mesmerized by tide pools - but these were really cool.  There were dozens of sea lions hanging out on a nearby rock, but we were too taken with the tide pool creatures to pay them much mind.  Brightly colored sea stars (star fish), anemones, urchins, as well as stuff EVEN WE are unable to identify filled each of the large pools.  Luckily, we accidentally arrived at low tide to take advantage.  Still no sign of sea horses (or sea monkeys for that matter), but we were impressed all the same.

The next wildlife watching spot is most notable for being the only non-food/drink/lodging/gas expenditure on this trip that we spent money on - Sea Lion Caves.  We forked over our $9 each to descend in an elevator down into the cliff where the sea lions lounge and frolic in the largest sea cave in the world.  We had to do much imagining, however, since the sea lions apparently don't really go into the cave during the summer months.  There was one sea lion, probably sickly, that you could just make out.  Otherwise, you can go to their 'viewing platform' to see the rest of them hanging on some rocks outside the cave, several hundred feet away from the platform.  We got a much better show about 15 minutes earlier, where, 1/4 mile up the highway there was a roadside pullout which had a great view of a group of much more active sea lions playing in the surf and lounging on much closer rocks.  See if we spend any more money on tourist attractions!

As dusk was settling in, we quickly checked into the Ocean Breeze Motel in Florence before heading back out to get some last sightseeing in for the day.  Our innkeeper gave us the skinny on where to go  for the best scenic overlooks of the nearby Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  We're becoming quite the dune-o-philes, as this area is at least the fourth dunes area managed by the national parks service that we've visited.  Pretty coastal dunes here, reminding us much more of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore of Michigan than the White Sands dunes of New Mexico or Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The first 'official' scenic overlook was nice…and easy.  The innkeeper's secret overlook, however, involved a climb up about 80 feet of extremely steep, soft sand (as steep as a windblown pile of sand can get).  Your payoff?  40 mph winds relentlessly whip stinging sand at you in a full frontal attack to knock you off of the dune.  If you can open your eyes long enough, the view makes you feel very much like you're suddenly in the Sahara Desert in the middle of a sandstorm.  These dunes are popular with people who like to ride dirtbikes and 4-wheelers… while wearing goggles.

You might be thinking, "What a chock-full day!  Surely they must be heading to bed by now!".  But alas, we had one more important stop on this, our wildlife-watching day.  Just 20 miles south of the Ocean Breeze Motel in Florence is the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area, part of the Watchable Wildlife program.  It was well worth the drive.  There are no enclosures here; it's just been designated as a viewing area since elk are often seen here.  There were at least a dozen elk nearby.  The bulls (males), with their huge racks, were very close; grazing, drinking from a stream, and banging antlers, while the females stayed further back. It's just amazing to see these animals up so close!

Getting hungry, we headed back to Florence and stopped off at the Aztlan restaurant for some Mexican food.  Mediocre food, attentive but impersonal service, tacky décor… it was just like we were back in some of the touristy restaurants of Mexico - muy auténtico. 

Another very busy but extremely satisfying day, we've got an even busier day planned for tomorrow when we leave the coast!

 
Caroline checks out the hot sea lion action at Strawberry Hill


Somewhere on the Oregon coast


Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area


Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area - watching the Watchable Wildlife


Downstream from Munson Creek Falls


Shoreline at Seal Rock


Caroline gets some sand off of her feet - photo op!

Sea lions lounge offshore at Strawberry Hill

Some of the supercool tide pool creatures at Strawberry Hill


Heceta Head lighthouse and lighthousekeeper's house at Devil's Elbow in Oregon


Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area


Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area - watching the Watchable Wildlife