Yaquina Bay and Yaquina Head Lighthouses and the Oregon Coast Museum (and Newport)

More lighthouses yesterday :) Sorry if you are getting sick of them. I am sure they are much cooler in person.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse:

This lighthouse was only operational for a few years. Then they built the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and closed this one down. The house built around the lighthouse was the actual home of the lighthouse keeper and his family.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse:

Yes, that is fog. It was the middle of the day and no colder than normal. Kinda weird for a couple of Utahans, but I guess it is pretty normal on the ocean.

Really cool staircase

The Frenel First Order Lense I keep talking about

This picture was taken inside the lens. One of the panels has been taken away so that tourists can see in, and probably so that the coast guard can change the light bulbs. This lighthouse is still operational. That contraption in the middle holds a light bulb in the focal point of the lens.

After we finished looking at the lighthouses we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Steve has really wanted to see puffins the whole trip, and we finally saw some here. We both agree that seeing animals at the "zoo" is not the same as seeing them in "real life". So, here is a picture of the only puffin we have seen so far in its "natural environment".

We also went to Newport and looked at the shops there, and ate at the Original Mo's which was actually quite good. Steve saw a wood clock that he thought his dad would appreciate. We have more pictures of it for when we get home, Phil.

Tillamook Factory and Meares Lighthouse

Today was a lot of driving since we switched from Seaside to Gleneden. We went to the Tillamook Factory and saw how they package cheese, and bought ice-cream, it was delicious. We then went to Meares Lighthouse. It is the shortest lighthouse on the coast, and it has a First Degree lens which means that the lens is huge! It runs from the roof to the ceiling of the top of the lighthouse, and it is made of red and clear glass. Unfortunately, someone decided that a good evening activity would be to shoot it with a high-powered rifle. Allegedly (they have not been tried yet) two men shot the lighthouse glass more than a dozen times. Since there was glass everywhere in the top we were not allowed up.

Astoria Column, Fort Stevens, and Tide Pools

I didn't post yesterday's adventures, so I will double post today. I know I never post, so I hope it doesn't look bad that I am doing it every day on vacation. It is just fun for me to have a little travel log. If you don't want to read it, don't. I really don't mind. How would I ever know anyway?

Astoria column is totally worth the price of admission! It costs a dollar a year to park, and if you want to throw a balsa wood airplane off of the top that costs $.75. I would definitely recommend purchasing a balsa wood airplane. Those babies flew forever!! We did not purchase airplanes, so we just watched the other tourists throw theirs (cheap-skate option :) ) The column chronicles the history of Astoria, and the staircase is something like 160 steps to the top.

Astoria Column

Steve and I at the top

After we finished at the column we went to Fort Stevens. My camera battery was dying, so we didn't take any pictures. It was cool to see an old fort that was used in the Civil War and World War I, but there wasn't much to take a picture of. The barracks and officers buildings were only foundations and then they had the old bunkers and batteries, and shooting ranges and stuff.

We also went to a shipwreck. It was free, but I don't know that it was worth the price of admission.

yep that's the whole thing

Then we plugged in the camera and went to dinner.

That night we went to Cannon Beach to see the tide pools around Haystack Rock. I had never seen tide pools before. They were really cool!

Star Fish

Lighthouses

We went to a couple of lighthouses yesterday. The first picture is of the lighthouse at Cape of Disappointment. It is an active lighthouse that is manned by the Coast Guard. The other lighthouse, North Head, is also active, but it is primarily used by fisherman that need to know where the mouth of the Columbia River is. The North Head lighthouse was built with a budget of $25,000 which included sheds for a year supply of kerosene, two large homes for the lighthouse keeper and lighthouse keeper assistant, a barn and other miscellaneous buildings. We got to go to the top of North Head Lighthouse.

We also went to a replica of Fort Clatsop in Washington and learned about Lewis and Clark. In the entire winter at Fort Clatsop Lewis and Clark's party saw the sun a total of 6 times!!

Ecola State Park

Steve and I went for a hike in Ecola State Park today. It was a gorgeous hike! It rained lightly the whole time we were there so by the end of the hike my hair was wet. The pictures don't do the park justice.

Before & After: Dry Hair & Wet Hair

Coffee

People in Portland seemed to REALLY love their coffee. There were cafes everywhere and one cafe even had coffee inspired cocktails. I may just be displaying how naive I am when it comes to coffee. Of course I have heard of "Irish Coffee", but it seemed a little extreme.

Summer 2010

This summer has been the summer of physics boot camp (as well as a few other classes). Steve goes to physics every day all morning long, every day he has a homework assignment due, and every Friday he takes a test. Luckily for me Friday is test day which means that Steve doesn't have anything he needs to study (for physics) during the weekends. Needless to say we try to fill our weekends with summer fun! Steven is taking his last final of summer semester right now, and then he's done for a few weeks!! Hooray!

Over the 24th of July Steve, Sterling and I went hiking to a little lake called Adax Lake. On Friday morning (Steve had the day off of classes) we left my grandparent's cabin and hiked up to the lake. We expected the hike to be difficult because there is no real trail to the lake. We didn't expect the hike to be five and a half hours through underbrush and fallen trees. Ok, slight exaggeration. We did have a great trail for the first couple of hours and then we went renegade. When we finally made it to the lake it was totally worth it! The entire time we spent hiking and at the lake we didn't see any other hikers. We were alone at our own private lake for two days. Someone had created a big fire pit surrounded by benches made from fallen logs and rocks near a great place to set up our tents. Around most of the rest of the lake there was marshy area full of wildflowers. Across the lake from our campsite the lake was much deeper near the shore, so the boys went over there to fish. While they fished I mostly sat on a big rock behind them and soaked it all in. The boys caught a fish almost every time the casted. I really wish I had taken a picture of them with their fish. A six inch fish picture would have been funny. I think the biggest fish either of them caught was about 12 inches.

In other news, I started an Americana patchwork quilt. I learned to sew a little from my grandma when I was in elementary school, TLC in junior high, and the internet... I let you know how the quilt turns out!