Highway 101

We left the Marina RV Park on Sunday just before noon and moved an entire 2 miles down the road to South Beach State Park. We did do a few things around the Marina area. Here is a picture of he bridge I managed to drive over. It might not seem to big to many, but I am terrified of heights! I psyched myself up before hand, stared only at the roadway, and did my calming breathing.

There are a number of lighthouses around. This one is a state park just the south side of the bridge. It is no longer operational, but pretty cool to see.

There is a newer light on the north side of the bay. I couldn’t get a decent picture because of the rain and my lack of mobility, but you can at least get an idea about it.

We enjoyed just sitting by the beach in Newport and watching the people. I was hobbled to much to join them, but it looked like they were having fun.

South Beach is a lovely place with big sites, most with quite a bit of shade. It is very quiet at night, though it has been too cold and rainy to do much sitting outside. We planned to ride our bikes a lot here, but I got another back spasm! I was completely hobbled most of Monday and still some today. The beach is only a 1/4 mile from the campground on a combination bike/pedestrian path, so hopefully I will get better soon.

We have found some interesting plants. This is a Western Strawberry Tree. Even the red (ripe?) berries were hairy and hard.

Another one I had never seen before was this one with tiny pink/white flowers. I have no idea what it is, so if anyone know, please tell me!

Yesterday we took a trip to Junction City to see about some furniture options for the motorhome. We currently have a huge sofa with a queen sized bed plus a single recliner. We would really like a smaller sofa and two recliners or theater seating. They did have some options, but it sure needs a lot of thought. On the way back we drove 101 from Florence back to Newport. There are some famous sights along here, especially Thor’s Well and he Spouting Horn. We were lucky to catch both when the tides was right to show off.

Thor’s Well fills some from the surf on top,  it mostly from holes in the rocks below the surface. The video link needs to be clicked to view.

This mist from Spouting Horn comes from surf forced into a tiny crack that explodes upwards like a geyser.

Today we drove north from Newport. A few sights.

We basically just pulled into every wayside we found, and there were lots of them. We were happily surprised to see four gray whales too – two singles and another pair. We kind of followed them south down the coast for a good while. You can always tell where the whales are when you see 4-6 whale watching tour boats in the same area. 😀 Both Washington and Oregon have gone to great lengths to provide access to their beaches. One spot we stopped at even had some Tillamook Ice Cream! I had chocolate with more chocolate. Yum.