Oregon Day 6 - Hobbit Beach Hike + Agates + Thor's Well + Devil's Churn

Kate and Mom wanted to take advantage of the close beach, so we got up early--around 6 to catch the low tide and took the short walk over to the ocean. We found this star right on the sand (and yes, this was tossed back into the ocean). It was so stunning and beautiful to see it right in the middle of the sand. Mom and Kate found some sand dollars and other cool shells on this beach.

The beach was huge and went so far down during low tide.

We went down to Cape Perpetua for the day and some some amazing sights! We hiked down to these rocks and the ocean just crashed. It is actually a pretty dangerous area--especially with high tides.

The waves would crash so hard and send water so high

Next, we headed over to Thor's Well, Spouting Horn, and Cook's Chasm. These were similar, but so spectacular and crazy. The water was so mesmerizing to watch, it was so powerful!

Thor's Well

Spouting Horn

This is Thor's Well. We sat and watched this for a while.

Along the road, we had noticed a Hobbit's Trail. We had to go check it out. It was a really cute little hike with little tree areas that felt like Hobbiton. Logan especially enjoyed these because they were just his size.

Kate and Mom started getting really serious about finding agates and even found a few.

This is walking alongside the bay where we had our lodging.

Austin was skipping some rocks a crazy number of times!

We headed down to Heceta Head Lighthouse Beach. We decided not to hike up to that one, but had a pretty view. We had a lot of fun looking for agates in this area and were able to find quite a few.

The agate hunt!!

Nighttime at our lodging

 Such a fun day. A little bittersweet because we knew it was our last day in Oregon. We were excited to get back home, but sad to leave such an amazing place!

Oregon Day 5 -Newport + Devil's Punchbowl Take 2 + Seal Beach + Waldport

We had heard that Newport was a fun place to walk through with the boats at the piers and a fun atmosphere with lots of fun little shops. As we were walking on the pier, we noticed this big sea lion just sun bathing. The pictures don't do it justice, it was HUGE!!!

After walking around Newport and getting some treats from the shops, we headed back to the Devil's Punchbowl. We weren't sure what the hike would be like, so Dad took the four older kids down and Mom went above with Logan so we could see them in the bowl. You can see how big and deep this is!

After they left the bowl, Mom and Logan started hiking down to meet everybody. Once we got down, Mom realized it wasn't that far to the bowl, so Mom and Dad hiked back and the kids hung out on the beach.

Dad at the opening

Dad's pictures when he hiked down with the kids.

Kate and Ty in the bowl

Mom in the bowl with the tide starting to come in

When we got back in the car, Dad remembered that when we had left for the day, he had put his water shoes on top of the car. One happened to still be there when we got to Newport, but the other was gone. As we were driving back through that area, we all kept a close eye out for the other shoe. It was on a busy interstate, so we did not think we would find it. We kept looking though and sure enough, we found it!!

We started heading down to our last lodging in Waldport. We stopped at Seal Beach on the way down. We had to hike down this somewhat of a cliff area, then we hung out. Mom and Kate were always on the lookout for shells and soon learned of agates. They are special clearish rocks that the sun shines through. It became an obsession!

Everyone loved just playing in the water. Ty seemed to get a huge fascination with it. We all loved just being at the different beaches.

Mom and Scott

After Seal Beach, we went to our place in Waldport. It was such a cool location. Out the backdoor, you went down this steep ramp and Alsea Bay was right there. It was cool because it was private and the only way to get there was if the property was located there. However, Waldport is on a peninsula, so less than a 5 minute walk away was the ocean and a big flat beach. We came back a little earlier on this night and enjoyed just hanging out, playing games and walking the shore. It was crazy to watch the tide come in and out, it was a huge difference!