Sunday, July 26, 2020

Oregon Day 4 - Tillamook + Drift Falls Hike + Devils Punchbowl + Whale Watching + Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We were leaving our first lodging and heading to our second. We were trying to work down the coast as much as we could, so as we were leaving, we went to Tillamook factory and went on the tour about how they make cheese. It was so cool to see through the big windows how they accomplished this and so interesting. We spent a long time just watching them.

Kate, Scott, Austin (we all had to wear masks any time we went in anywhere)



Kate, Scott, Austin, Ty, Logan

There was forest around a lot of parts (which made the terrible fires that happened about a month later that much sadder) and we saw deer and wildlife a bit.

Driving down the coast and this was a view of Yaquina Head Lighthouse--this is one we were really wanting to go see.

Before we got to the lighthouse, we went on another hike--the Drift Creek Falls Hike. This wasn't quite as long, but still 3 miles round trip. The kids were troopers, but Ty and Logan started getting pretty tired near the end and having some piggy back rides.


Scott

One of the coolest parts of the hike was this suspension bridge that went across the ravine.


We hiked all the way down and had fun playing around, climbing rocks, and eating our lunch.





Scott




We also went to the Devil's Punchbowl. This is the view from above. We learned when we came here that you can actually hike down inside. You just have to be careful to only do it at low tide because at high tide, you might have some problems. We really wanted to do this, but low tide had already passed for the day. We would have to come back another day if we wanted to hike down.

After Devil's Punchbowl, we drove through Depoe Bay and hoped to catch sight of some whales just from the road. We happened to see a boat place that was departing in 5 minutes for a whale watching tour. On a whim, Mom and the kids went out to see, Dad enjoyed some downtime for an hour while we were gone.

Scott and Ty trying to catch sight of the whales.

Logan wasn't sure what to think and I think he was really tired. He hung out on this bench for a lot of the trip.


The skipper was a super friendly guy, he made the boat ride a lot of fun.

A flipper! We didn't really get a lot of pictures, but we saw a lot of whales. It was such a neat boat ride and so cool to see whales coming out of the water, blowing water up and swimming around.


Another picture of Yaquina Head Lighthouse at a distance.


Mom REALLY was excited to see this lighthouse. The problem is that because of Covid, the parking lot was closed to cars. You were able to walk down there, but couldn't drive and it was about 3/4 mile away. Mom and Austin decided to run down there (everyone was getting tired and no one else wanted to go). We literally ran and jogged the whole way down. It was a pretty trail to get down there and was downhill the whole way (bad news for the way back though). When we got there, we were so glad we came. It was such a pretty lighthouse. There were many signs telling stories about the people that used to live in these lighthouses and their families.




This is a cove that you can walk down to (in nonCovid times) and there are some awesome tidepools here. The whole area was beautiful!


After Yaquina Head Lighthouse, we headed to our lodging. This was very different from the first. It was about half a mile from the ocean, but was in the middle of the woods. It had a log cabin feel. There were some fun touches so the kids thought of it as a Pirate Ship House. It was very comfortable and cozy.

We laughed to see the garbage cans. The blue one is recycling, the green is garbage.

The cabin even had a wood stove that we built a fire in.

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