OUR JOURNEY TO NEWPORT

As the Valentine / President's Day weekend drew near, an opportunity presented itself to take a weekend trip up the Oregon coast. Unfortunately, the main reason for traveling was crushed three days before we were to leave. However, since my wife's mother had already put out some non-refundable coinage on what the owner described as a "funky cabin near the ocean", we decided to go anyway.

I'm glad we did.

Our destination was Newport, a charming town on the central Oregon coast. The "funky cabin" was, in reality, a charming little two bedroom cottage on the outside edge of the hotel's parking lot. It was a little run-down, but cozy and clean (there was no internet access however!). This was headquarters for the weekend.

The "funky" cabin

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Our first destination was the famous Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was a cloudy day, with the surf roaring and pounding on the rocks below. It brought home the hard and lonely job the lighthouse keepers must have faced in providing safety to sailors during such storms (the old song "If It Wasn't for the Lighthouse" kept going through my mind).

Stormy seas

The next day, we visited the sister lighthouse at Yaquina Bay. It was closed to visitors at the time we visited, but the location offered a great view of the bridge that crosses Newport.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

Newport bridge

Our final destination over the weekend was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. There we saw sea otters teasing and playing with the visitors, feeding time for the sea lions, and a tunnel that offered a near 360 degree view of sea life, including sharks. There was even a "petting zoo" of sorts that allowed visitors to reach out and touch various types of sea life.

Patrick

Feeding time

You otter have seen this guy playing around

Even though our original reason for going was dashed to pieces, it was still nice to get away and just be a family (well, minus my youngest daughter, who was unable to come). As reality reasserted itself when we walked in the door, we determined to squeeze a little more relaxation in before work tomorrow.