Pacific Northwest 2021: Yaquina Head, Newport Aquarium, Beach Time

Anyone up for a road trip?

We went to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area to see the lighthouse and do some tidepooling.

Megan with the lighthouse.

Lots of birds nesting on the rock.

Harbor seals

More harbor seals

A couple of panoramic shots at Yaquina Head. BLM actually made the inter-tidal zone and it has flourished. It was different than the other areas where we looked at tidepools because we were walking on rocks instead of sand so there was a lot more topography.

Matthew, Me and Megan

Some Turban Snails

Megan touching a sea star. We learned here that a few years ago the sea stars had a wasting disease that was transferred as one person touched an infected and then an uninfected sea star. However, that is no longer a concern as the disease is not present so we could touch the sea stars.

Sarah touching a sea star.

U and Matthew touching a sea star. Over the course of our tidepooling on this trip, Matthew counted a total of 136 orange sea stars.

Hermit Crabs with Turban Snail shells

Matthew, Sarah, Me and Megan

Lots of seabirds--common murres, black oystercatchers, cormorants, heron.

Megan, Sarah and U walk back with Yaquina Head Lighthouse in the background.

View of Yaquina Head from above.

On our way back from Yaquina Head, we stopped at the Panini Bakery for some yummy pastries. Matthew and Me walked back to the hotel along the beach. It was quite nice.

We went to the Newport Aquarium where we saw lots of cool sea life. There were some huge sea stars! And they were in so many different colors. We saw live sand dollars--they were fuzzy. We got to the seal and sea lion exhibit just as their keeper was working with them so we got to see them do some neat tricks like spinning in the water and swimming like a wave, going above and below the water.

First, we went on the Fossil Coastline.

Then we saw lots of fish and other sea creatures. It was neat to see what a lot of things that we had seen in tidepools looked like underwater.

Matthew liked this orange fish and wanted a picture of it.

Gooseneck barnacles underwater. They look so fancy!

Little octopus

 A couple photos of the Giant Pacific Octopus. We got to see it moving around which was cool.

Sea otter. We watched one play with a ball.

We enjoyed spending some time in the Seabird Aviary.

Two Horned Puffins and one Rhinoceros Auklet. One favorite memory from the aviary is when one of the Horned Puffins decided to switch which part of the exhibit she was in. She flew onto the path and then walked up the stairs labeled "Shorebirds Only."

Tufted Puffin. It was fun to see them up close. They are spirited little birds that swim really fast.

A Pigeon Guillemot with a few Common Murres in the background.

We explored Passages of the Deep where we saw a lot of sharks.

A couple Turkey vultures we saw from a viewing area over the Yaquina Bay Estuary.

We went back to the Seabird Aviary just after they had been fed. The birds were very active, especially the Tufted Puffins. They splashed around in the water a lot and used their wings like paddles in the water. Here are a few action shots.

Megan liked this jellyfish hat in the gift shop.

Mural in the Newport Bayfront

U and Me under a blanket at the beach after a yummy dinner from Georgies.  We brought the blanket down to help shield us from the blowing sand.

Megan, Matthew, U and Me went down to the beach after dinner. Megan and Matthew wanted to build a sandcastle.

Megan adding water to the mixing hole.  They used it to make wet sand after their first attempt failed.

The first attempt.  The verdict? Pouring water on the face of the dune is less effective. The water did not absorb into the sand very well.

Their sandcastle

The summer palace. This was on the other side of a dune so the people could go there when they wanted a break.

Matthew adding water to the moat of the castle

Megan and Matthew with the summer palace.

What is left of their summer palace the next morning.

We went for a walk along the beach. It was a bit misty.

Megan, U and Matthew with the Yaquina Bay Bridge in the background.

We drove to the Portland airport. The trip was relatively uneventful until we got close to Portland. Then, no matter how long we drove, the airport remained an hour away. That was a bit discouraging because even though we had left with ample time, we did need to arrive at some point. Thankfully, we were able to take an alternate route and make it to the airport. We even had time to pick up some food for dinner before our flight home.

Mount Hood

Mount Rainier and Mount St Helens as seen from the plane

Mount Hood from the plane

Overall, it was a very nice trip.