Pacific Northwest 2021: Seal Rock, Cape Perpetua, Darlingtonia, Oregon Dunes

 We headed to Seal Rock State Recreation Area after breakfast. It was a great place to go at low tide as it was somewhat protected from the surf and there were lots of tidepools. Here are a few pictures of the area.

Orange and purple algae growing on the rocks.

So many sea stars!

Sarah, Megan and Matthew walking along Seal Rock.

An orange and purple sea star plus a couple of purple sea stars. In Cannon Beach, the sea stars had been either orange or purple so it was interesting to see the hybrid ones here.

Velella velella

More sea stars, with multiple eating mussels.

Matthew liked these orange sea stars.

Ripples in the sand

Matthew with the sand Matthew that his sisters drew in the sand.

Matthew and Megan drawing some sand people with Sarah in the background.

I wonder what made the pattern in the sand.

Sarah, Matthew, Me and Megan.

We stopped at Devils Churn in Cape Perpetua and went on a short hike. Megan and Matthew got the Junior Ranger badge.

Matthew and Me

Me, Megan, Sarah and Matthew

Me

It is a lovely area.

We drove to the top of Cape Perpetua for some nice views.

Megan and Sarah

Pretty foxglove flowers around Cape Perpetua

An impressive bridge around Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

We stopped at Darlingtonia State Natural Site to see the carnivorous Darlingtonia californica, also known as the cobra lily.

U feeding Matthew to the Darlingtonia californica.

U

We then went on a sandrail ride in the Oregon Dunes. We went fast. The girls said we topped out at 65-70 mph. We went up and down some steep inclines. The kids all really enjoyed it and wanted to go on another ride right away.

Matthew, Sarah and Megan with their helmets on.

Sarah and Megan were super excited to sit in the very front.

Sarah, Megan, Me, Matthew and U

Some of the area we drove through. Yes, even that area in the background.

Our vehicle

We went back to Cape Perpetua to see some of the sites around high tide. This picture shows Spouting Horn.

Three sequential pictures showing the water coming into Thor's Well.

U and Me really enjoyed watching the water.

See the crash!

Little fish in the tidepools

We wore the kids out!

U and Me went on a walk on the beach.

Our hotel from the beach. Do you see Megan waving at us?

On the beach, you could see the way the constant wind was etching things away.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

It was quite windy!

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and Bridge

Pacific Northwest 2021: Cannon Beach, Ecola State Park, Fort Clatsop

On Thursday night after arriving at our hotel in Cannon Beach, U and Me walked out to the beach. They did so independently as there needed to be someone 18 or older in the hotel with the kids.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. There were so many birds flying around the rock in this picture. Me is pretty sure she saw some Tufted puffins, as she saw little blacks birds rapidly flapping their wings.

A close up of some of the birds (mostly common murres) on Haystack Rock. There are tens of thousands of birds that nest on Haystack Rock.

The next morning, Me headed out early to Cannon Beach for low tide. The morning low tide was so much lower than the evening low tide (when we had been out the night before) and we could see so much sea life in the tidepools and on the rocks.

Haystack Rock in the morning. Notice how much farther out the tide is as compared to the night before.

Sea stars! There were so many all over the rocks. They were either orange or purple, although there were a few shades of purple. Here are three sea stars that are three different colors.

Three orange sea stars. They were Matthew's favorites. (He counted how many orange sea stars he saw; it was 36 on this particular day.)

Of course, we wanted to see the birds as well and morning low tide is one of the best times. Here are a bunch of common murres.

A western gull, a tufted puffin(!), a common murre. Me was so excited to see puffins. She'd really been looking forward to seeing them on our planned trip to Europe last summer and was thankful to be able to see them on this trip instead.

Giant green anemone with a few Aggregating anemones

Ochre sea stars, giant green anemones, closed anemones (likely aggregating), California mussels, gooseneck barnacles, Dungeness crab

Very large orange sea star

Leather Chiton

It was a very low tide and so the helpers tried to protect all the tidepool creatures including this sea star

Ripples in the sand

Sarah, Megan, U and Matthew come to join Me

Megan looking at the tidepools and rocks.

Shaggy Mouse Nudibranch

This sea star looks like it is eating a mussel.

So many sea stars!

Many birds including a flying tufted puffin!

Do you see all 7 puffins in this picture?

There was a pair of black oystercatchers that had nested in a low rocky area.

Here are their three chicks. They hatched June 29, 30 and July 1 and so are between 8 and 10 days old in this picture.

Panoramic of the beach as we headed back to our hotel.

A look towards Ecola State Park to the north.

In Ecola State Park, we went to Indian Beach. We saw quite a few surfers including a dog.

Rocks off the shore.

The beach. Megan enjoyed playing in the sand.

There were a lot of logs on the beach. Matthew, U and Me played hide and seek.

Matthew's really good hiding spot. It was right under where we counted. It would have taken us a very long time to find him without some help.

Uh oh! It looked like the RV had been there awhile.  It had a sticker saying "Don't call the police! This has already been reported."

Our next stop was Ecola Point.

Wispy clouds

Megan, Me, Matthew and Sarah at Ecola Point.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. It is about one mile offshore.

Matthew

Crescent Beach with Cannon Beach in the distance.

We then headed to Fort Clatsop, a replica of the fort where the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered after reaching the Pacific Ocean.

We learned about the different hats people wore on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

We also learned about the guns they used. This is the replica of an air rifle Lewis brought that could hold up to 21 bullets. He brought it primarily as an advertising tool on why to buy from America.

U outside the walls of the fort.

Sarah with the fort. It was quite small.

Megan on one of the enlisted men's beds.

Me and Matthew in the orderly room.

Matthew on one of the captain's beds.

Matthew holding a flintlock rifle that we saw a ranger load and shoot.

Megan holding the flintlock rifle.

U and Matthew by where they landed the canoes.

Funny sign in the bathroom.

Matthew and Megan receiving their Junior Ranger badges.

One of the activity pages. They shaded in all the states they have visited. They are currently at 45.

Matthew and Me at Netul Landing.

Matthew and U in a canoe at Netul Landing.

After dinner, we went to Cannon Beach.

Me walked out to Haystack Rock. The water came in so much farther than in the morning.

Megan digging in the sand.

Sarah standing in the water.

Matthew and Me playing catch. Do you see the ball?

Megan and Sarah in the water.

Sarah trying to stay warm on the beach.

Matthew drawing in the sand.

U and Megan playing catch.

Megan and Sarah playing catch.

They had movies we could check out at our hotel so after we returned from the beach, we watched the Secret of NIMH. We had told the kids it came out when we were kids. When the movie started, Matthew said, "Wait, this is in color? Did they have movies in color when you were kids?"