Some of Oregon's Highway 101 State Parks

Lost Creek State Park pictured below.

Ona Beach State Park--this would be a good place for a picnic if the weather cooperates.

Seal Rock State Park.  This park was one of my favorites and I hope to go back again someday and walk along the rest of the trail to the beach.

Alsea Bay Bridge, Waldport

Alsea Bay

Beachside State Park--the only one of these parks that has an overnight camping area.  My following two pictures were taken from the day use area.

Smelt Sands State Park, Yachats--another park with a hiking trail.  Dave wasn't feeling too well this trip and it was cold and windy, so we opted out of the hike.

Yachats State Park

Devil's Churn at Cape Perpetua--this is a national recreation area and therefore free with a national park pass.

Cooks Chasm

This is another path that I would like to hike.

Dave and I were able to park in all of these state park day use areas free of charge and almost all of them were accessible right off Highway 101.  We headed south from Newport and all the parks were located on the west (ocean) side of the highway.  Cape Perpetua is only about thirty miles from Newport, so we didn't have to travel far.  What a fun day!

Newport, Oregon

Dave and I are visiting Newport for a few days.  Each of the Washington and Oregon coastal towns are so different from each other.  Newport's claim to fame is that it is the largest fishing port in Oregon.  Fisheries are abundant along the old bayfront area.  Tourism is mixed in with fishing along the bay, with undersea gardens, a wax museum, and Ripley's Believe It or Not.  On the other side of Yaquina Bay there's a world-class aquarium and the Mark Hatfield Science Research Center.

Low tide!

We are staying at the port's RV park on the south side of the bay near the aquarium.

How's this for a good view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge?

The RV park is just east of the marina and has a wonderful view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  The sites were designed backwards for motorhomes, but it's a only a minor problem.

To drive to Newport, we went south on I-5, then west on Hwy 34/20.  It's a windy drive but very scenic.

We've done a lot of sightseeing here since we arrived.  Next blog:  Pictures of some of Oregon's Highway 101 state parks.  Stay tuned!

Flower Child

Happy birthday to me today!  A few days ago, I bought a new camera, a Canon Power Shot SX500.  On Saturday, I took the new camera and went for a walk around our neighborhood.  Don't you love April flowers?

Mount Hood in the distance.

A visit to the duck pond at Columbia Tech Center.

This week, Dave and I are visiting Newport, Oregon for a few days.  We are staying at the Port of Newport RV Park on the south side of Yaquina Bay.  Here's the view of the bridge from the RV park.  I'll post a more detailed report in a few days.

Port of Ilwaco, WA

Before we left the Long Beach and Cape Disappointment State Park area, Dave and I went for a walk around the Port of Ilwaco.

We didn't see any osprey on this nest.

Ilwaco is a working port with fishermen and fisheries.

Santa's boat from the North Pole?

Decorated crab pot.