May 11th: Small Harbors and Large Birds

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The first town I hit was Lincoln City, and I soured on it quickly. The traffic, likely fed by the nearby casino, was terrible. After being spoiled by several days of quiet, scenic back roads, I just wanted to escape this busy stretch of 101. Lincoln City went on the list of "towns to explore on the trip back" list. Eventually I made it through the city and the lovely coast scenery returned. I made a couple of unplanned stops for pictures, and then arrived in Depoe Bay around lunch time. This town fit my mood much better. The west side of the street was all parking, making it easy to stop for pictures and a meal, which was populated by little restaurants and touristy stores. After the rich meals I had eaten over the last several days, I had hoped to find a healthy meal but that was not in the cards. I briefly considered the wonderfully named "Sea Hag" restaurant as it looked like the kind of place that would have a good salad, but despite the name it actually looked pretty nice inside and I was a little underdressed. I settled on the Sea Breeze Bakery for a breakfast burrito. Healthy: absolutely not; Delicious: you'd better believe it. I ate my foil wrapped prize on a little bench perched near the entrance to "The World's Smallest Harbor". The wind was gusting but the sun was out so I was in a good mood. Once finished, I headed into the nearby Whale Watching center, not sure what to expect from the little concrete building. As it turns out, they had filled every corner with interesting ocean artifacts, such as a piece of whale baleen and the complete skeleton of a sea lion. In addition, they had a ton of old photographs showing life in Depoe Bay back when everyone rode a horse to work. I spent some time looking at each photo and trying to imagine what life was like back then.

With both my camera's memory card and my stomach a little fuller, I got back in the car and headed out of town. My next stop was Yaquina Head Natural Area. It's an outcropping of coastal land managed by the BLM. The reason for stopping here was the lighthouse on the grounds. I drove up a short hill and was pleasantly surprised to find much more to see than expected. The first building at the top of the hill was a visitor center & museum sitting at the base of a large cliff. This had once been a rock quarry, feeding building supplies to the nearby town of Newport. I wandered around a bit, reading about the lonely job of being a lightkeeper, and looking at the massive, french-built lens that had once been perched on top of the lighthouse. Once satisfied, I headed up the hill to see the lighthouse building. I took a few pictures, but the harsh afternoon light was less than ideal and I felt I needed to find camp before the sun set. I decided that I would come back the next morning and continue to explore.

I spent the night at South Beach State Park, about 10 miles from Yaquina Head. The tent area appeared to be a recent addition to the park. You have to drive all the way to the back of the park to access it. It seems the word wasn't out yet as 55 of the 57 campsites were available.

I setup my tent, got the fire started, and started chopping up vegetables for my stir fry dinner. I took a bathroom break, and came back to find a huge blackbird on my table. He saw me coming and flew off with a beak full of peppers and onions. It was another good reminder that I needed to be careful to keep my food and the local wildlife separate. After dinner I took advantage of the quiet park to get a good nights rest.

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