Continuing Down the Oregon Coast

Today we made our way further down the Oregon Coast. We ate breakfast at the hotel before packing our bags and heading out. 

Our first stop was the Devil’s churn. This is a rocky inlet where the waves are violent and huge. There are some trails to hike around. In this area there were some tide pools. We climbed all over the rocks to look inside the tide pools. We saw a large purple starfish in one. We also walked over by the edge of the Devil’s churn and watched the huge waves crash against the rock. In another area there was a beach with giant piles of driftwood. We climbed all over the wood. This was a rad area. 

After exploring we were hungry. We were going to stop at Thor’s well before lunch, but there was no signage. One of the few things that caught us off guard on this trip would be the lack of service on the coastline. We skipped that stop and drove into Florence for lunch. 

After lunch we visited the Sea Lion Caves. There was a fairly long line to enter the cave complex (because they were at very limited capacity to allow for lots of social distancing. It took a while, but it was worth the wait. The complex has two main viewing areas. One is the cave and the other is a rocky ledge. We started with the cave. To get to the cave you take an elevator down a couple hundred feet. Once we were down the cave there was one or two other groups, but we mostly had the giant cave to ourselves. There were tons of sea lions and seals hanging out on the rocks inside the caves. We observed them for a while and looked at some of the educational exhibits. Skylee really enjoyed looking at the sea lion skeletons they had on display. She kept telling us how cool this was. It was really fun to see how much Skylee enjoyed herself in each of the different things that we did. 

Next we headed over to the overlook to see the Sea Lions laying on the rocky shelf. There were even more sea lions here. It was fascinating to watch them fight and swim. On our way out we stopped in the gift shop and bought a shell for Skylee and a whale stuffy for Holly. 

Nearby was the Haceta Head Lighthouse area. That was our next stop. Here the girls played on the beach while I flew my drone. It was trippy to fly the drone through the fog. Nearby there was a huge sea cave that I flew the drone into. This was a really cool area. Skylee made a design in the sand with rocks and Holly loved playing in the sand. This was our last stop of the trip. 

When we finished playing on the beach we loaded back into the car and drove inland. This was a pretty drive. We went through heavily forested areas along rivers and streams. We ended up in Eugene. We DoorDashed some food on our way into town so it arrived at our hotel shortly after we did. We ate dinner and headed to bed. 

We got up early and caught a 6am flight home the next morning. Alison got upgraded to first class and she gave her seat to Skylee. So Skylee and I sat up at the front of the plane together. Skylee loves flying first class. She played games and slept. 

We very much enjoyed visiting Oregon. Traveling during the pandemic is different, but we were able to adjust and do most of the things we wanted to do. We were mostly able to avoid close contact with other people and in the limited instances where we couldn’t everyone was wearing face masks. The Oregon Coast is so beautiful and there were plenty of fun activities for us to enjoy. I am sure we will visit again.