Christmas

We attended a great Winter Solstice celebration with local musicians and tasty refreshments on December 22.  The next day I was tossed by a sneaker wave and determined that my Droid doesn't like salt water at all, so I'm now reverted back to the old Blackberry.

On Christmas day we shared the buffet at Chinook Winds Casino with our friends Marni, Jan and Don. Tasty food and good company, a great way to celebrate the holiday.

The beautiful, unusual sunny cold weather gave way to a series of storms that have taken us from the driest December on record to near normal in only a few days. The nice thing about the wet weather is that it keeps temperatures hovering around 50 degrees all the time.

We've spent many afternoons on the Lincoln City beaches, picking up pretty shells and stones at low tide, watching locals toss crab traps into the surf, and photographing sunsets, seals and crashing waves at high tide.

Sunset Taft Beach

Agate

Crabber Throwing Trap with Fishing Pole

Nice one!

I'm watching you!!

Ancient Tree Stump at Taft Beach

Shore Acres Holiday Lights

This year was Shore Acres State Parks' 25th year of Holiday Lights. We drove south from Lincoln City to Coos Bay to experience the beauty of the lighted park. Local school kids provide carols and music to accompany the animated nature themed lightshow, and the Friends of Shore Acres offer cookies and cider.

We'd visited in the summer to see the lush flowers in numerous beds, coi pond and great view of the ocean.

Lighted Boat Parade

Newport's 18th Annual Lighted Boat Parade, on Yaquina Bay, was a unique experience for us. Boat decorations included a lighted palm tree, Snoopy on his dog house, the outline of a Christmas tree as tall as the main sail mast, live Santa Claus, inflated Santas, even a surfing Santa in a bikini of lights, Santa in his sleigh pulled by reindeer and many full voiced carolers 

We attempted to photograph each entry, but in darkness the boat movement made even our tripod useless. So we took videos as each boat passed and turned in a circle in front of us.

A favorite of the crowd around us was the animated train in this video.

Victorian Christmas at Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Sunny Saturday brought the Victorian celebration of Christmas at Yaquina Head Lighthouse, north of Newport, Oregon. Local musicians performed lovely period music pieces and holiday standards, encouraging audience participation. Volunteers taught us how to make Victorian tree decorations, and most sported historic costumes. The day was beautiful with sunshine streaming through huge windows, bathing the performers and Christmas tree in its warmth. We even helped decorate the tree.

John adds a decoration to the tree

We also visited the lighthouse, where our friend, Marni, was dressed as a lighthouse keeper's wife. She told visitors about the life of this important asset to the light keeper team.

Trip to Tillamook, Oregon

Trip to Tillamook, Oregon

Jan and Don, friends we met at Gulf Waters in Port Aransas TX, are workamping at a fish hatchery east of Tillamook, Oregon. We recently took the scenic drive north on Hwy 101 to see their new digs.

As we drove past Beverly Beach, we noticed a Coast Guard ship very near the beach, listing dramatically on its side. We pulled into a view point, and watched them right the boat and head back out to sea. The Coast Guard has facilities in both Newport and Depoe Bay, both boats were missing from the Depoe Bay dock, so we surmised they were performing a training operation.

Wild salmon spawned in Trask River, beside the hatchery, as a blue heron patiently stood nearby, awaiting fresh eggs for dinner. We learned about hatchery operations and learned how salmon change as they mature.

     

 

Tillamook is famous for two cheese factories and is surrounded by farms where peaceful cows graze in green pastures.

           

It is also the home of Pacific Seafood, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner with Jan and Don.

Autumn colors were on display and the sunset was firey as we drove back to Newport.

         

Depoe Bay, OR

Depoe Bay's claim to fame is the world's smallest harbor. The entrance is so tiny we watched a fishing boat make three attempts before successfully gaining access to the harbor! Whale watching is another tourist draw, with a whale watching station picturing the different kinds of whales and information about their migrations.


The day we visited was bright, sunny with clear blue skies, as the high tide waves crashed riotously against the seawall, spewed majestically through the spouting horn, created beautiful rainbows and generally doused unsuspecting tourists with cold Pacific water.

A distant cape

Waves reached the Hwy 101 on the left

Spouting Horn

Each emission created a rainbow

Sunsets

Oregon coastal weatherchanges quickly, which makes cooking in the sun oven tricky, because it might be sunny one minute then by the time we get the sun oven out and loaded with goodies, it is drizzling. Not really. But the sun often shines into the living room window at dawn but a few hours later, the clouds roll in. Usually the sun comes out a few hours each day, often several times each day.

We spend many afternoons at the beach, sometimes in sun, sometimes in overcast, rarely in rain, for it seems to rain mostly at night. The rain is often light as a whisper.

Sunsets are beautiful over the waves and as gorgeous as they are, it is often a last minute dash to the beach to catch one as the sky clears miraculously just minutes ahead of time. Today we spent lowtide at Seal Rock, where the sun was behind clouds as much as it shone on the glistening water. As we headed back to the RV, a thick layer of clouds blocked the entire sky. Then, just 45 minutes later, an astounding sunset bathed us all in warm golden shades.

75 Year Old Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport

Beverly Beach

Haceta Head

Yachats

Boiler Bay

Boiler Bay is aptly named, as we discovered one afternoon at high tide. The day was sunny and warm, creating dramatically blue surf.

Home at last!

It is great to be back home on the Oregon coast! We've been visiting light houses, walking on the beach, peering at sea life in tidal pools, exploring paths through the rainforest, and meeting locals.


We spent a week in Lincoln City before moving to the Port of Newport. It is a great campground, so few of us are here so it makes our site seem really large! 


Our lot looks the same, huge grove of trees, shrubs and underbrush. We didn't stop to investigate the lot on foot, to avoid giving the neighbor another opportunity to complain about our trees.

Cape Meares Light near Tillamook, OR

Cape Meares Light

Oregon State Fair, Salem, OR

Silverton is located east of Salem and the State Fair. While not at large as the Texas State Fair, it is a great place to find new ideas in sustainability and see unusual sights. Also unlike the Tx one, we didn't see any new fried foods, maybe not a big thing here.

Napping on champion goat

A Smokey Bear hug

Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, OR

During the monthly Bank of America, Museums On Us weekend, we returned to Portland's Chinatown and the peacefully beautiful Lan Su Chinese Garden.

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR

We spent a fun week in Silverton, OR, at the Silver Spur RV Park. Last year we stayed here for over a month and enjoyed the campground, as well as the area.

This year we visited Portland for their annual Art In The Pearl outside art, music, and food fest.

Catch this artist at Cottonwood Art Festival in Plano

Hot by Oregon Standards

Roseburg, OR, was hot, not by Tx or Az sensibilities, but hot according to Oregon locals. As any of you who camp in an RV know, the sun heats up the inside of the coach more than it does a house. So we drove 70 miles to the coast each week to escape the heat. Light houses draw us, even though I can't walk up the steps to the top anymore, they are still beautiful to look at. Here are a few we saw on our jaunts to the Oregon coast.

Cape Blanco Light, Port Orford, OR

Coquille River Light, Bandon, OR

Umpqua River Light, Bandon, OR

Haceta Head Ligtht, Yachats, OR