Our third full day at the coast was chilly, breezy, and mostly cloudy, but NOT raining the entire day. While Daughter and Baby took a morning nap, I ventured into the little town of Yachats, found a Chamber of Commerce info center, and obtained much useful information from the pleasant lady who was working there. Consequently, our afternoon's adventures were to the south. Our first stop was Cape Perpetua. We were able to drive to the top of the cliff and a short walk brought us to this amazing view:
At the very top, with views to the north and to the south, was this stone shelter built by the CCC in the 1930s. It was raining a little bit just then, so we were glad for the opportunity to stay dry for a few minutes. Then the sun obligingly came out again.
The path through the woods took us past many wildflowers. I took a few pictures and will post them next, even though I don't know the names of the flowers. There is nothing like the greenness of the woods along the coast in the spring!
Our next stop was at Thor's Well, a large sinkhole near the shore just south of Cape Perpetua. You can read more about it here if you are interested in the details. We were there shortly after high tide, so the spray was not as impressive as it might have been. Still, it was a wondrous thing to see. Daughter scrambled down a path and over the rocks to get a closer look. She can barely be seen in my photo; she is wearing a white jacket and standing close to the fountain of sea water. I took this picture of her and the spray while she was taking a close-up picture of the spray!
Our third stop, also suggested by the lady at the Chamber of Commerce, was a spot called Strawberry Hill. The tide was going out, and there were plenty of tide pools to explore. It was quite a scramble down to the beach, so Baby rode in the tummy pack. The elderly dog was along for the day, and he scrambled bravely right along with us. If my photos seem not quite level, we'll blame it on the fact that I was usually the one holding onto his leash.
Here he is, investigating a dead end among the rocks. I find it a bit unnerving to realize this is all covered with water and waves half the time.
I finally spotted a tide pool with lots of nice sea anemones! We had been searching for them for three days. Daughter was delighted.
Off in the distance we could see some caves in the side of the cliff, so we walked over to investigate. Sure enough, there were some nice little caves, one of which was easily accessible.
I scrambled up in there, too, and took a picture out another opening off to the side. Sorry, but I don't have the pictures Daughter took of me up there.
That evening, Daughter returned to the beach near our rental house once again and collected more sand dollars for her friends. It rained at least twice during the hour she was out there, and she came back soaking wet but happy with her collection of beach treasures.
The next two days were spent driving home again, with brief stops to visit a friend of hers and a relative of ours along the way. I rode in the back seat to hand toys to Baby and hold a bottle when necessary, but I happened to look out the window just in time to see this amusing sight:
Someone had shown me an article about that smiley face on the hillside not long ago, so I knew it had been carefully planned and planted. You can read all about it in this link.
As usual, it was good to get away, and it was also good to be home again, sleeping in my own bed. The older I get, the more I prefer my own accommodations. I enjoy traveling, so now I'm thinking about buying a very small motor home, or even a camper van, and installing a very comfortable bed. Then I could take my own bed with me wherever I go!
Here are the links to my previous posts in this series:
Part one
Part two
Part three