Kites..Kites....Kites in Long Beach,WA

Long Beach, Washington

Well we finally left Oregon. We are now in Long Beach, Washington. While we were here in Long Beach we went to see the last 2 lighthouses we will visit on the coast. Below is a short clip of the lighthouses we visited in Washington & Oregon. We didn't see them all, I think we mixed 2 in Oregon.



We leave here tomorrow for Chehalis, Washington. Here we stayed right on the beach. Long Beach is on a peninsula and again we are in the fog. We are still chilly and need to find the sun. Once we head inland, it should get warmer, hopefully. John & I went to Cape Disappointment Light house. It is called Cape Disappointment because Captain John Meares sought refuge here from a storm but didn't receive any comfort. We also visited Northhead Lighthouse.

Kites....Kites...Kites...Kites seem to be the theme here in Long Beach. So many...they even have a kite museum. With all the wind here it isn't to difficult to keep those kites up.

Today we spent the day at the beach, while sand sculptures were being created. This is a sand sculpture contest and it is called SandSations. Indianas Bones won the first place award which was $1500. Not a bad deal for playing in the sand. Sweet Dreams came in 2nd place with a prize of $1000. Wow! Maybe I need to play in the sand too. Imagine a bedroom with all these ghouls. Oh my whats under the rug?

The 3rd place was Reptiles. This team of sculpturers came from South America & Paris. Imagine traveling that far to play in the sand. Congrats to all the winners!

*Remember you can enlarge the pictures to see the details of the sculptures by clicking on them. You can also save to the computer by right clicking on them. Enjoy!

Oregon Coast Update

Seaside, Oregon
We are still on the coast of Oregon in a quaint little seaside town. (leaving for Washington on Wednesday July 23) It is still chilly & damp. The beaches are beautiful, but I don't know how anyone can go in the water, although they do. The natives of Oregon think it is warm. I am in long pants and a jacket, they are in bathing suits. I just want to see the sun again. The fog is beautiful over the coast, but I prefer the sun. Let the sun shine in!

At the end of the road in Seaside is this turn around. It ends right at the Pacific Ocean. This is the end of the journey of the explorers Lewis & Clark. So it is an historic site. The fort Lewis & Clark lived in, while here in Seaside is called Fort Clatsop after the Indians of the area. It burned down & they built a replica.

Astoria is up the road from Seaside, the last town before you cross over to Washington state. This column is a monument erected in the early 1900's to honor the explorers & early settlers as they played a critical role in the exploration of the Pacific coast area. Astoria was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The column artfully dispicts the conflicts, triumphs and turning points of the American Indians along with U.S. and Oregon history.

The movie The Goonies was filmed in this house. Here in Astoria, many movies have been made. Kindergarten Cop, Shattered, The Ring II, Point Break, Benji the Hunted, The Black Stallion, Teenage Mutant Turtles III, The Temp, Short Circuit and Free Willy are just a few of the movies filmed here. Many commercials and a few series have also been filmed here in Astoria.

Pacific City, Oregon

We traveled the 3 cape scenic route. The route started with Cape Kiwanda. Here is the only place on the Oregon coast where you can watch dory boat fishermen launch directly into the surf. (While we were here one of those dory boats ran right into a surfer and the surfer lost his arm. The waves were extremely rough that day & no one saw the surfer. I don't know how he is doing now, but last we heard, they found the arm & put it back on.) The next cape was Cape Lookout. There was several scenic overlooks on the route. We stopped at this beautiful beach for lunch. This man made entrance leads to a natural cave that takes you to the other side of the mountain to another beach. Very dark inside. I am sure when the tide comes in the cave is flooded. On the other side the beach is small. Our last stop on the cape scenic route was Cape Meares, which has a light house. It is the smallest lighthouse I have ever seen. The reason it is so small is that it stands on a 256 foot cliff. If a light house is up to high it isn't efficient because of the fog. So it is a short lighthouse. Look inside the lighthouse & you can see Candy, Marge & John.

*Remember you can right click on the images & enlarge them.

Newport, Oregon

Sea Aquarium Newport, Oregon- We visited the aquarium & we saw some weird looking fish. Do you know what kind of fish is in this fish tank?

Depoe Bay- A seawall runs almost the whole length of the town. The coast has many rock formations, the water is very rough & it is very windy. This is a great place to watch whales. But we didn't see any. I guess they were having lunch. The town was very cute with lots of shops. It is a great place to watch winter storms. Apparently that is a winter sport here.

Cape Foulweather- Winds can reach up to 100 MPH here. We enjoyed this spot 3 times during our stay. We spotted quite a few whales here on the first visit. Unfortunately, on our next 2 visits, no whales. Big disappointment.

Devil's Punchbowl-Devils punchbowl was a cave at end of a cliff. The ceiling of the cave collapsed creating this tunnel. It opens into the ocean. John & I went back here 3 times during our stay at Whaler's rest. He loved this spot. It was very windy.

A beautiful view of the lighthouse in Newport.