As we pulled into our campsite we realized that we were parking right next to Lorraine and Larry Tesler, members of our Winnebago RV Club at home. What a surprise! Since it was lunch time and we know the area so well, we asked them if they wanted to go to our favorite fish and chips place and then to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, my favorite light on the Oregon Coast.

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14-million years ago, lava gushed from huge fissures and flowed 300-miles to the sea. This sea arch is a result of one of those flows

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We had always seen pelicans on the rocks here at Yaquina Head and so we were very surprised to see the rocks covered with what looked like penguins but in reality were common murre or common guillemots. These birds spend most of their time at sea but come in to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands. Murres breed in colonies at high densities. They do not make a nest but incubate their single egg on a bare rock ledge. The eggs hatch after 30 days.

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We made a quick stop to see Yaquina Bay lighthouse, the only wooden lighthouse on the coast and to give the Teslers an opportunity to see Yaquina Bay Bridge's dramatic, soaring steel arch that makes it one of the most photographed of Conde McCollough's bridges.

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Luckily we went to see the sunset because it was really the only good one we had during the week we were in Newport.

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Today we took the Teslers to Depoe Bay with the hope of seeing some whales. I was very excited when I was the first one to spot this whale quite close to shore.

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The ranger explained to us that what we were seeing was called the whale's footprint.

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This promontory was named Cape Foulweather in 1778 by Captain James Cook on a day of particularly inclement weather. Winds can reach 100 mph during storms here.

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Cape Perpetua Scenic Area encompasses 2700 acres of coastal habitat and was set aside because of the unique ecological characteristics found where the temperate spruce rainforest transitions to the sea. We totally enjoyed talking to the volunteer staff who pointed us toward some of the highlights of the area.

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Within the park one can find old growth spruce, Douglas fir and hemlock. It was amazing standing under these huge old trees and looking down on the Pacific.

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Spouting Horn is an ocean geyser. Over time, pounding waves gradually widened a fracture in the rocks and formed Cooks Chasm. The edge was undercut creating a cave where eventually a hole in the roof formed which allows water through at high tide creating the geyser.

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Hookers Evening Primrose, a local species of the primrose family, has tall stems with large, unusually colored yellow flowers. We had never seen these before but were told for some reason there are many of them growing along the road between Florence and Newport this year.

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Today found us traveling country roads to Selitz where Gibson Farms U-Pick is located. The roots of this farm are deep and represent the rapidly shrinking phenomenon of a true family farm. Paul Gibson purchased the property in the 1940's and planted 16 acres of blueberry bushes. His granddaughters are successfully running the farm today where we found probably the plumpest blueberries we've ever seen. Upon arrival we were given homemade buckets to wear around our necks while picking that Paul Gibson had made as well as an original vintage bucket to pour into. We were then led to our bush and asked to strip it before moving to another bush but we had enough berries before even stripping that one!

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On our way home, we stopped in the historic town of Toledo for lunch. The Art Deco, poured in place concrete City Hall was built in 1939. Like so many other small towns, the main street was lined with beautiful hanging baskets.

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This mosaic mural was created in 2005 by working with the History Center & Mayors office of Toledo to create the largest mosaic mural in the state of Oregon at over 96 feet in length and over 15 feet in height. Over 1,000 volunteers from the local community took part in the work to create the mosaic. The Design for the mural was done using historical photos from the 100-year history of the city.

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