Rugged Beauty - The Oregon Coast

(Becky writes)
The past couple of days have been really interesting. When I think of perfection at the beach, I think of bright sunshine, the sparkling ocean, searching for shells, enjoying a good book but that is when I'm at my "home" beaches on the east coast, preferably Hilton Head or Oak Island or maybe Sanibel. This week, however, I've really been mesmerized by the rugged, harsh beauty of the coast here in Oregon.

Going to the "beach" here is very different than back home. Going to the beach here might mean observing the Pacific from cliffs hundreds of feet above the water, it might mean hiking down long steep paths just to be able to observe the rock formations that stand proud and covered in hundreds of sea birds, it might mean looking for agates while walking all the while watching the tide to make sure a "sneaker" doesn't get us, it might mean stopping at a scenic viewing area and being amazed at the water spouts spewing high into the sky and then blowing all the way up to where we are standing. Exploring the coast here in Oregon can challenge me both physically and mentally. Heights are not my favorite thing, but I found this week that the overwhelming desire to see and experience this awesome place has helped me overcome some of those fears.

We have based out of Newport this week which is about 1/3 of the way down the coast from the Oregon/Washington stateline. Monday was the only non-rain day that we have had and we used that day to drive north to see most of the Oregon coastline north of here. Yesterday and today we have explored the area here around Newport. We've braved hard rain (earlier today the report was 4-5 inches) and tremendous winds (40-50 mph) but we have seen so much of this lovely coast.

Here in Oregon we finally got to see elk, not just a couple as we had seen in Arizona, but a huge herd of them. On Monday, as we headed back to Newport from our drive up the coast, we decided to take an inland route through the valley. We were just driving along Highway 101 and there in an open field grazing was a herd of about 75. We stopped and were able to watch them for a while. Thankfully, we had the binoculars with us and it was very exciting to see those beautiful creatures up close.

In conversations with different people this week, they always ask how we like their coast. My response has been "it is beautiful, I love it, but our coast is amazingly beautiful in a completely different way." Tomorrow we leave and head south. We plan to take our time and enjoy the remainder of the Oregon coast as we head into Redwood Country.