Oregon Vacation Day 4

We woke up to rain on day 4, but it cleared up and we decided to head down the road to the Cape Meares lighthouse. Cape Meares is 200 feet above the ocean, but is the shortest lighthouse in Oregon. There are beautiful views all along the trails leading down to the lighthouse. This rock houses Common Murres (birds). You could stand and listen to all the birds and when looking through binoculars you could see birds everywhere on the rock even along the steep cliffs.

We all took turns looking through Wes' binoculars. Adelle had a hard time seeing things though and would get frustrated.

Lydia looking through the binoculars.

All of the trails were so green and you could hear the birds chirping all around.

We got down to the lighthouse and realized it wasn't going to open for another hour or so. So we did some more exploring before coming back to the lighthouse.

We all enjoyed looking at the various plants and flowers along the trails. There were large, fuzzy bees that were very attracted to these pink flowers.

We found this large guy along the trail. It is called a banana slug and is absolutely HUGE!


We went up the trail to the Octopus Tree. This tree is 105 feet tall an is estimated to be 250 to 300 years old. The tree has no central trunk, but instead the limbs branch out looking like and octopus.

We saw this view down to the ocean. You can see three arches rocks and the beach. The sea caves are actually down somewhere on that beach.

Once the lighthouse was open we went inside and climbed the short staircase to the top.

The lighthouse is made with many glass prisms. This lighthouse has both red and white panels to signal out to sea. The lighthouse is no longer in operation and is maintained by volunteers.

After exploring Cape Meares we headed back to our place to have lunch. We had set up an appointment to go crab fishing in Netart's Bay and we were all really excited.

We headed to Netart's, rented our boat and headed out into the bay.

The bay is surrounded by sand bars or spits as they are called and keeps the water pretty smooth. Would you like to know how to crab fish? I'll give you some crabbing tips!

Make sure you have your life jackets!

A beautiful girl to throw out and pull up your anchor.

Crab rings with bait. In our case we used large, dead fish. The rings, bait and supplies were all provided with the boat rental. First, you go out into the bay looking for deeper water. The water will be darker where it is deeper. Once you have found your spot throw out one of the crab rings. You keep doing this until you've thrown out all your rings. We had three. You wait a bit (we usually didn't wait too long) and then you go pull up your rings.

Wes pulled up a lot of the rings, but in the end I helped too. He was also our handy boat driver. You get all wet and stinky pulling up the crab rings, but it is fun. We weren't very lucky this time out.

Even though there were five crabs in this ring they were all too small or were female. With Dungeness there are very specific laws that need to be followed. They need to be big enough (you have to specifically measure) and they have to be male.

You can keep as many as these Red Rock crabs that you find regardless or their size or sex. We only got one of these guys. He was actually missing a claw. Can you see it? We headed further out into the bay hoping we would have better luck, but our rings actually started coming up completely empty. We tried one more time to throw our rings out, without any luck.
Wes even wired in some extra bait, but unfortunately it didn't yield results for us.This seagull followed us around most of the time hoping for our bait. He did get lucky a couple of times. We saw a seal following us too.

We did catch two of these scary looking crabs. They are called spider crabs. They went right back into the bay. Since we only had the one Red Rock we threw it back since it wouldn't feed all of us, especially since it only had one claw. We headed back to the bay thinking we were out of time. Come to find out that we actually had rented the boat for 3 hours instead of 2 which really disappointed us! It was too late to go back out, but I bet if we had stayed another hour we would have caught some dinner.

Everyone felt sad including Adelle who started crying. Everyone at the boat rental shop was looking at us. Honestly Wes and I felt a little dumb. We were all smelly and wet so we headed back to our apartment to get dry clothes on.

Since we didn't catch our own crab we went out to eat crab. It was expensive and honestly we could have gone crab fishing two more times for the amount of money that dinner cost, but crab fishing is pretty physically exhausting!

This was our view at the Pirate Cove's restaurant overlooking Tillamook Bay.

What a face! We didn't catch any crab :( Wes made this face at my request.

Wes digging into the crab!

Lydia loving every yummy bite!

Adelle even pushed aside her crab melt sandwich to try her hand at getting her own crab meat.

We then headed to the store, bought a few movies, and headed back to our place to settle in. Even though we didn't catch crab it was still a fun day.

Lydia's Dramatic Story

Wes captured Lydia's story on video. She retold what happened when trying to leave the sea caves.

Video Outside the Sea Caves

Oregon Vacation Day 3

We decided to sleep in a bit Wednesday morning, but I was itching to get out the door to follow the tip from the waitress to see the see caves. Once everyone was ready we followed our little hand drawn map to the caves. We followed this mystical path, climbing down a tall wooden staircase to the beach below.

There also happened to be this strange, manufactured waterfall. When we came to the sea caves the water was already rising. The tide is lowest early in the morning. We were still able to see wonderful creatures just outside the caves.

There were bunches of anemones stuck to the rocks, as well as very large mussels.

We ended up finding a back way into the caves though to my delight and were amazed at everything we saw.

There were so many starfish of various colors and sizes. You could poke at them as much as you wanted.

There were a few small pools still in the caves. I love that my camera can capture ripples on the water.

Who knew sea life could be so colorful. You could touch the sea anemones and they would start moving and closing up their little bodies. They wouldn't sting you since their tentacles were all gathered inside their bodies.

My girls enjoying the mysterious caves!

Wes looks pretty happy as well. We realized that we shouldn't stay too long since we had arrived when the tide was already rising. When we exited the caves we were dismayed to see our way blocked by the sea. We weren't sure what to do at first. Lydia decided she would be "brave" and just go for it. She ran right around a large rock where I couldn't see her. I yelled at her to come back, but she didn't hear me. Suddenly I heard frantic screaming. I was terrified that she was being swept out to sea, since I couldn't see what was happening to her and because her screaming sounded so alarming. She suddenly came splashing back around the rock absolutely drenched! She had run right into a deep part of the beach, fallen down, and even received a few small stings from anemones.

Once we realized she was safe Wes and I couldn't help but laugh a little. The poor girl! Look at her face!!

I found the shallow way through and everyone followed. Adelle was lucky and got to be carried by Wes.

We climbed back up the cliff staircase to our car. I had to snap this picture of Adelle and the mossy, green surroundings.

We headed back to our place (the 3 story property located center) so Lydia could take a shower and change her clothes and so we could change our shoes. I even went searching at the local stores for flip flops for Wes since he hadn't brought an extra pair of shoes. Once that was done the girls wanted to go wading on the beach. It was chilly, but we just couldn't pass up visiting the beach.

Adelle and I found this little sand crab.

When you place them back on the sand they quickly dig down and bury themselves.

Even though it was cold Adelle still rolled up her pants and waded in the freezing water!

Lydia had to join in the fun as well, even though she had just barely warmed up. The weather was getting worse so we headed back our place. It began to rain so we decided to head into town to check out some of the local fun.

Being in Tillamook we couldn't pass up a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory. If you ever are in the area, don't pass up this adventure!!! Seriously, it was awesome. It was super busy the day we went, but it was still great. You can watch the workers making, slicing, and packaging the yummy cheese. You get free cheese samples and they have the BEST ice cream and fresh waffle cones and bowls! Ooooooh yummy!!!

Oh yes, this was the line for the ice cream, but it was well worth the wait.

Adelle with her fresh peaches and cream ice cream.

Lydia with her super chocolate ice cream.

Wes with his fresh waffle bowl and blueberry ice cream. Everyone in the family agreed I made the best choice with the marrionberry pie ice cream, and no, I'm not pictured :) Marionberries grow locally in the area and are delicious! I picked a few things at the gift shops including Marionberry Jam for my mother-in-law and super sharp white cheddar to enjoy on the trip.

After the Tillamook Cheese Factory we headed to Debbie D's Sausage factory (which I forgot to take a picture of). The little place is run by the sweetest women and she can make some yummy jerky! She shared several samples with us and Wes couldn't resist purchasing some Teriyaki Beef Sticks!

From there we headed over to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company to enjoy yet even more samples. We tried brie, gourmet mustards, sauces and jams. We sure ate a lot that day! We decided to buy some sweet and sour mustard. Lydia also found some flamingo shaped pasta which we are planning on giving to Lexi (my soon to be sister in law). She absolutely loves flamingos.

Outside the Blue Heron they have a petting zoo, and even though it was misting rain the girls had to check it out.

I always knew they were animals!

Lydia visiting with the emu.

The girls enjoyed seeing the goats, sheep and even large rams. Feeling stuffed and a little tired we again headed back to our place, had dinner and settled in for the evening.

The girls were quite silly hanging out in the sofa bed.

I enjoyed sitting in the arm chair and looking at this view from the living room. Day 3 was probably my most favorite day of the trip!

Oregon Vacation Day 2

We woke up about 7:00 the next morning in Baker City, Oregon, got ready, ate our continental breakfast and hit the road for another 6 or so hours of driving. We did stop though to enjoy Multnomah Falls. We had a chance to stop there 3 years ago and it is absolutely the most breathtaking waterfall. Did you know it was used in the Twilight Movie? You didn't? Well now you know.

Multnomah Falls is the second tallest year round waterfall in the nation and it is absolutely amazing!

I love my new camera by the way! It takes amazing photos. The mountain around the waterfall is just covered in beautiful greenery. There isn't a spot in Utah that would look like this.

Wes and the girls in front of the waterfall. The girls loved seeing the waterfall. Adelle would get distracted with her surroundings and tumbled on the trail a couple of times. Funny girl. The girls of course had to have more coins to make more wishes. Adelle's baby joined us on the trip.

Lydia enjoying the mist from the waterfall.

Once we made it to Oceanside, Oregon we unpacked the car and headed to the local grocery store in Tillamook. We had the best of intentions of coming right back to our little place and making dinner. We were starving though and ended up eating at this quaint, little cafe. The Three Capes Cafe. Though it was quaint, it wasn't cheap. It is amazing how much money was spent on food during the trip! The food was pretty good though, especially their secret fry dipping sauce. We also got a wonderful tip from the waitress about some sea caves that were only accessible 2 days out of the year and the next day happened to be one of them.

After we put away our groceries we had to head down to the beach to explore. It was chilly so we all wore our coats. There is nothing like the ocean!

The rocks were encrusted with mounds of mussels. It was amazing to see them just hanging out.

In pools there were various other sea creatures as well including anemones.

There is a passageway carved out of a rock that allows you to access the next beach even in high tides.

Wes and the girls.

Adelle picked up shells every chance she got, even if they were tiny fragments.

Three Arch Rocks was very visible from our beach. It actually serves as a National Wildlife Refuge. The rocks provide habitat for Oregon's largest breeding colony of Tufted Puffins. You could see birds flying everywhere around the rocks.

After our exploration we headed back to our rental property up the hill to end our day.