This morning was a quiet one. Raining early then just cloudy and cool. Mark assumed cook’s duties this morning and whipped up scrambled eggs with baby shrimp tucked into the curds. Surprisingly tasty, accompanied by orange juice, coffee and toast. Shortly after noon, the crew popped into the chariot for some sightseeing. We hoovered south on highway 101 towards the destination of Newport.
We stopped at Yaquina Lighthouse for some history. This 93 foot tall lighthouse is Oregon’s tallest. It is one of a string of lighthouses built along the Pacific Ocean coast to allow shipping and to open up the region to commerce. The construction of Yaquina Lighthouse was begun in 1871 and the light was first lit on August 20, 1873. The light was visible for 20 miles out to sea, courtesy of a Fresnel lens manufactured in Paris, France in 1868. The lens was shipped across the Atlantic to Panama, carried overland across the isthmus and then continued its voyage up the Pacific coast to Oregon. In the 1930’s the 4-wick lamp fueled by oil was replaced wth a 1,000 watt electric theatrical lamp of 130,000 candlepower. In 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was incorporated into the U.S. Coastguard which took over control of the lighthouse, its structures and supervision of its keepers.
In 1966, the era of Lighthouse Keeper ended as a computerised light was installed. A GPS system has since replaced most navigation, but the lighthouse remains lit for those vessels not equipped with GPS equipment. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management now administers the sight and conducts tours of the lighthouse and staffs the facility with Rangers to provide lectures about the lighthouse and it’s animal and sea life in the tide pools.
The other attraction at Yaquina Point are the small islands just off shore which are part of a designated bird sanctuary. We were able to spot Brown Pelicans, Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorants, Xantus’ Murrelets, Pigeon Guillemot, Seagulls trying to steal eggs, and Turkey Vultures swooping down to scare the small birds and steal some eggs. We talked at length to a volunteer Ranger, Wil(helmina) who provided us with some background and information on all the wildlife. She was just getting off of her shift and so walked with us towards the parking lot. A younger tourist woman was walking up the path towards the lighthouse, with a young pit bull type dog pulling on the leash. As she walked past the “No Pets Allowed” sign, Wil said “I’m sorry, Ma’am, no pets are allowed as this is a bird sanctuary.” The woman looked over her shoulder, kept going and said “This is a service dog.” Wil said,”Service dogs don’t pull at their leads.” The woman ignored her and kept on going. Wil muttered that she was off duty and didn’t want to lose her temper, so turned towards the parking lot and left. We are not sure not sure if the dog was a bitch, but we are certain about the woman!
We then continued south into the town of Newport. The fishing industry and warehouses here are gradually giving away to tourism, but the town still bustles. We stopped at a local jewelry shop that Ann frequents to find earrings to match a ring she had purchased last year. It was a Herkimer diamond, which I had never heard of but are only mined near Herkimer, N.Y. Considerably less expensive than regular diamonds but very attractive, nonetheless. Afterwards we went looking for the “hundreds of seals” that generally hang out at the local pier only to find one poor, lonely bull seal with the whole pier to himself. We have no idea where the others are hanging out these days but when we find out, we will send someone to tell him. We stopped for a late lunch/early supper at the famous Mo’s Diner for our afternoon repast. Deb & Mark enjoyed wonderful clam chowder accompanied by a bowl of fried onion rings for the table. Ann ordered fish tacos and a small shrimp salad (which proved to be too much food, so the salad became take-out) while Don enjoyed a large seafood salad. We finished the meal with a shared piece of peanut butter cream pie, which was delicious. Deb is still talking about it!
On the drive home, we stopped at the roadside Chester’s Market for additional provisions and then, some of us returned for a rest. Don & Ann, however, went for a walk along the beach which was cut somewhat short by rain. Meanwhile, Mark made Deb a Dirty Martini (it is Friday after all!) which she couldn’t finish because she was too full of chowder and onion rings! We then worked on Ann’s million piece jigsaw puzzle, watched PBS Newshour for updates on the Orange Felon, then Washington Week with The Atlantic. The weather cleared and we watched the sun sink into the wide Pacific Ocean.
