Sea Lion Cave and area...

Road and beach just North of Sea Lion Cave and Florence, Oregon:

 

 View from atop the Sea Lion Cave

 The green pigment on the skeleton is due to algae growing on the bones.

 Looking North from the cave.

 Down the road (South) from the cave:

Oregon Coast, Part two...

Continuing down the coast, I stayed a few nights in Newport, where I stopped by the famous Oregon Coast Aquarium, known for housing Keiko the Orca (starred in the Free Willy movies) among other things.  Also stopped by the Yaquina Bay State Park area and saw the lighthouse there, which was pretty cool.

I then made my way down to the area of Florence, where I stopped by the Sea Lion Cave.  Here they have what they claim to be the world's largest sea cave, which many wild seals seek shelter in during the winter months.  There is also a little exhibit displaying a skeleton of a seal that was partially dug up (but left in the ground) and is now preserved quite well due to the low temperatures and salty air.  You could actually see algae growing on the skeleton and one of the guides with whom I struck up a conversation at the exhibit informed me all about how the skull was stolen back in 1958 (a time in which construction was taking place on the exhibit).

It was then off to Brookings, which is only a few miles north of the California border.  Brookings, as it turns out, is quite possibly one GIANT retirement home.  If ever you need to feel young again, without actually doing anything, go there.  It was also cloudy and rainy the whole time I was there, so you won't even need sunscreen!  =/  Ironically enough, I found this cool old school gym to workout at that had more of the equipment I use than most 24 hour fitness locations.  Go figure.

Pics below and as always, stay shiny.

Oregon Coast Aquarium:

View from Yaquina Bay State Park (and lighthouse area):

Sea Lion Cave pics to come...

Oregon Coast, Part one...

During my time on the Oregon Coast, I lucked out as far as weather.  Aside from a light mist/fog (that would routinely become heavy at night), it was great weather and very mild temperatures.  I made it to many (not all though, there's just so much to see!) of the places that were recommended to me by many of you.

Mario - Oswald and Ecola State Parks were both awesome.  Very scenic.  And the hike into Smuggler Cove was awesome too.

Cyndy - Drove by Cleawox Lake briefly!  Cool lake!  I contemplated renting a dune buggy to go drive around a lot of the dunes out there, but decided to keep moving.  Some day though!

Glen - Stayed in Brookings for a couple nights too...  I'll talk about that in a later post though.

Here are a few pics (click on them for bigger versions!) from the first part of the Oregon Coast drive!  Of course, more to come!

Stay shiny.

Seaside, Oregon

 

 Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock

Oswald State Park (hike into Smuggler Cove):

Experimenting with my camera's panorama mode

Further on down the coast:

Finally!

So I've finally been able to spend some time on this blog!  Let me bring you up to date on where I've been...  It's been two weeks since I left on the trip.  Made it to Twin Falls, ID after the first day of driving...  Would have made it further, but leaving at 1:30pm will set you back a little.  No matter though, as I made it up to Issaquah, WA the next day, where I stayed for a the first weekend with a friend of mine and her family (thanks Alycia and family!).  Left that Monday morning for Astoria, where I spent the next day.  On the way, I had a guy pull straight out in front my direction of traffic as I was approaching quickly (as he obviously had not seen myself or the motorcycle close behind me) and I ended up having to swerve aggressively to avoid him.  He might have been 650 years old.  Just a guess, I can't prove it...  Spent the next number of days making my way down the Oregon coast, stopping at random times for random things.  Discovered that I have a knack for somehow neglecting to stop for the obvious tourist attractions but then driving 3 more miles and stopping at the most ridiculous little "pull off" a civil engineer could have possibly thought up.  Sometimes it plays to my favor, other times, probably not, ha.  Oh well.

Moving on, I continued my journey into California.  Stopped by Trees of Mystery to ride the gondola and see some of the coastal Redwoods.  Nothing short of awesome (pics to come).  Continued to make my way further down the coast before venturing inland a bit into Sacramento, where I am currently staying with my cousin.  I will soon be leaving for San Francisco and beyond!  On Wed., Nov. 3rd, I will be getting to race a 911, a Cayman, a Boxster, the Lotus Elise S/C, the Elise Exige, and a V8 M3 at the famous Laguna Seca Racetrack in Monterey for the entire day.  Yes, Christmas is on Nov. 3rd this year...


More pics to come shortly!  (See below for some of the first ones)

Stay shiny.

Dismal Nitch, Lewis and Clark Bridge, and Astoria

Dismal Nitch:

Lewis and Clark Bridge (from Astoria):

Trolley tracks!

Flavel House