Dec. 18, 2015---down the Oregon coast to Perpetua.
Technically we still have an oceanview, we're just farther from it then in the phase 1 units.  This was the view from our balcony.

 I did walk down to the fence to get a better view.  Even saw some tiny ground cover blooming.

Right down from the cliff in the bay were a couple seals.  One was really making a lot of noise.

 The other was obviously injured.  Wonder if it had an encounter with a great white shark?

I watched them for awhile and more and more of them made their way up onto the rock.

 another view into the bay area. 

 Around the "back" of the phase 1 buildings.  By now I was realizing that I needed better shoes they I brought with me!  My feet were constantly soaked and cold.  Had to go out and buy some boots later on.

Soon we were on our way south along the coast.  We stopped at a few of the parks and Angie and I took a few short walks.  

Not only was the ocean interesting, but the flora was interesting, too.

I know there are a lot of mushrooms picked in Oregon, but I have no idea which ones are harmful, so no picking mushrooms for me.

We actually had a few streaks of blue skies, too!

I love the trails along the coast.  They're certainly different from anything we have in St. Louis or South Florida!

Josh even joined the walking when we got to Devil's Punch bowl. 

the ol' punch bowl. 

Even the views from the road are pretty spectacular most of the way south.  This was near Agate Beach.

I believe this is part of Seal beach.  

 Down near Yachats

We came across a few of these stoppages on our rides up and down the coast.  The heavy rains aren't kind to the roads here.  Between mudslides and sink holes, the highway workers were kept busy.

Our destination---Thor's Well!  Ken and I had been to this area a couple times, but I didn't realize this was there.  After seeing pictures of it, I wanted to get back there.  With the force of the waves crashing in at this time, we didn't get too close to it. 

 But Angie and I did go down the stairs to the rocky plateau where Thor's Well is.

a view of the plateau.

a couple pieces of the colorful driftwood on the plateau.

 close up of the black and white driftwood.

 Angie spotted this little guy over by the well.  I blew him up quite a bit, thus the blurriness.

 Another view of Thor's Well from above the plateau.

 Then we took a drive up to Cape Perpetua look out.  There were impromptu waterfalls like this all over the place from all the rains lately.

Along the walking trail to the West Shelter observation point near the top of the cape.

 On top of the world---nothing like this in St. Louis or South Florida, either!

Zoomed in from about 800' up towards the spouting horn and the plateau that Thor's well is on.  On days when the surf isn't so high, you can walk out to Thor's Well.  We stayed back on the green area by the cliff.

 at the West Shelter

 During World War II, the West Shelter observation point was used as a coastal watch station, and a large coastal defense gun was temporarily installed.  Now it's a great scenic look out.  On a clear day, you can see about 70 miles of coastline and about 37 miles out to sea.

 there are are twenty-six miles of interconnected hiking trails in old growth forests here in
Cape Pertetua Scenic area.  We only did about a mile of hiking!

I found this lichen growing on a tree interesting.  Reminded me of a Christmas tree with snow on it's branches.

 Back in Yachets I was excited to see palm trees!  I'm surprised they do so well in this climate.

We drove straight back to Newport where we drove down along the bay front.  love all the paintings on the buildings there.

Ended up at the Rogue restaurant on that side of the bay.  A few years ago we had outstanding meals there.  They seem to be slipping.  We went 3 times to give them the benefit of the doubt and it didn't compare to 8 years ago.

 But the beer was still great!

After dinner, when we were walking to our car we could hear the barking of the sea lions in the marina.  So we walked out on a pier and watched them for awhile.

Love all the boats in the marina!

It was another long day, but a good one.  Tomorrow Tim and FAith fly out to join us.