Coastal Waters, Coast Range, Dog Coats

So we've been trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer these past few days.

We went to the coast on Thursday and had a nice time seeing the usual circuit of places we and the dogs love. Agate Beach was almost empty and the cool clean air was a delight after many days in the smokey valley. The absence of humans on the beach helped to preserve a number of great sand formations, but high tide timing on our part made shell hunting unrewarding. We delighted in the huge driftwood tangles instead.

Today we took Hwy 99 to Eugene for Saturday Market. The coast range was extra lovely with layers of smoke, cloud cover, and fog. In town we took the dogs to a new dog park and Freyja had a great time exploring the various little swimming pools. Later though we noticed that she was shivering, so we put one of my shirts on her...she was not pleased, however she was warm.

So it goes. Onward to fall!

Yaquina Head Bird Mania

Today we went to the coast. Since we have a membership at the Oregon Coast Aquarium we tend to head off to Newport pretty often. Typically we go to the Aquarium, the Brewery and Hatfeild Marine Science Center. But today we went somewhere new, Yaquina Head. 

The head is just north of Agate Beach, where we frequently take the dogs to run along the long sandy beach, and look for treasures at low tide. Yaquina Head is managed by the BLM and is the site of an old light house first lit in 1873. Bird and Jan went into the lighthouse while I hung out on the back deck and watched some whales. There are several other awesome features at Yaquina. One is Cobble Beach which is a freakish place covered with nearly perfect round basalt cobbles that sing as the tide rolls in and out. Another lovely feature is Salal Hill, a 1000 ft trail that brings you to a great lookout over the ocean and lighthouse. It was totally worth the seven dollar parking fee. We saw many lovely harbor seals, whales, and tons of bird (Brandt's Cormorants, double crested Cormorants, brown Pelicans, white crowned sparrows, common Murres, and pigeons Guillemot) 

Needless to say I took plenty of photos and posted a good smattering of them on photobucket.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind, but today was a magically delightful day of seacoast, history, poetry, dog play, and hiking.