West Coast RV Trip - December 2024 - Oregon Coast

 The rest of the trip was exploring the beauty of the Oregon Coast.  First we braved an impending storm to visit a lighthouse and look for sea creatures during low tide.

The storm came and we got pretty wet.

We found a state park to stay at and got warmed up and dried off while playing some Ma Jiang.

The next day's scenery was glorious!

We kept on driving up the coast. Even with all the rain the scenery was gorgeous.

We stopped at Gold Beach. I think we would have spent more time there if we would have known this was the best beach to find cools rocks and agates.

Finally the sun came out for a small time.

We went out to Cape Blanco Light House and the boys and I ended up on a pretty crazy adventure after viewing the lighthouse.

A guy at the Gold Beach Visitor Center told us that on the cliffs under the lighthouse there was a place to find a bunch of fossils. So we headed down to the coast below to search. We went down the side that had looked like the right way. 

We kept walking out along the cape searching for the area that matched his description, but we weren't finding it. We soon decided that he was talking about the other side of the cape. We stopped to see a little waterfall.

We decided to walk a little further before turning back and we came upon this hole in the cape to the other side.  We knew we wanted to get to the other side, but it was quite a far hike going back the way we had come, so we decided to climb through hoping the other side would be hikeable before the tide came in. I didn't get a picture up close, but we had to climb (the boys had to pull me) up a very steep and slippery tree that was jammed in the crack. It was no easy feat. 

But we made it through the hard part and came out into some pretty neat area on the other side that felt like it had never been explored.

We started walking along back toward the inland part of the cape not knowing if it would be passable terrain around each corner all while the tide was coming in. If we couldn't have traversed this side, we would have had to turn back, climb through the crack again and go back the way we had come which quite possibly would have caused us to get stranded as the tide came back in. Honestly, I was stressed about it and it didn't help that we didn't have any cell service and Mark didn't know what we were up to. This was the view from behind us as we hiked and climbed onward next to endless waves that were getting closer and closer to the cliffs. Thankfully at this point the sun was still out. We were fine at the moment and I just tried to enjoy the adventure.

This was the view in front of us. We really had no idea what lay around each outcropping.

After some time of climbing over all these huge rocks, we came around a corner to this open beach. It made me feel better seeing that even with high tide there would still be beach here. 

Then as we got further onto the beach it looked like the ground was rolling. We looked closer and realized it was covered in seals and they were all heading back to the water after seeing us approach. 

After the seal beach, we hiked and hiked. We went around more outcroppings...

Climbed through more holes in the rocks to avoid the ocean...

Traveled across a few more large beaches...

Then we discovered the cliffs that were shedding the fossils we had originally set out to find. We were too worried about making it back to the RV before we were stranded by the high tide so we didn't spend long with the fossils.

Finally after climbing through a tiny crack in another cliff, we came out safely onto the beach down below the RV. It is the beach below the boys in this following picture (which was taken before our adventure). 

Yes, we still had to climb the steep incline/cliff to reach the RV. I did not take any pictures at this point in the adventure because I was so exhausted, and the sun (that gratefully was out most of time previously) was now completely gone and replaced by pouring rain, and that "hill" we had to climb to get back to the RV was covered in thick gooey sticky slippery mud. I was grateful that we were not stranded out on the cliffs of the cape, but I was so ridiculous and pathetic trying to climb that muddy mountain with exhausted jelly legs and too big rubber boots (that kept getting sucked off in the mud) that I could not help but continuously laugh out loud. I would occasionally intersperse some little pep talks to myself saying, "Come on Jenny you can do this," and then I would fall or lose my boot and I would just have to laugh again to help myself survive the ordeal. The boys seriously thought I was crazy as they tugged and pulled on me and rescued my boots from the mud over and over again all while I was laughing. It does give me a little insight about my natural coping mechanisms I guess. In the end, we made it to the RV soaking wet and covered in mud, but with a grand story to tell. Mark had been searching the other side of the cape for us but he didn't make it far enough to see the crack we had disappeared through. Luckily he came back to the RV to find us safe. I hope Brian and Timmy know how much I appreciate them sticking with me and helping me up that last obstacle and I hope they know I will always hold dear that whole Cape Blanco experience we had together.

Seeing a photo of the cape from above brings a whole new perspective. I have no idea why I didn't think to look up on my phone the shape of the cape while we were out there. The crack we first went through was not out on the end of the cape like we thought. It was actually completely on that same far side where we started. We ended up coming all the way around the cape ending on the side facing the camera in this photo. The RV was parked in the lot on the far right of the photo. What an adventure.

We made it to Bandon Beach just in time to catch the sunset that day.

Brian was again my adventure buddy and up for the hike down to the beach for some sunset photos.

Timmy made it down for the last bits of sunlight.

We were tired and hungry and pulled into a casino on the reservation with a nice RV lot. After a good shower and a great night's sleep, we enjoyed the pool and hot tub and had a big meal before heading on up the coast.

Mark was still recovering from the flu and needed a nap, so I took the boys to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon. It wasn't as good as we thought it would be, but it gave Mark a chance to rest before driving again.

We saw some more coast and then stopped at a state park for the night.

The next morning we explored the beach and the boys found if they broke open the rocks they could find fossils so we spent the morning there breaking open rocks.

We stopped in Depot Bay to look for whales. We went into the whale watching center but didn't see much.

We found a good place to eat though.

We had some pretty good (although expensive) clam chowder, fish and chips, and crab dishes.

We explored a few more beaches and ended in Lincoln City where we headed inland to Portland.

After eating lunch with Mark's co-worker and his family in Portland, Mark drove through a storm, slept for a few hours near Boise at a rest stop and brought us to Lava Hot Springs where we soaked in the glorious hot water.

We arrived home a day earlier than expected and admired our beachcombing loot.

Overall it was a fantastic trip and an experience I will always treasure thanks to Mark and his willingness to drive us so many miles all while sick with the flu. Thank you, Mark!