On the Road to Newport, Oregon

As we left Florence, Oregon, we are again heading north on Highway 101. This section of the road is not for the faint of heart. There are steep rocky mountain faces to the right, and plunging drops to the ocean on the left. Today we can't see either one of those, because we are traveling in the fog.

We thought it was interesting this morning that the big-rig GPS in the motor home detoured us south and an extra hundred miles east to get to our next destination. What was it afraid of on Highway 101? It seems there is a tunnel that is only 11.5 feet high. That's not good for a motor home that is almost 13 feet tall!

When we continued on Highway 101, it was trying to get us to U-turn down dirt forest service roads and through residential areas. But we knew something that the GPS didn't know. Mark does his homework before we set out to a new location. He checks heights of overpasses and tunnels, so when the GPS gave us this "unavoidable restrictions on route" death wish in one mile, we didn't have to freak out.

We were headed into this scary-looking tunnel that cuts through a mountain right on the coast.

Sure enough, it is 11 feet 6 inches on the outer edges, but it is a comfortable 14 feet 6 inches in the middle. So as long as one doesn't insist on hugging the outside of the line, even tall motor homes can pass through unscathed. Mark read a story written by an RVer who didn't know about this tunnel ahead of time. That would be a very stressful approach to a tunnel, as there are absolutely no turn-around options for a motor home at this point.

We heard someone call this area "Devil's Elbow," because of the hairpin turns. That 25 mph speed limit is not to be ignored, especially when traveling in a motor home.

Again, we have fog on the coast. It's interesting to see that the coastal mountains are holding it back from traveling further inland into Oregon.

So we were glad to see our first glimpse of blue skies as we pulled into our new home-town of Newport, Oregon.

We got the motor home settled into its spot at South Beach State Park, just south of Newport. Then we headed over the ornate Yaquina Bay Bridge. With soaring arches that are tall enough for even big boats to pass under, it's one of the most photographed bridges in Oregon. It is another work of art by Conde McCollough. We have seen so many of his bridges that we are beginning to recognize his work.

It's important to have a tall bridge because there are many boats traveling under it. The Newport dock hosts 80% of the fishing boats on the Oregon coast. The city's dock was full of shrimp and fishing boats. In fact, the area preachers were having a "blessing of the fleet" service on Sunday afternoon here at the dock.

We watched as another boat came under the bridge to unload its catch at the local fish warehouse.

Because they have access to so much local fish, we got recommendations from more than one person to be sure to eat sea food there at the dock. The restaurant that came up over and over was Local Ocean Seafoods, so we headed there one afternoon. We tried the Tuna Mignon--"smoked apple bacon wrapped albacore grilled medium rare with fizzled onion and pan seared vegetables." After our indiscretions at the all-you-can-eat buffet lately, we shared the tuna meal.

Before we left the dock, we could hear the familiar barking of sea lions. We followed our ears (and our noses) to find this group lounging on rafts at the dock.

This is a bachelor group of California sea lions, that are vacationing up north in Oregon away from the females and their babies. They spend most of their time here in Newport, until their services are needed back in California. We know this because researchers track their movement. We noticed that some of these guys are tattooed with numbers to help with the tracking.

We can see the Yaquina Bay Bridge in the background of the picture above. It would continue to show up in pictures during our stay. One evening we walked to the beach from our campsite at South Beach State Park. We walked through a tunnel of trees to get to the sand dune that protected the beach entrance.

It was a short walk north to get to the jetty that forms the entrance into the Newport Harbor. From there we could see the Yaquina Bay Bridge again.

It was a beautiful evening on the beach, with blue skies and dramatic clouds that were reflected in the wet sand.

There was a flock of shore birds making their way down the beach with us.

Like many beaches, this one had a make-shift shelter made from driftwood. Denisa crawled inside to wait for the sunset. Notice that she is outfitted in her winter coat, gloves and ear muffs. Who knew that May on the beach would be colder than snow skiing in March?

It was a beautiful sunset at South Beach State Park. We are totally spoiled by being so close to some beautiful views on this Oregon coast.

There are more sights to see in Newport, but we are already impressed with our first introductions here. We're looking forward to several nice days and beautiful evenings in this central coast section of Oregon.