Showing posts with label Elks Lodge Florence OR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elks Lodge Florence OR. Show all posts

10/24/2022

October 17 – 18, 2022 Dunes and Future

October 17, 2022  Part 2

After we left the lighthouse, we followed one of the back roads and ended up in the dunes area.  They are huge and beautiful and amazing.

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We watched a few ATVers go up and around.  OMG, one of them was a little girl on her own little ATV.  She looked like she was 5. And she was having fun!

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The road between the sets of dunes:

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We stopped at one pullout that said “Beach Access” and followed the path:

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These beaches are just beautiful:

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I could just listen to those waves forever:

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Beautiful!

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My Andy watching for ships or whales – I am not sure:

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I don’t know this person, just thought it was a cool picture:

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The dunes at the beach:

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Near each of the paths is a number that helps us remember where we parked the car.  You can easily get lost..

Lots and lots of driftwood:

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Beautiful!

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As we made our way back to the highway, we stopped for lunch at a little corner restaurant in Reedsport.  Great chowder!

The area where we saw the elk was only 5 miles away so off we went to see if they were there.  Bummer, no luck.

Heading back home, we checked out a couple of Days End sites and then relaxed at home.

What a great day! 

October 18, 2022

We had to take care of a few things this morning and make a few phone calls. 

As many of you know, I strongly DISLIKE making reservations far out cause then I feel that I lose the spontaneity of travel. But knowing today’s environment, I am now trying to set up a schedule on where we are going to be for the next week or so.

We only have one more reservation scheduled so this afternoon we figured which direction we are going and where to stay next (at least for the next two weeks).  We are also watching the weather to decided how we will be going south.

We finished the day having dinner at the Elks Lodge – Yum!

Tomorrow we are heading further south so stay tuned and enjoy today!

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10/16/2022

October 12, 2022 Part 3 of 3 Seals and Lighthouses - Oh My

After leaving the Seal Lion Caves, we wanted to go to the Heceta Lighthouse Museum.  Well..after a few wrong turns, we realized that it was a .5 mile walk from the beach..

Here is the beach – Lovely!

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Some information:

“While the lighthouse is 56 feet tall, it stands 205 feet above sea level thanks to the bluff it is placed on. It’s a bluff you have to climb if you want to see the lighthouse up close and personal.

The masonry tower stands fifty-six feet tall and has a focal plane of 205 feet above sea level. The light is the most powerful on the Oregon coast and can be seen up to twenty-one miles out to sea.

The tower’s first-order Fresnel lens was manufactured in Birmingham, England by Chance Brothers. Most Fresnel lenses installed in U.S. lighthouses were produced in France, but besides Heceta Head, Chance Brothers lenses were also used at Point Cabrillo and Anacapa Island in California, and in Staten Island Lighthouse in New York. The Heceta Head lens has 640, two-inch-thick prisms, arranged in eight bull’s-eye panels, and revolves to produce brilliant white flashes.

There are few more dramatic vistas along the Oregon Coast than Heceta Head, a 200-foot bluff that juts out into the sea and is crowned with a 56-foot-tall lighthouse that has steered ships from danger since 1894.

The view is especially eye-popping from the pullout along U.S. 101, just past the Sea Lion Caves, about 10 miles north of Florence. From here, high above the surf, you can take in the scene, which includes the sights and sounds of frolicking sea lions on the rocks below, and a bird’s-eye view of Cape Cove and Devils Elbow, with Heceta Head framed perfectly beyond.

For an up-close encounter with this striking landmark, continue along U.S. 101 another half-mile or so and turn right onto Cape Creek Road, which winds down beneath the soaring, aqueduct-like 1932 highway bridge to a large parking lot beside a windswept beach (day parking is $5), popular for tide pooling and offering sheltered picnic tables. Here a well-maintained gravel path leads a mile slightly uphill, past a few outbuildings and out to the lighthouse itself; it’s part of a 7-mile trail network through Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint that affords abundant opportunities to view sea lions and migrating gray whales (which come especially close to shore in May), as well as such local birdlife as cormorants, eagles and common murres.

The lighthouse was staffed until 1963, when an automated beacon was installed — it’s visible some 20 miles offshore. Today, although you can’t ascend the stairs to the lens, you can explore the base of the lighthouse as well as its ground floor when rangers are on hand (staffing and weather permitting). For the ultimate Heceta Head adventure, book an overnight stay in the red-roofed former assistant lighthouse keeper’s residence, which dates to 1893 and is now operated as Heceta Lighthouse B&B. It contains six antiques-filled rooms, some with ocean views, and rates include breakfast and an afternoon wine social. Whether on clear nights beneath a canopy of twinkling stars or stormy winter evenings when you can hear the waves crash against the rocks below, staying here is a magical experience.”

More information can be found here:

https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/culture-history/lighthouses/heceta-head-lighthouse/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heceta_Head_Light

https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=131

https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=131

https://www.oregon.com/attractions/heceta-head-lighthouse

The lighthouse keeper’s house from the beach:

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We decided to take the trail to the lighthouse so up we went.  Pictures from the trail:

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Here is the house – now a Bed and Breakfast.  We could not go in because there were a few guests.

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From there we continued up the trail to the lighthouse:

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The life of the Lighthouse keeper and his family:

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The road/trail from the house to the lighthouse:

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  Impressive!:

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There was a volunteer available who gave us a tour of the lower floor and gave us a history of the improvements of the lighthouse.  Plus the little shed next door was a mini museum of artifacts from the lighthouse and the keepers.

 

Views from the lighthouse grounds:

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What a wonderful day!

Tomorrow we are doing a short move so stay tuned and enjoy today.

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October 12, 2022 Part 2 of 3 Seals and Lighthouses - Oh My

I just had to dedicate a blog to the seals…(I couldn’t resist..LOL!)

“I AM THE DIVA OF THE GROUP – JUST SO YOU KNOW”

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“THIS IS MY BEST SIDE.”

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“AWWW.  I JUST LOVE HER.  THE ONE BEHIND ME IS JUST JEALOUS.”

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“THE THREE TENORS”

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“OOOOOHHHH, MY NECK HURTS”   “IF YOU WOULD SLEEP LIKE THE REST OF US, IT WOULDN’T HURT.”

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“ MY TRIBE IS ALL TOGETHER AND WE ARE HAPPY.”

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“ARE WE LATE FOR THE PARTY?”

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“JUST LOUNGING AROUND!”  (Check out these sleeping positions.)

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“I AM JUST SOOOOO CUTE.  SO GLAD YOU ARE TAKING MY PICTURE!”

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These seals were just so funny!  I just couldn’t resist.

Enjoy!

Part 3 is a continuation of our day…

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October 12, 2022 Part 1 of 3 Seals and Lighthouses - Oh My

(I decided to do a three part blog on today’s adventures.  We experienced A LOT today and I have many pictures so I decided to do three parts.  They are intertwined because of the close proximity of the Seal Lion Caves and the Heceta Lighthouse.)

We started today’s adventure with a journey to the Seal Lion Caves.

A little info:

“America’s largest sea cave, Sea Lion Caves is a privately owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary that is the year-round home of the Steller sea lion. Sea Lion Caves is not a zoo, so the protected marine animals come and go as they please. There are times when the sea lions leave the caves entirely, usually in the late fall. SLC plays an important part in Oregon’s Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve helping to protect the marine animals and their environment.

Sea Lion Caves Facts

  • Cave Formed 25 million years ago
  • Cave is made of Basalt Rock
  • The largest Sea Cave in the America's
  • Height: equivalent to a 12 story building
  • Length of a football field
  • Elevator access since 1961
  • Discovered in 1880 by Captain William Cox
  • The elevator capacity is twenty-three passengers
  • The elevator descends a total of 208 feet
  • The elevator speed is 250 feet per minute
  • The elevator accommodates about 400 people per hour

The sea level portion of this cave and the sea cliff rocks just outside the cave have become, over the centuries, the only known mainland rookery (breeding area) and hauling area (wintering home) of the Stellar sea lion, and to lesser extent, the California sea lion. The high vault is also a natural resting place for fascinating sea birds. Sea Lion Caves is the largest sea grotto in America - comparable both in size and coloration to the famed Blue Grotto of Capri in the Mediterranean - and it is Nature's entertaining and educational exhibit of a wide variety of marine life.”

More information can be found here:

https://www.sealioncaves.com/cave.php

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/sea_lion_caves/#.Y0tHD3bMJPY

We entered thru the gift shop and talked to the woman at the ticket counter.  Before she sold us the tickets, she told us the the seals were not in the cave right now.  They usually shelter there in late fall/winter.  However, there were some on the rocks outside of the cave.  Mating and birthing happens in the spring/summer so there are a lot less seals than there would be in the summer or winter. 

We still decided to go for it so we paid for tickets and made our way outside to the stairs to the trail to the elevator.

A description of the site:

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Beautiful sculpture at the bottom of the stairs:

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And the views… this is to the south:

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To the north:

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The cycle of life here:

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If you look close, you can see the seal lions on the rocks in the middle of the picture:

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Here they are – I have more in part 2:

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We went down about 208’ in the elevator to the cave.  Here it is:

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This cavern was HUGE.  I wish we were here when the seals were inside.

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Info on the male seal lions:

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The view from the bottom to the north view:

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The north view:

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The tide was starting to come in.  Those waves were powerful.

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The view from the north window to the cave:

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This was worth the trip – very impressive.  There was many exhibits plus a skeleton of the seal lions as well as the wildlife around the cave area.

Part two contains the seals so check it out.

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