Sun 21 - Newport, Oregon

South Beach State Park
Site #G18 - $22, p/w, no Internet, Temp 17.5C

Today we drove through the Oregon Dunes area. All that gorgeous sand! Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to interest Ron in renting an ATV and going for a ride. There were rental places everywhere. It looked like it would be great fun!



There were more mesmerising views today and again and we stopped for lunch after only 167 km. We were a little worried when we arrived at our destination spot of Newport and the South Beach State Park and saw the "campground full" sign. We drove in anyway and luckily they just hadn't removed their 'weekend' sign. Campers were lined up at the dump to empty their tanks, so there were lots of sites available.

Cormorants on the rocks

I haven't mentioned this fact before, but we are actually considered to be travelling 'backwards' or the 'wrong way' on this Oregon Coastal highway. Not because we can't see the views etc, that isn't the case at all, but, all the pull offs are on the other side of the highway.  It is a little scary when Ron pulls across traffic to get in and out of them!! We also miss a few pull offs that we might have stopped at because we just couldn't get over on time. So I would highly recommend travelling north to south. (The one disadvantage of travelling that direction is that most of the traffic is also going that way!)

Yesterday when we were driving, we noticed the fog was getting thicker and thicker as we drove along. We commented on how bad it was getting. Then Ron turned on his windshield wipers and the 'fog' disappeared!! We had quite a chuckle. We learned today that it is the salt from the ocean that does that. -- Us 'born and raised' prairie folk were a little slow on that one!!

We have 2 nights booked at this state park. The paved paths all through this park and down to the ocean are 'bike accessible' which I am very excited about. I can put on lots of miles on my bike, but not so much on my legs anymore.  It's time to explore!!



LATER: We enjoyed our bike ride to the beach, jetty and on in to town. We watched the fishermen coming in with their catch and then the cleaning -- mostly halibut it appeared. We were treated to a fantastic sunset.