Today I got up early and went straight to the beach. It’s nearly the summer equinox so the sun was already plenty high. I strolled around a bit and found an intact sand dollar (!) before meeting up with Sam for breakfast and coffee. Cold brewed coffee, chilled courtesy of that cold ocean air!
Once we got ourselves in gear we packed camp and went to do the Cape Lookout hike (yes, it’s open!). There were few people when we arrived (many more when we left), and the trail was quite muddy and rather treacherous in spots.
We persevered, however, and trudged our way through the mud for a truly marvelous walk.
After 90 minutes or so we made it to the end of the cape for a truly spectacular and awe-inspiring view. We shared the moment with a quirky Oregonian couple who marveled at the scenery. The husband says to the wife that his “lead engineer” refers to this as the Specific Ocean.
After enjoying the moment we turned around and really hoofed it to get back to the car; we had afternoon reservations at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and definitely needed lunch first after the 5.2 mi, mud-laden obstacle course of a hike. And of course it had to be seafood, so we stopped in Lincoln City to visit Kyllo’s. Some family (hi!) and I went there in 2017. It didn’t disappoint, as freshly caught and fried halibut fish & chips often doesn’t. Sam was ecstatic about her crab linguini & asparagus, which my taste buds can confirm as being certified To-Die-For. I had a basil martini, which was amazing. It was ALL amazing, in fact, even the seat they gave us overlooking the beach! A real treat.
After lunch we booked it to Newport and poked around the aquarium. A little underwhelming, I must say; many exhibits were closed, the place is outdated, and there just wasn’t a sense of liveliness that a place like that needs. The giveaway in the end was a poster I saw detailing “three phases of renovations and improvements coming soon!” Apparently they noticed.
But I still saw jelly fish. And puffins. And sharks and giant starfish and some Dory fish too.
The volunteer lady in the birds section told us in great detail about the exhibit’s current soap opera, which sees the aquarium’s female puffin currently going back and forth between the nests of her original puffin mate and the other male puffin in the domain. She also made sure to tell me that she doesn’t normally talk about the drama amongst puffins, but apparently I needed to know.
We wrapped our day with an evening on the beach, again. Because of course. Did I mention it’s been sunny 100% of the time so far? We’re lucky ducks.
Oh, and I’m even writing this blog entry here right now. Here’s my view.
See you tomorrow.
