Moe turns 30

Agate Beach, Newport

 We were on our own for the holidays this year and as most of you know, I am thirty now and needed to do some celebrating.  So we decided for my present we would escape to the coast for a couple days of family fun.  We drove to Reedsport and headed up the coast.  We took a break at Florence to stretch.

Florence, Oregon

The Sea Lion Statues are life-sized

While we were there we decided to check out the Sea Lion Caves.  It's the largest sea cave in America and full of hundreds of sea lions.  We took a long ride down an elevator and into the cave (like over 200 feet down).  The smell is a little less than desirable but the sound of the sea lions is incredible!  The kids loved watching the waves come in and out of the cave.  Some waves were big enough to completely swallow the large rocks (and sea lions) inside the cave.  (As shown in the second picture below)

Sea Lion Caves, Florence



We had to stop for some construction before heading up to New Port...talk about a great place to be stuck in construction!

Heceta Head--most photographed lighthouse

As soon as we arrived in Newport we headed to Agate Beach to play in the sand.  The boys had so much fun breaking in their big trucks.  Little Miss got to crawl around in the sand for the first time and she loved it!

Love those bright blues :)

Trying out their Christmas Trucks

 The sun went down, so we grabbed some pizza and headed to the hotel.

Time to hit the hotel pool for a swim :)

 We headed out early the next morning on our hunt to see whales.  We first stopped at the lighthouse at Yaquina Head.  Evus thought he saw some spouts far off on the ocean but it was hard to see for sure.  The lighthouse was beautiful! The waves coming into the cobble beach were big and the sound was amazing.

Next we headed to Depoe Bay to continue our whale hunt.   We (Evan) spotted some whales about 2 miles out from the Observation Station at the Bay.  However, for the kids to see them we knew we would need to go out on a boat...and so we took some Dramamine and drank some Ginger Ale and headed out on our first family boat excursion.  We're Sailors!  We sail!  Ahoy!  The boys were SO excited to be in the Pacific Ocean and they LOVED the roller coaster ride getting out of the bay (there were 9 ft swells)

 Now, I would LOVE to say that we took the pictures below...but we didn't.  We had our hands full with three little kiddos and Evus spent all but 5 minutes trying to find a happy place--turns out the sea does not agree with him.  Any way, I found some pictures online that best replicated what we saw.  Our California Gray Whale was about 30 yards from our boat, maybe a bit closer, and we saw some great spout and tail action :)  It was magical.  And all three kids fell asleep on the ride back to land--pretty impressive.

http://www.insidethegate.com/2011/08/worldmark-by-wyndham-at-depoe-bay-oregon/

http://www.wellsphere.com/vegan-article/gray-whales-in-depoe-bay/1743148

Just as we were getting in to the car to leave Depoe Bay Evus spotted another whale, less than a mile from shore.  We saw it spout a couple times before heading down the road.  Way to end our time at Depoe Bay!  And last, but not least, we headed back to Newport for the Aquarium.

tide pools

Joshi had been begging all day to see sharks and finally he got them!

He especially loved looking at the ones swimming under his feet

After two crazy, busy days we loaded up on Dr. P and Coke to stay awake while our children snored in the back seat and we drove home.  We are all still recovering.  It was the perfect birthday present...and I had the most amazing Monte Cristo Sandwich at the Aquarium that I am still dreaming about.  Happy Birthday to me.