Newport, Oregon - August 1st to 3rd, 2024

Newport is touristy town along the Oregon coast, on Yaquina Bay. In addition to Newport, we stopped at a couple of touristy places along the way. We don’t mind touristy areas as long as there is a reason people are attracted to go there, and it isn’t too overwhelmed by people. Newport seems to be in that happy middle.

Thursday was a scenic drive on Highway 101 along the Oregon Coast, from Fort Stevens State Park to South Beach State Park. According to Google Maps, it was only a three hour and eleven minute drive, but we turned it into an all day event. At 8 am, we packed up and dumped our tanks before hitting the road.

The first stop was in the resort town of Seaside. After having a lemon poppy seed muffin at the Chalkboard Cafe, we strolled down Broadway Street and along the promenade over to the Seaside Aquarium. We didn’t go inside. We just enjoyed the walk alongside the beach. Unlike the dark sands of Fort Stevens and Long Beach, Seaside Beach is white sand. Back on Broadway, inside the Seaside Carousel Mall, there is, in fact, a lovely carousel for kids to ride.

The next stop was Cannon Beach. The beach and the town are called Cannon Beach, which made directions to it a little confusing. We started following the Google Maps directions, but then followed the signs to the RV parking in town. The signs made it very clear that RV’s were not allowed to park anywhere else in town. After parking, we followed the Google Maps directions on foot to the beach and Haystack Rock.

Stairs in-between some private property led down to the beach, right across from the Haystack Rock. The stairs were not well marked. Surely this is not the only public access to the beach…and it wasn’t. Had we gone half a block in the opposite direction from the parking lot along Hemlock Street, we could have turned on Gower Avenue and accessed the beach at the end of Ecola Court, a much larger entrance. Also, had we continued down Highway 101 another mile, we could have parked at the Tolovana Wayside State Park and walked the beach back to Haystack Rock.

Haystack Rock is pretty neat, with birds nesting all over it. We only saw seagulls, cormorants, and common murre, but puffins like to visit there as well. We were a little late for the puffins, who like to nest there from April through early July. There are also a couple of smaller rock formations next to Haystack Rock that we thought looked prettier than Haystack.

From Cannon Beach, you can see the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse sitting by itself far out in the water on a little rocky island. We had a little glimpse of it from the Seaside promenade, but the view from Cannon Beach is much better. The beach itself is also nice. Again, like Seaside, it was a white sandy beach.

After a couple more stops at overlooks, we reached the Tillamook Creamery around lunch time. Boy was that a popular place! There must have been close to one thousand people there. Luckily, there was plenty of parking.

We were hungry, so we headed straight for the Dining Hall. They had a wide selection of food to choose from. We both opted for the grilled cheese sandwich. The sandwiches came with fries, but Ann also ordered a cup of tomato soup, because that’s what goes with grilled cheese, right? We don’t normally order grilled cheese sandwiches in a restaurant, but Tillamook did them right. The combination of sharp yellow cheddar and medium white cheddar had a wonderful cheese pull. And the bread was nice and crispy on the outside. They fried them in butter with a hint of garlic. The tomato soup had a garnish of cheese curds in it. To wash it all down, there was Tractor soda, an organic fountain soda from Idaho.

After stuffing our faces, we checked out the self-guided tour of the cheese factory. Windows down into the factory gave us great views of the whole cheese-making process. Informational signs explained what we were seeing. There was also an area explaining more about the company and the farmers that supply the milk. We learned that some farmers use automatic milking machines that allow the cows to decide when to wander in and get milked, no schedule required. Very interesting. We didn’t even know that was a thing.

After our tour, we took in more calories via delicious ice cream. Keith went out on a limb and had a chocolate malt instead of his usual vanilla shake. Ann stuck with her favorites, a cone with a scoop of chocolate peanut butter and a scoop of mint chocolate chip. It was all rather yummy. To complete our Tillamook experience, we picked up some cheese and a container of yogurt from the gift shop.

The two remaining stops for the day were Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint and Devils Punch Bowl State Natural Area. At Rocky Creek, the views of the waves crashing on the rocky cliffs were wonderful, but there was a short trail to a viewing platform that looked out into Whale Cove. Don’t miss the trail. In the cove are two waterfalls. While we were there, about thirty harbor seals were sleeping on the rocks near one of the waterfalls. Bring your binoculars, because the seals were a good distance away. With the naked eye, you might mistake them for logs.

A short distance away, on Otter Crest Loop road, Google Maps listed Rocky Creek Falls. We stopped there, but couldn’t see any falls. There was a bridge which was currently under construction, so we don’t know if that was what blocked our view of the falls. Instead of getting back onto the 101, we continued on Otter Crest Loop over to Devils Punch Bowl. Cape Foulweather lived up to its name, as the fog started rolling in.

There were a lot of people at Devils Punch Bowl and parking was hard to come by. A sign warned RV’s not to continue straight, as there was no place to turn around and an arrow for RV parking pointed to the right. There were two small lots with angled parking to the right, nothing that looked like RV parking. We snagged the last open parking spot and hoped there was room for people to get around us.

The rock formation was pretty cool; however, it is supposed to be even more spectacular during high tide. The beach to the south looked like a popular surfing spot. While we were there, the water was pretty calm and we didn’t see anyone “catch a wave”. The surfers were just floating in the water, patiently waiting.

There are stairs down to the beach to the north. Some people had ventured down to explore the beach. It was getting late in the day, so we did not venture down.

It was 5 pm by the time we arrived at South Beach State Park. After dinner, Ann walked over to the beach to check it out. Keith was tired from a full day of driving and stayed back at Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). The fog was getting pretty thick by this time, so there wasn’t much of a view along the beach. However, there were two brave souls out in the water trying to surf.

By morning, the fog, just like at Fort Stevens, left everything soaking wet outside. Before lunch, we walked over to the beach. It wasn’t quite as foggy as the evening before. We could see the South Jetty from where we accessed the beach, which Ann couldn’t see the evening before.

After lunch, we drove over to Newport to check out the lighthouses. There are two lighthouses in the area, Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and Yaquina Head Lighthouse. In between the two lighthouses, we did some grocery shopping.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was only in operation from 1871 to 1874. The light from the lighthouse didn’t reach far enough out to sea and was blocked in some directions by land. It is a little unusual as the light sits on top of the keeper’s house, instead of being in a separate building. For most of its useful life, the building served as offices for the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was soon replaced by the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, just a few miles to the north. The Yaquina Head Lighthouse went into operation in 1873 and is still in use today. The lighthouse is located in the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, managed by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management).

There is a large lot at the Yaquina Head visitor center, which is where we had no problems parking Red Tail. There is also some parking right next to the lighthouse, but we would recommend parking at the visitor center so you can see the wildlife along the walking path up to the lighthouse.

There are several rock formations along the shoreline. They are covered with nesting birds and harbor seals. The area is home to the largest nesting colony of common murre on the west coast. Near the lighthouse, there are steps down to Cobble Beach, which is said to have wonderful tide pool viewing during low tides. While we were there, the beach was closed due to maintenance and repair on the wooden steps.

After returning to South Beach, Ann walked the beach again. That morning, she was talking with someone along the beach that told her about all of the starfish that can be seen along the south side of the South Jetty during low tide. She reached the South Jetty about an hour before low tide. Even though it was the higher of the two low tides for the day, it was still low enough to see some wildlife in the rocks along the jetty. Ann saw crab, sea anemone, barnacles, and starfish.

Most of the starfish were a little further out along the jetty, so Ann took off her shoes and socks, rolled up her pants, and waded out into the water to get a better look. She was walking on soft sand, but the water was pretty cold. She took some pictures, then got back out of the water to warm her toes back up.

All three times we were on the beach, we saw hoof prints. However, we never saw any horses. Riding horses across the beach would be a neat experience.

The sun made an appearance on Saturday. It was only partly cloudy most of the day, with patches of blue sky, a welcomed change from the overcast, fog, and mist.

We booked an 11:30 am Marine Discovery Tour. The boat departs from the Historic Bay Area of Newport. On the way there, we stopped at Walgreens to pick up sea sickness medication. Ann generally does not need it, but Keith is prone to motion sickness. We bought both the Dramamine and some ginger gum. Keith ended up only using the ginger gum. We have found that the regular Dramamine can have some side effects for us afterwards, so we only wanted to use it if it was really necessary. Unfortunately, it can take several hours before it takes effect, which means you have to decide before you get on the boat whether it is going to be rough waters or not.

We checked in for our boat ride over an hour early. So we had plenty of time to stroll up and down Bay Street. There are shops, restaurants, seafood processing plants, a commercial marina, and a pleasure craft marina. Nice interpretative signs lined the railing alongside the boardwalk near the commercial marina. Then there is the sea lion dock. You’ll figure out pretty quickly where it is, just follow the incessant sound of the sea lions. We’re not quite sure why they like to hang out on the small dock in the harbor. They are piled on top of it, making use of every square inch. They are noisy because they seem annoyed as others climb over them to find a spot for themselves. Not too far away is a rocky shore that some of them choose to hang out on, with much more room to stretch out. The sea lions over there were not putting up a fuss nor making as much noise.

The Marine Discovery Tour only goes out onto the ocean if the water is relatively calm. Otherwise, they stay in the bay, river, and estuaries. We were in luck. It was a good weather day. The captain didn’t make the decision about going out onto the ocean until we reached the end of the jetties, so she could get a look at the waves herself. At the end of the jetties is the bar. It is a sand bar that builds up at the entrance that causes big waves. It was the roughest part of our cruise.

Out on the ocean, the swells were only about three feet, which is pretty small for the Pacific Ocean. However, it rocks the boat pretty well, especially when we were headed north, against the flow of the swells. The tour is only two hours long, so we were turning around and heading back after it seemed we had not gone very far.

We were hoping to see some wildlife out on the ocean, like whales or dolphins, but all we saw were some sea lions. And most of those sea lions were on the sea lion dock and the rocky point which you can see from shore. However, there were some sea lions hanging out on the large buoys at the end of the jetties. Only California sea lions hang out in the bay, but there were also stellar sea lions on the buoys in the ocean.

The cruise has a naturalist on board. Our naturalist, Kelly, kept us entertained most of the time. Before we left the bay, she had volunteers, mostly children, help her drop a couple of crab pots. We then hauled the pots in at the end of our tour, which were then full of crab. We caught several types of crab. Kelly pointed out the different types, how to tell the difference between the males and the females, along with how to hold the crabs without getting pinched. It was a very interactive experience.

After our boat tour, we ate a late lunch. The Clearwater Restaurant has views of the sea lion dock, but, even at 1:30 pm, there was a half an hour wait for a table. We decided to go further down the street to the Coffee House Restaurant and sit outside for the fresh air. Keith had the special for that day, a crab and asparagus omelette. Ann went with something more traditional for her, a Philly cheesesteak paired with sweet potato fries. It was a lovely way to top off the beautiful day.

After returning to camp, Ann walked the beach again to get her exercise in. This time there were several people flying kites along with a kitesurfer. The kitesurfer seemed to be going out pretty far from shore, building up a good amount of speed. It was interesting to watch. Later he came to shore and was just letting the kite lift him off the ground in short spurts.

Newport had a nice variety of things to do and see, from lighthouses, a cute little historic bayfront, boat rides, beaches, and wildlife. It was a lovely area to spend a few days in. And the crowds of people were very manageable.

Check out our related video: Newport, Oregon

(Ann)