Whales, lighthouses, brews and more rain

No, we haven't been able to spot any whales, though we tried hard and I even put on my glasses. Male gray whales are migrating right now to the north and yesterday 17 whales were spotted swimming by at the Depoe Bay Whale Watching Center. Perhaps today it was harder to see them, because the color of the ocean and the color of the sky were very similar.

Depoe Bay was our first stop after departure from Lincoln City, at that time it just drizzled hard. On to Newport, where we checked out the Historic Bayfront first (still an active fishing harbor) and Rogue Brewery second. It’s been our fourth or fifth visit to the brewery, where brewmaster John Meier started modestly in 1988 with a couple of smoke ales (Bamberg style rauchbier). Meanwhile production has grown enormously and they produce about 30 different types of beer. They operate several brewpubs all over the U.S. now and, in addition, they opened up a destillery and an organic farm. After a sample platter with 6 little glasses for $ 6,50 and a plate of very delicious, fresh fish & chips as a basis for all the liquids we continued towards Yachats with a couple of stops at viewpoints and lighthouses.

At Ten Mile Creek (south of Yachats) we parked our car and went for a walk on the beach despite of the pouring rain. We wanted to check out our friends Joe & Brigitte’s former home (a beautiful B&B directly on the beach). Though we didn’t find agates this time (the beach is famous for it) we returned to the car with some flotsam in our pockets.

And, we watched a Bald Eagle sitting on close to the water. His majestic appearance was worth getting soaking wet.

Next stop: Heceta Head Lighhouse - newly renovated and one of the most popular photo spots along the coast, unfortunately not so scenic in the rain (see pic) - and on to Florence.

Checked into our beach hotel, the Driftwood Shores, got a large room with a full kitchen (wondering how many Americans still use a stove while on vacation) and a balcony, of course, with a view. A second pair of pants got wet when we checked out the beach in front of the hotel before we started to work on notes, articles and pictures.