Touristy Activities

This morning I woke bright and early to check out the gym at our hotel in Woodburn, by the outlets we were at yesterday. To my disappointment, the gym was very very crappy... only one old stair stepper and an eliptical. I really wanted to run, so outside I went. I find that a good workout first thing in the am puts me in a much better mood, especially when on the road, so I *think* I logged about 2 miles (3.2 km) in about 25 minutes outside before breakfast. It is hot in Oregon, so any later and this would have been unmanageable.

We had an early breakfast and hit the road at 9am, heading to the coast. We planned on stopping in Newport Oregon for lunch, which was Mo's Annex - a seafood place with the typical chowder, cioppino, and seafood melt's on the menu. I am always amazed when in the states at the AMOUNT of food and the GREASINESS of food when in a restuarant. There is a reason that obesity is on the rise in the USA, let me tell you. Our lunch could feed a small nation! I took a picture of our view from the table. There were two boat that pulled up while we were there and they unloaded rock cod fish and dungeness crabs by the bucketfull... and then proceeded to steam and gut them right there on the doc. Very close to the food chain, let me tell you!!!

After lunch we headed to the Oregon Coast Aquarium Centre, which hosted many of the local under the sea creatures that live local to the coast, as well as some of the more exotic species. We took a picture of the Japanese crab which can live up to 100 years. They were HUGE. We also saw some Nettle Jelly fish, an octopus, and sharks...

From there we stopped at the Yaquina Head Bay Lighthouse, which is the number one tourist destination in Newport. The lighthouse is at the top of a long twisty road, and as we were driving up, you could see the two seperate weather systems as we left the low level of the coast and climbed up into the fog. We climbed down to the beach, which is unique to Newport because instead of sand, the beach is made up of volcanic pebbles that has been eroded to smooth round rocks by the pounding water onto the beach. It was certainly a neat sight to see!

A long day of exciting sights. We are spending the night in downtown Portland, and have another full day planned. Off to bed, with more to come tomorrow.

We are back in Canada tomorrow, so until next time!

L&J