October 10, 2010 10/10/10 Thanksgiving Sunday

Surfwood Rv and Campground 75381 Us Highway 101 Reedsport, OR 97467 this is our location for one more night.

Rain and it rained all night long and through till noon!  We thought if we want to see the Sea Lion Caves, some 30 miles back Highway 101 then we better get going.  It was well worth the drive as we saw Sea Lions and Seals.  You arrive, purchased your ticket, walk a pathway to an elevator in the side of the mountain that takes you down about 125’ and lets you out just feet from a man made opening into a natural cave. The seals and sea lions only use it during December and January but when we walked along and travelled up a staircase to an opening, we were looking out at maybe a 100 seals and sea lions all trying to get up a steep cliff to a rock shelf just outside the reach of the giant waves bashing the shore line at high tide. We were very impressed and it was hard to leave.

We slowly worked our way back in sunshine to Florence, ducking in and out of little roadways that took us to the beaches.  Oregon Dunes National Recreations Area runs from Florence to North Bend and into Coos Bay.  We travelled onto Winchester Bay, North Bend, Coos Bay, and Charleston and to the Sunset Bay State Park.  Beautiful coastal road, with many photo opportunities along our way!  We didn’t get home till 6:30, got a roast on the BBQ and had a great late supper.

Tested my abilities tonight by trying to post a video of the seals and sea lions, but failed and can only assume the file is too large… Sorry they are great videos!

Tomorrow it’s maybe Crescent City, California which is 160 miles south?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hugs

R&B

Man made opening to a natural cave used by seals during the winter

Black dots in the white water are seals trying or playing at getting up on the rock shelf - the rest of the herd are the brown dots on shore.

Sunset Bay south of Charleston, OR