We spent several nights away from home! Crazy. Using a rental near Yachats with ocean views as our base, we headed out prepared for whatever the winter weather would throw at us. We brought our meals and snacks, and books and cards in case the weather kept us on the dry side of the picture window. As is often the case here in Oregon, we got all the weather, and managed to explore some interesting and unfamiliar parts of the coast in between rounds of ocean storm-watching. We stopped at Finley National Wildlife Refuge on the way there, and at Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge on the way home. And we pulled over at turnouts, vista points, and roadside parks from Florence to Cape Meares, often following trails leading down to the ocean.
Nancy’s blog posts about this trip are here (Days 1-3) and here (Day 4).
(Click any image for a lightbox style slideshow of all the photos in this gallery.)
Finley National Wildlife Refuge 
Finley National Wildlife Refuge 
The path from our rental to the beach. I did wonder why the paperwork included a full page of liability waivers…. 
Our home base beach 
In the afternoon wind 
Sunset from our lawn 
Cormorants on the rocks 
Hecate Head Lighthouse 
Sea lions from above 
Vying for king of the rock 
Exit 
Gull viewing the sea lions 
Dunes looking south towards Florence 
Siuslaw River Bridge 
Darlingtonia (Cobra Lily), a carnivorous plant, at a state roadside park dedicated to its protection. 
Ocean on the rocks 
Looking south towards Thor’s Well 
Devil’s Churn 
Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge 
Hermit Thrush? 
Three Arch Rocks in Oceanside 
Looking north from Cape Meares 
Looking south from Cape Meares 
The Octopus Tree 
Three Arch Rocks, from Cape Meares
Discoveries 
hermit thrush is AMAZING photo. Those bridges sure are something. But my heart belongs to the sea lions. Keep up the good work A xoxox
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Thanks, Mer. Years ago we were up at Morro checking them out, and watched a birth. They’ve felt like family ever since. As long as I don’t think about slugs….
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