Day 3 - Sep 2, 2007 Last updated: 9/9/07 3:30pm PT
Our morning started with a drive around the cape to see more water, sand and rocks. I had taken over 200 pictures, and looking at them later, it was a challenge to determine exactly where some were taken. We drove through Cape Meares, Oceanside and Netarts. Off the coast of Oceanside is 3 Arches Rock, which you can see better from the Cape Meares Lighthouse. Also near the lighthouse is the octopus tree. This tree was formed by the strong coastal winds. Each of the tree limbs are 12 feet around and extend from the main trunk by 30 feet. The base of the tree has a circumference of 50 feet.
We tried to go to Munson Creek Falls, but they were closed. Did it stop raining or something?
Walked a short distance down one of the trails at Cape Lookout, but we didn’t go far enough to get any views. Lunch was at a place called Olmedo’s (formerly known as Whiskey Creek Cafe (formerly know as Wee Willie’s)). We went there for the desert. I had seen somewhere online that they had a peanut butter chocolate pie. It wasn’t ice cream, and it wasn’t pudding, and the chocolate part was just the crust and the drizzled topping, but it was great. I got the last piece, so Denise only got a single bite.
On the way to Cape Kiwanda and the second Haystack Rock, we passed a dune, in the middle of a forest.
Cape Kiwanda is home to the second and larger Haystack Rock. This beach was very busy. All those little specs on the sand dune are people climbing to the top, so they can slide down. Imagine cleaning the sand out of various parts of your body after that!
Now the highlight of the trip. Glass blowing at Lincoln City Glass Center. This was fun. It only takes about 20 minutes to do your project, costs $65, but is worth it, because you get to keep the glass art that you make. One of the glass artists guides you through the steps to make a glass float or paperweight. They actually do most of the work. You spin the pipe in the furnace so the glass blob doesn’t fall off. You get a feel of how incredibly hot it is in front of those furnaces. You incorporate the color into your glass blob by rolling the hot glass blob into colored glass fragments on a metal table. After heating up the glass again to melt the colored glass fragments, you then use giant tweezers to mix the colors in and give the glass a swirl pattern. You heat it up one more time and then you do the actual blowing. They said to blow lightly, like blowing soap bubbles, but it really takes a bit more air than “lightly” to increase the size of your glass ball. Not many action photos taken as we were both working on our glass at the same time.
The final result, which they mail to you.
This picture may be from Cape Perpetua. Like I said earlier, all this water, sand and rock starts to look the same after a while. There was a hole in one of the rocks, so when a wave comes in, it blows the water straight up.
Sea Lion Caves was a bust. There is this natural cave in the rocks that you take an elevator down to enter. The ticket seller told everyone that the sea lions were not in the cave, but we decide to pay anyway. We thought the cave might be interesting. It wasn’t. Skip this attraction. We did see one, off the side of the road.
Darlingtonia has a preserve of Cobra Lilies. These carnivorous plants are native to the area.
Busy day, huh? Dinner was in Florence, OR at Mo’s. It had the longest line to get in, so it must be good, right? The wait was only 15 minutes, so we stayed. The food was ok. Denise had a shrimp salad that was huge, while the portions of my fish & chips were too small.