Depoe Bay, Oregon: whales, tidepools, and lighthouses

stefanie
5 Jul, 2016
travel
No comment

I just got back from few days hanging out with my dad and stepfamily while they were on vacation in Depoe Bay, Oregon. The only part of the coast I explored while living in Portland was the area around Cannon Beach, so it was nice to have a chance to wander a bit farther afield. My dad and stepmom picked me up at the airport, I waved hello to Portland through the car window, and we headed to Depoe Bay with a stop for lunch, and another in Lincoln City to stock up on snacks (so many snacks!). It definitely felt strange to be back in Oregon again, and I’m glad I had a couple hours to kill before my return flight so I could say a speedy hi to some Portland peeps.

Depoe Bay is supposedly “the whale watching capital of the Oregon coast”. Our condo was right on the water, with a balcony and tall windows, so we spent most of the week looking for whales. I hoped they’d be jumping full-on out of the water like in Free Willy, but instead they were doing normal whale things like looking for food, spouting water out of their blowholes, swimming around peacefully, and slowly avoiding boats full of tourists. When we weren’t whale watching, we were stuffing our faces, or watching movies, or both. I was asked to select a few Oregon beers for everyone to try, which lead to a trip to Rogue Brewing a few miles away in Newport. They have a great brewery tour, and even though I’ve been faithfully drinking Snickers (Hazelnut Brown + Chocolate Stout!) for the past two years at the Rogue Hall near PSU, I had no idea they also make spirits. Hazelnut Brown rum is pretty great, and you get to ride on a mini train for part of the brewery tour.

On the way back from Rogue we stopped at Yaquina Head Natural Area, which has a lighthouse and a great rocky beach at the base of some cliffs that’s ripe for scrambling around. You can collect driftwood and touch anything in the tidepools, but don’t step on the mussels and leave the starfish alone – they’re currently sick with a wasting disease 🙁 On my last full day, we woke up early to get to Devil’s Punchbowl at low tide. We were groggy and it was chilly, but it was so worth it. I took almost 200 pictures in about an hour. You can only access the inside of Devil’s Punchbowl at low tide, and the Coast Guard has to routinely rescue people who lose track of time and get stuck inside when the water rises. We went in about 6:30am, and by the time we left the outer tidepools at about 8am, our path into the bowl was already inaccessible.

Anyway, the point of this post is to be a giant photodump, so here we go! And if you like the song I used in this video, it’s by Amiina. They’re great.

Helens, Rainier, and Adams, I think.

First stop: tacos.

Looking for whales. Also, goofy dad shirts.

Coast air tries so hard to make my hair curly.

Picking out dinner at Barnacle Bill’s in Lincoln City.

My beer suggestions - luckily everyone else was also not a huge fan off extreme hops, so they think I'm a beer expert now.

I only know enough about beer to know the things I like. Luckily, my family has similar taste and they think I’m some kind of beer expert now. Fake it til you make it!