Newport & Yahats OR

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

Last week, on one of our days off, we headed north on Highway 101 to Newport. I’m not sure what the population of Newport is but it seems significantly larger than Florence. It is also home to the Rogue Brewery which makes some very good beer. My oldest son is a real fan of this beer. His favorite is Double Dead Guy Ale. Added to that is a Walmart and we were in need of a dehumidifier as well as a few other things we hadn’t been able to find in the smaller towns. As much as we like staying in areas that are more rural areas sometimes you just need a bigger town or city to find what you need.

Another draw to this area is Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We started in town at Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. This is a unique little lighthouse that has its light right on top of the lightkeeper’s house. The light was only functional for a year and then it was decided since the light at Yaquina head was much stronger there just wasn’t a need for both. It has now been restored and is open to the public for tours. The light keeper here had 7 children and the house is very nice. On the top floor there is a small room for whoever was manning the light. The house is nicely done with period pieces.

It was time to get something to eat so on to the Rogue Public House. This is in the old town area, there also is the actual Rogue Brewery and online it appears they have food there but we like the atmosphere of a pub. The food was good and John enjoyed a nitro Stout and I enjoyed Dead Guy Ale; they didn’t have Double Dead Guy so I had to settle for just the one dead guy. :)

Next up was Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Natural Area. This fall we applied to work camp here but they didn’t call us until we had accepted the Heceta Head position. It’s nice to get to see these places for our next visit to the Northwest. This area is run by the Bureau of Land Management and luckily our national parks pass is good until the end of this month, otherwise it would have been a $7 day use fee. We drove out and parked at the lighthouse, but it was not open for tours at this time. This lighthouse is the same design as Heceta Head and was renovated a few years ago. For some reason the top and roofs were painted black where Heceta Head is red. I have to say I think the red is definitely more striking. The bit of land with the lighthouse sticks out into the bay and is nice with great views. There are harbor seals nearby, and some cobble beaches and tide pools as well. We arrived rather late so we didn’t have much time to hike the area but I think working here would also be a great gig.

On our way back to the campground we stopped at a town about 20 miles north of the park, called Yahats. This is suppose to be an artsy little town with some gallerys, shops and restaurants. The Ona restaurant, right on the bay, had been recommended to us so we stopped there for dinner. It was a little too chilly to eat on the porch but they have a wonderful outdoor dining area that has a nice view too. This place is a little more upscale and the food was great. We were too late to wonder through the shops but it is close enough we may make it up there again.

Harbor seals at Yaquina Head

We had 3 days at the lighthouse this week. We had one cold rainy day and then 2 very nice days. I’m glad we have the next few days off since there is a storm coming tonight with gale force winds. Climbing the hill to the lighthouse on a day like that would not be fun. We are lucky though; our supervisor is fine with closing on days when the weather is really nasty. Today we have been just kicking back a little and though there are places we still want to see and some hikes we’d like to do some of it will be weather dependent. We are thinking about driving down to the parking lot of the lighthouse tonight if the storm picks up; we hear watching the waves during a storm is spectacular.

Yaquina Head

Happy Trails...............