Honeymoon 3

Installment 3 of the honeymoon (I really do need to get the pics in picasa...). We didn't get to spend nearly enough time in Oregon, but it was still some amazing views. I think the highlight was the dunes - southwest Oregon has these huge dunes, which are rapidly disappearing thanks to the introduction of European beach grass. But we had some fun on them while they're still there (and without getting run over by an ATV, which was a distinct possibility).

First, the obligatory light house - Umpqua River light station, way at the top of the hill above the dunes (possibly a 1/4 mile off of the water?).

And the dunes - Ray let me play king of the mountain before I rolled down (and used the windbreaker to try to vacuum pack myself, for what good it did):

Ray just accepted all the sand... and the fact that perhaps we're too pointy for this sport:

We finally got a good picture of the tsunami sign as we were leaving Umpqua. We'd seen these for the last two days, and they probably cropped up after Crescent City got devastated a few decades ago... but what killed me is that they offer no instruction as to what you're supposed to do in a tsunami - just that they could happen. This struck me as odd... and somewhat amusing. Especially since I enjoy the "stick figures in peril" website.

Our last night we decided to stop in Newport, OR. Turns out that this town not only houses another aquarium and the Hatfield Marine Science Center (which we did get to check out), it also hosts another form of Mecca:

The Beerquarium (hey, don't blame me, they named it, if you click on the picture you can read the tiny white print), aka Rogue Brewing headquarters. Just down the block from the marine station - lucky, lucky oceanographers. We left with a large box  for (much) later consumption. The guy at the shipping store was a little annoyed to be packing up all of the California wines and no Oregon ones, but he couldn't complain about the beer. :)

From Newport, we managed two last tourist stops on the way up to Portland. We really wanted to see "devils horns" (blow holes in the rest of the world), but we had the tides all wrong. However, our stop in Depoe Bay to check them out was not for naught - this is the home of "The world's smallest harbor", which is pretty tiny and has a very hairy entrance. And of some gorgeous surf. Here's my favorite shot of the many Ray took:

As we were trying to book our way up to Portland (and finish the trip at 1171.7 miles!), we kept seeing signs for the Spruce Goose and Evergreen Aviation Museum. Ray couldn't resist, so we made a quick stop to check it all out. Even the building was a feat, never mind the incredible collection of aircraft. I enjoyed seeing the shear size of the Spruce Goose - there were other planes fully underneath its tail! Here's Ray looking at the SG from a **second story** balcony. Note the tiny Wright flyer on the left. This was a nice end to what was an incredible trip all the way around!