Day 8 2016

Since we got in late last night, we decided to sleep in a little this morning. We drove to the coast to a neat little town called Newport. We went to the Yaquina Lighthouse, booked a tour for 2pm and then headed back to Newport for an amazing seafood lunch.  This town town is known as the Dungenness Crab Capital.  It was amazing and the prices were actually pretty reasonable!  I think all of us would agree that it was our favorite meal so far on the trip! Except for Jonathan, who would always say Mexican is his favorite ;). 

Sorry for the blurry picture, but behind the window is a street and then water!

After lunch, we made it back for our lighthouse tour.  We had a wonderful tour guide, dressed as a lighthouse keeper from the 1800s.  Yaquina is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon and is one of only two still fully functioning lighthouses in the state (but is now run by the Coast Guard).  An interesting fact he told us today is that there is actually one functioning lighthouse in the U.S. that still has a lighthouse keeper and it is in Boston.  Ted Kennedy presented to the Senate years ago that we keep that part of our nation's history and protect it.  The Boston lighthouse has been in operation since before we were a nation and celebrates its 300th anniversary this year!

Love these two...and how have they gotten so tall?!

The view from the top of the lighthouse!

Another great thing about Yaquina is how "hands on" everything was.  The park rangers were scattered everywhere and they had special lenses set up in various places for people to look at the wildlife. There was so much wildlife to see!  We saw a mama sea lion and her baby, a bald eagle, and various birds.  There had also been whale sightings and a peregrine falcon sighting earlier in the day. 

Mama sea lion & her baby sunbathing on the beach (through the eyes of a lens).

Many birds, with one lone bald eagle sitting at the top waiting for a snack.

*******

After a great afternoon, we drove on up the coast for about an hour to our next hotel.  We arrived before sunset and had some time to relax, which was nice.  This hotel overlooks the beach. I was amazed at how many people were on the beach considering how cold it feels (at least to us).  By tonight, people had built fires up and down the beach.  It is really beautiful looking out and seeing the grandeur of the Pacific Ocean. 

The setting sun provided a beautiful ending to a really great day!  I am so thankful for Harvey and the man that he is.  Trey found a clip from a Matt Chandler sermon that we listened to.  It talked about how dads need to provide for their families, love God, love their wives & children, and go to bed exhausted.  Well, that is definitely Harvey.  He sacrifices and works hard all year to make these trips happen.  He rarely takes a sick day and saves up vacation days and money.  We are so glad that he had the foresight years ago to make this happen for our family.  If it was not for his vision & hard work, we never would have seen and experienced all these wonderful things as a family.