Day 24 – South Beach State Park – Newport, Oregon

What's this?  A same day post.  Miracles still happen.

The last couple travel days were real marathons.  That occurred because after the schedule was made, I found the Silver Falls location and decided a day there would be nice.  It was, but I’d probably go back to my original plan if I had a “do over”.

Today’s travel was a piece of cake.  A little bit of country road and a little bit of rural freeway all adding up to a paltry 110 miles.

Silver Falls had internet access at their lodge so I biked over there this morning and caught up on posting before we left.  Kathy had some shopping to do along the way so we didn’t leave until around 9:00 am.  We traveled for several miles through the rural Oregon countryside.

We arrived at stop number one after an hour on the road.

Of course it’s a quilt shop, what else would it be? I walked in and found Kathy hard at work.

I have to admit, there is some very impressive work in most of these places.

After stowing more cloth on the overhead bed in the RV, we were back on the road.

It looks like what I’d picture as an Oregon landscape.  Another hour on the road and I get my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean as we approach Newport.

As sure as there's a Walgreen's on the corner, there has to be a quilt shop in this town.

The stuff on the walls has the predictable nautical theme for a coastal town.

After a short stop there, we arrived at South Beach State Park three miles down the road, checked in and set up in a beach front site.

Now, beach front site is my terminology.  It only means there’s not another site between our site and the ocean.  But…

The sign says it’s 1/3 mile to the beach.  That view is the second third of the one third mile.  First there’s woods, then dunes, then…

…the beach!

It was close to low tide.  That’s Kathy down by the water and the Newport jetty on the right.  We walked down to the jetty and watched the boat activity for a few minutes.

Those sailors look to be wearing wet suits.  I put my feet in the water at the beach and it’s COLD.  I’d guess in the 50°s somewhere.

We walked up the breakwall.  There’s a bit of sand drifting on the top of it.

A lighthouse sits on the bluff across the channel.

This is looking toward Newport and the highway 101 bridge.

We found our way back to the campground and the location our little trip to the beach began.

We’re here for two nights so will have all day tomorrow to check out Newport.  We’ve heard it’s a great place to have some seafood.  I’m in for that activity.  It beats the pants off a 7 mile hike.