After saying our goodbyes to Joie and Mike, we drove about an hour north to Whaler's Rest Thousand Trails campground in South Beach, Oregon, just south of Newport, Oregon. There were not many open sites but Al managed to squeezed us into one.
We joined Thousand Trails Campgrounds (a sort of timeshare for camping) in November 2022. We prepaid for the membership and now just pay $630/year for dues. Now we can stay at any Thousand Trails Campground in the US and Canada for free. Once we arrive at a campground with a reservation, it's first come, first serve, for campsites. So it's best to arrive during the week and early in the day for the best selection.
From the campground, I walked across Highway 101 to Lost Creek State Park for a look around. It was a cloudy/foggy day and made the beach kind of creepy since I couldn't see very far.
One day we drove north to Newport, Oregon to walk around and see the sights in the Bayfront district.
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| Image courtesy of Google Images |
Walking on Bay Boulevard there are commercial fishing processing plants on the bay side and shops and restaurants on the other side of the street.
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| Sea Lions |
We enjoy walking the docks and looking at fishing boats.
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| On this big boat, Chelsea Rose, they sell fresh fish. |
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| Fresh fish sold right off this boat. |
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| They will filet the fish for you. |
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| Coho and Chinook Salmon seasons |
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| 300 Pot permit - good to 53 feet for sale for $150,000 |
This area is a commercial fishing marina. We stopped to watch these guys unloading boxes of fresh frozen fish from a boat.
Next we walked towards the ocean to see the Yaquina
Lighthouse which was free to enter and see the house. We had to walk under the Yaquina Bay Bridge to get to the lighthouse.
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Highway 101 goes over the Yaquina Bay Bridge |
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| The old Yaquina Bay Lighthouse established in 1871 is the earliest aid to navigation, standing within the range of the first recorded landfall made from a ship to the shores of the Pacific Northwest. Captain James Cook made this landfall on March 7, 1778. At noon he named Cape xxx-Weather. On account of the heavy weather he was compelled to stand out at sea at night and only approach the land in the afternoon so that he was able to find any harbor along the Oregon coast. News of Cook's voyage to the Pacific Northwest stimulated the American interests in this region and aroused in Thomas Jefferson an interest that led to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the dispatch of the Lewis and Clark expedition. |
It seems every lighthouse is a first or special because of this or that. Either way, I like to visit them. This one has the lighthouse on top of the house all as one building.
Views from the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse looking at the Yaquina River as it flows to the Pacific Ocean.
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| Entrance to the bay and the jettys |
We walked back to Bayfront Street to walk around some more.
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| View from the bridge |
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| Rates to go crabbing or fishing! Better catch something at those rates! |
It was a lot cheaper to just buy some crab in a market on Bay Boulevard!
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| Funny sign in Newport, Oregon. |
We went back to the Chelsea Rose to see about buying some fresh fish. They sell some of the fish by the whole fish like halibut. We didn't have room for a whole halibut in our tiny RV freezer but while looking around, we got to talking to a lady behind us. She wanted halibut too but not the whole fish so we decided to split one. That worked out perfectly! We also bought some fresh tuna.
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| Local wild canned fish |
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| The halibut we split. |
They weigh the whole fish and then they will filet it for you for an additional charge.
After getting our fish, we went looking for a place to have it vacuum packed. By asking around to different locals, it was suggested we go to the South Beach Fish Market. It was on our way back to the campground so that worked out perfectly.
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| South Beach Fish Market on Highway 101 |
We stopped and had our fish portioned and vacuum packed to fit into our freezer.
So that was $90 for our half of the halibut including the charge for filleting. We also bought 1 pound of tuna and $30 of red snapper. I bought a $17 cooked dungeons crab for $9.99/lb. We then went to South Shore Fish Market to have our fish portioned and vacuum sealed in bags for $17. It was an experience and hopefully will provide us with many yummy dinners once Al figures out how to cook it!
Other days we did some more walking on the beach from our campground.
It was foggy most days walking on the beach.
Occasionally we would come across some kelp or rocks or driftwood on the beach.
And that was our excitement in the South Beach/Newport, Oregon area.
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| Newport, Oregon |
Next we're continuing north along the coast to Tillamook, Oregon for some cheese, ice cream, blackberries, and the county fair.
Thanks for following along.......
