We woke up just in time to catch the tail-end of breakfast, but hurried and had some cereal, toast and even a waffle! We then hit the hot tub in their spa. There was a sauna as well, but we didn’t check that out because we didn’t want to be sleepy all day!
We checked out and started making tracks – first checked out the water front in Lincoln City – again no swimmers, but that may have been because of the weather. There was a light drizzle, which wasn’t much fun for picture taking. I ran down to the water – it was a lot colder than it was at Long Beach the other day!
We had seen a Factory Outlet mall – which started out innocently enough, but turned out to be a very evil thing (keep reading!). We decided to stop in because we were interested in what deals we might be able to find, and it was sort of raining anyway! We had asked the hotel lady at breakfast what there was to do in Lincoln City, what it was known for, and she had mentioned this mall. The Tanger Outlet Center is the same type of thing as at Albertville, Minnesota.
Driving up, we had seen a couple of children’s stores and figured we better check them out to see what we might be able to find for Sofie (Derek’s niece). First stop – the Carter’s store. They had baby/kid’s clothes for as low as $3.99! Unreal! We found a couple items for Sofie, and I picked up a couple other things for gifts for friend’s babies (like Addison, Carolyn’s baby – just a month old!)
We then found a Columbia Sportswear outlet … I got a couple pair of shoes, and a pair of pants. Derek got an insulated water-proof jacket saving $65! After that there was the Gap Outlet … and a few other good stops too! So many bargains – incredible! And the best part – there is no tax in Oregon!!
I could have spent all day there – but finally Derek had had his fill of shopping, which was probably a good thing!
We got back on the road and continued heading south – finding several scenic points along the way. One near Myrtlewood – Cape Foulweather was discovered and named by Captain James Cook, the English explorer on March 7, 1778. The weather was particularly stormy on that day – winds up to 100 mph are not unusual. Today – there was still a mist in the air – and you literally could not see 5 feet in front of you! As a result, not many good pictures there, other than of the fog/mist.
We also stopped at the Cape Perpetua Scenic area – saw the Cook’s Chasm Bridge and watched the waves crash below us … in an “ocean geyser” (the Spouting Horn).
We stopped at Beachside – walked out to the ocean and checked out the waves again.
Having stopped at a viewpoint along the road, I had gotten talking to a couple from Alberta. They mentioned that there was a spot down the highway where we could see sea lions out on the rock. We kept our eyes open for this spot – excellent instructions – a viewpoint, right when you see the sign about the Sea Lion Caves. I have several amazing close-ups and a video of the sea lions! While there, another guy got telling us about the black birds on the rocks – that are sort of like penguins! It’s awesome that these people shared these bits of information with us – we never would have realized that that’s what we were looking at! The sea lions are very cool!
We stopped briefly at Heceta Head Lighthouse, but kept going when we realized it would be a bit of a hike – we decided we didn’t have time right now. A little further down the road, we stopped at another viewpoint and we could see the lighthouse in the distance – so that was a bonus! While there, we got talking to another couple who were just sitting watching the clouds clear, and the sun set. They were from Eugene, Oregon, but had just moved out to the coast about 4 years ago.
South of Florence, we pulled into the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, and walked out to the beach once again – the sun was about to set, and we took several pictures with the sun setting on the ocean. I saw jellyfish along the beach and in the shallow water, so wasn’t very keen on walking in the waves, but my photographer needed me walking in the water to get the proper reflections and shadows etc. We found crabs (I guess?) fully in their shell – but we think it was dead. We even saw a starfish! Another couple from Colorado was walking their dogs – they had seen the starfish too – and he said he had thrown it back in, just in case it was still alive.
We made a quick stop at the Umpqua River Lighthouse – got some night pictures of it up close – neat watching the beacon go round.
We arrived in Coos Bay fairly late and after some investigation, found the Comfort Inn in North Bend. Everything seemed to be looking pretty good – decent price with our coupon … room looked pretty okay. So we started to settle in and relax … and no sooner had Derek commended me for all the paper I pick up along the way – because this coupon thing really works, that he looks above the bed and there was a huge spider. I mean huge! He was probably about 3 inches big. You could see him across the room smiling down at us. We immediately thought of our experience with the HOJO in Toledo last summer, and groaned. We called the front desk right away. No saying, “ah, it’s just 1 [big] spider …”
The lady at the front desk was quite friendly and offered us another room right away. So we threw our stuff back in the car, got the new room and scoured it thoroughly before even bringing anything in. After a thorough inspection, the worst thing (which really wasn’t that great) we found was a network of cobwebs behind the beds, and one small spider. Derek threw the spider in the toilet, and we tried to forget some of what we had seen.
In the morning, we pulled the bed out from the wall again, and left the tv remote in the cobwebs. We’re curious what happened when they were cleaning the room the next day – we figure they either (a) wondered why the bed was pulled out, pushed it back and continued cleaning the rest of the room, (b) found the tv remote in the cobwebs (after some searching), picked it out, dusted it off and pushed the bed back in, or (c) found the cobwebs behind the bed and gave the room a thorough clean. We’re thinking probably (a) or (b)!
We have a suspicion that using a coupon at a hotel = give the customer the room with the bugs or something creepy. We’re learning …
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