Day 10 -- July 17:
Today was all in Yachats. In the morning we wandered around the tidal pools. The beach close to us was mostly rocks so we drove a little bit south and walked along a sandy beach.
I didn't take any pictures of the sandy beach. :) Next we drove to Devil's Churn. It is a place where the waves come into an increasingly smaller space and crash violently.
For lunch we went back to Yachats. After eating we went north and did the Ya'Xaik hike. Part of it went through a private botanical garden where we saw both native plants and exotic ones that the owners had planted there. It was pretty interesting, but the best part of the hike was the rest of the trail through the beautiful forests!
I'm sorry that these pictures just don't capture the amazing-ness!!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the grass overlooking the shore by our cottage. What a difference from that morning! The tide pools were all gone. The sandy beach we had walked on was now under water. We loved sitting there and listening to the waves crashing against the rocks. What a day!!!
Day 11 -- July 18:
Sadly, our stay in Yachats came to an end and we began our return trip home. :( We drove along the coast as far as Reedsport and then followed the Umpqua River to its headwaters. The scenery was breathtaking. Crater Lake National Park was . . . . wow! We stopped at every overlook around the lake.
Today was all in Yachats. In the morning we wandered around the tidal pools. The beach close to us was mostly rocks so we drove a little bit south and walked along a sandy beach.
I didn't take any pictures of the sandy beach. :) Next we drove to Devil's Churn. It is a place where the waves come into an increasingly smaller space and crash violently.
We drove a bit further, to the top of Cape Perpetua. It was an amazing view. We could see for miles. We took a short hike there.
For lunch we went back to Yachats. After eating we went north and did the Ya'Xaik hike. Part of it went through a private botanical garden where we saw both native plants and exotic ones that the owners had planted there. It was pretty interesting, but the best part of the hike was the rest of the trail through the beautiful forests!
I'm sorry that these pictures just don't capture the amazing-ness!!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the grass overlooking the shore by our cottage. What a difference from that morning! The tide pools were all gone. The sandy beach we had walked on was now under water. We loved sitting there and listening to the waves crashing against the rocks. What a day!!!
Day 11 -- July 18:
Sadly, our stay in Yachats came to an end and we began our return trip home. :( We drove along the coast as far as Reedsport and then followed the Umpqua River to its headwaters. The scenery was breathtaking. Crater Lake National Park was . . . . wow! We stopped at every overlook around the lake.
There were several of these Clark Nutcrackers at one of the lookouts.
I need a vote on this next picture - I wanted my hubby and the bird in a pic. However, look at the woman in the background. Kind of ruins the effect, doesn't she? Do I crop her out or as my brother suggested - "Label the picture beauty and the beast". ? Anyone??
Another funny thing that happened at this overlook - there were dozens of chipmunks running around right below the wall - that is what the woman hanging over the wall is "playing" with. There are signs all over every park that say "Please don't feed the wild life". Lots of people were doing it anyway. I heard one woman scream and then say "Damn, it bit me!" Duh!
We spent the night in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Day 12 - July 19:
There isn't much else to tell now. We drove a little over 8 hours this day to arrive in Elko, Nevada by late afternoon. We had been dreading this long day through fairly boring scenery, but we were pleasantly surprised. It was a really lovely drive without incident.
Day 13 -- July 20:
On our way from Elko to Orem we stopped in Toole and went to church. On our drive that morning we listened to "The Garden" by Michael McLean. If you have never seen this production you have missed a marvelous experience. I love the music and the story. It was such a great way to prepare for Sacrament meeting. What a difference from last Sunday!
I especially enjoyed the youth speaker. He was a 12-year old who had gone on his first Scout camp and was asked to talk about his experience. Their troop went to an organized camp but brought their own tents to sleep in. He began his talk by saying: I was really worried about sleeping in the tent because we couldn't shower at camp. I thought I should probably bring Febreeze to spray around in the tent. :)
Then he recited the Scout Oath or Law? I don't know which is which. The one that talks about being clean, helpful, etc. Anyway, he went through each virtue and explained how they did that while at camp. When he got to "clean" he said, "Well, this one was a little harder, since we couldn't shower, but we DID wash our hands before we ate!"
I just thought it was delightful and the other talks were wonderful and inspiring. It was a great meeting and a lovely addition to our drive home.
Kent kept track of our milage every day and told me that our whole trip was 3,367 miles - about the distance from Orem to Bogota, Colombia. :)
