The last leg of our journey was in the southern Oregon coast. Like Crescent city it was beautiful. The beaches were stunning. My dad commented on how one of the things he appreciated about
Oregon was that they leave the coast open to the public. It didn't really occur to me until he said that, but it's true. There are turn outs, look out points, hikes, and parks everywhere and there is minimal housing very close to the beaches. It was overcast in the mornings and evenings, but day time was often quite sunny like this:
The rocks jutting out and cliffs to look over were picturesque.
I love the random rocks jutting out all over. At low tide we were able to walk around them and found thousands and thousands of mussels attached all over.
In this particular location, we weren't able to make it down to the beach, but the vantage point from up here was amazing.
And it's always fun to hike around on big rocks!
We
watched as the tide came in and it was truly remarkable how much higher the water sits. It quickly crept up and up the steep slopes.
I'm also a sucker for these natural caves in the water. Were it not for the extreme danger present, I would have loved to have swam through one. There were many at this beach.
Eventually the swells reached just below where Brian is standing.
The sheer magnitude of water is humbling. Until you are standing directly over, the volume of the waves is incomprehensible. Actually, let's get real... the volume of the ocean is incomprehensible whether you're in it, above it, or under it.... it's big!
The next day we stopped at this beach that was covered in drift wood. There were all kinds of tiny little crabs in the water. I can't believe they can survive.
At first, the water was quite cold (even to our Tahoe seasoned limbs) but you got used to it fast. If the temperature outside had been warmer we might have
actually swam instead of just wading. Of course, the undertow might have killed us so maybe the weather was just right.
Beautiful!
Absolutely beautiful!
Crash!!!!!
Our second day in Gold Beach we went on a river boat tour. Gold beach is unique as it is one of the locations where fresh water meets salt water via the Rogue River. The tour was fabulous. Our tour guide was hilarious and I'm pretty sure he never spoke without sarcasm. He told jokes, made up clever stories, and intentionally mixed words up displaying his intelligence. Also, at the beginning he asked where each
occupant was from and then incorporated those locations into his jokes. This first picture is a little sea lion. I've seen lots in my life due to numerous trips to San
Francisco, but I never knew there was a law in place that prevents fisherman from
harassing these animals in any way. As a result, fisherman (one of the major occupations of the region) were losing 4 out of 5 fish to the lions. Now, they have a system where when fisherman are reeling in fish, they have a group of guys that distract the sea lions. The fisherman now retain 4 out of 5 fish from the sea lions (though it
sounds like they have to pay more workers ).
This bridge was built in 1928 and is 1928 feet long. It's also very pretty.
There were a lot of bald eagles on the boat ride. We had high hopes of spotting bears, but we never saw any.
We did, however, see lots of different types of birds, sea otter, turtles, fish, and sea lions.
These jet boats are propelled by air enabling them to operate in as little as one foot of water. Our tour guide did 360's all day long. Plus they go really really fast! This was another
highlight of our trip!
It's not uncommon for tours to see bears on the sides
of the river due to the large amount of blackberries. There is a lot of wild life and the Rogue river is a protected river which means only a certain amount of boats and people are allowed on it each day.
When we went through the white water we had to jacket up... boy did they stink!
This bridge was even more
beautiful at sunset.
Brian and I took a little drive that evening to look for some wild life. Right on the river that we boated earlier that morning, Brian spotted these.... At first I thought they were sea lions. In fact, they were a whole herd of elk, bathing, drinking, hanging. It was really incredible. There were close to 30 of them right there in the river.
As I've mentioned before,
Ekco loves mermaids so Brian made sure to take a picture of this sunken boat to tel her stories about the mermaids who lived there...
The rocks jutting out and cliffs to look over were picturesque.
I love the random rocks jutting out all over. At low tide we were able to walk around them and found thousands and thousands of mussels attached all over. 
In this particular location, we weren't able to make it down to the beach, but the vantage point from up here was amazing.
And it's always fun to hike around on big rocks!
We watched as the tide came in and it was truly remarkable how much higher the water sits. It quickly crept up and up the steep slopes.
I'm also a sucker for these natural caves in the water. Were it not for the extreme danger present, I would have loved to have swam through one. There were many at this beach.
Eventually the swells reached just below where Brian is standing.
The sheer magnitude of water is humbling. Until you are standing directly over, the volume of the waves is incomprehensible. Actually, let's get real... the volume of the ocean is incomprehensible whether you're in it, above it, or under it.... it's big!
The next day we stopped at this beach that was covered in drift wood. There were all kinds of tiny little crabs in the water. I can't believe they can survive.
At first, the water was quite cold (even to our Tahoe seasoned limbs) but you got used to it fast. If the temperature outside had been warmer we might have actually swam instead of just wading. Of course, the undertow might have killed us so maybe the weather was just right.
Beautiful!
Absolutely beautiful!
Crash!!!!!
Our second day in Gold Beach we went on a river boat tour. Gold beach is unique as it is one of the locations where fresh water meets salt water via the Rogue River. The tour was fabulous. Our tour guide was hilarious and I'm pretty sure he never spoke without sarcasm. He told jokes, made up clever stories, and intentionally mixed words up displaying his intelligence. Also, at the beginning he asked where each occupant was from and then incorporated those locations into his jokes. This first picture is a little sea lion. I've seen lots in my life due to numerous trips to San Francisco, but I never knew there was a law in place that prevents fisherman from harassing these animals in any way. As a result, fisherman (one of the major occupations of the region) were losing 4 out of 5 fish to the lions. Now, they have a system where when fisherman are reeling in fish, they have a group of guys that distract the sea lions. The fisherman now retain 4 out of 5 fish from the sea lions (though it sounds like they have to pay more workers ).
This bridge was built in 1928 and is 1928 feet long. It's also very pretty.
There were a lot of bald eagles on the boat ride. We had high hopes of spotting bears, but we never saw any.
We did, however, see lots of different types of birds, sea otter, turtles, fish, and sea lions.
These jet boats are propelled by air enabling them to operate in as little as one foot of water. Our tour guide did 360's all day long. Plus they go really really fast! This was another highlight of our trip!
It's not uncommon for tours to see bears on the sides of the river due to the large amount of blackberries. There is a lot of wild life and the Rogue river is a protected river which means only a certain amount of boats and people are allowed on it each day.
When we went through the white water we had to jacket up... boy did they stink!
This bridge was even more beautiful at sunset.
Brian and I took a little drive that evening to look for some wild life. Right on the river that we boated earlier that morning, Brian spotted these.... At first I thought they were sea lions. In fact, they were a whole herd of elk, bathing, drinking, hanging. It was really incredible. There were close to 30 of them right there in the river.
As I've mentioned before, Ekco loves mermaids so Brian made sure to take a picture of this sunken boat to tel her stories about the mermaids who lived there...
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