November 20-22, 2018 Brookings, Oregon

50's and  Mostly cloudy.

We hiked in the Samuel Boardman Scenic corridor to Secret Cove. It is a very steep trail going down the cliff to the beach.  John blending in to the background in his rainforest coat with the moss and ferns.  

The creek leading to Secret Cove. It has way less water than our last trip here. Our first view of Secret Cove. The last time we were here the waves were breaking on the cliffs. We came at low tide this time to walk around among the sea stacks. 

Waterfall on the beach. John checking out another small fall and canyon. 

Looking out the canyon at the sea stacks. It got sort of sunsetty, but this is about all we got. There are more coves around the corner here, but you have to wait for a much lower tide to go around to them.  

Kind of sunset and a wave. Interesting rocks. I thought the second one looks kind of like a profile of Lincoln. Limpets on the rocks and maidenhair ferns on the way back up. 

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain 1-2 with winds 20-40 with gusts to 65. John decided today would be a better day to smoke the turkey breast for Thanksgiving dinner. Today it only rained 1 inch. We are moving to a new site tomorrow, it was the only way we could stay here for a week over the holiday. The new site does not have as much wind protection. We saw this homemade camper at the beach today. Nice skylight.  

It was pretty black and white at the beach today. Rain, wind and lots of clouds and big waves. I saw an otter run across the beach into the ocean. He was pretty fast, I all got a photo of what his foot prints. I saw this do not feed the squirrels or sea gulls sign at the beach. I am pretty sure I have not seen any squirrels on the beach. 

Today it was in the low 50's, raining cats and dogs and high wind. 1-2 inches of rain, winds 20 with gust to 40 mph. We went to the beach to check it out. Rain on the camera lens, the wind blowing our raincoats up. Really high wind.  

Really big waves. In the late afternoon the sun came out briefly.  

Closer up of the sunset and waves. 

Thanksgiving dinner. The huge turkey breast that John smoked, dressing, cranberry sauce and whipped cauliflower. Yummy.

November 18-19, 2018 Port Orford, Oregon

It was foggy all day and in the 50's.

This cool mosaic overlooks the harbor in Port Orford. Is a working harbor, so mostly fishing boats. It is not a natural harbor here, just deep ocean so they winch the boats up onto the pier every night and winch them back in the next day when they use them. 

This new camping/RV lot in town does not look like much now with the fog, but it has a beautiful ocean view, is within walking distance from the beach and town. We had brunch today at the Red Fish Grill. It has this gorgeous ocean view. 

John, Cats and John at the Red Fish Grill for brunch. The food was yummy and very plentiful.  After brunch John showed us his garden. Gigantic garden, it feeds the both of them. Amazing that you can garden this time of year here. 

Cat's made this  beautiful hat. I am trading her a basket for it. It matches my coat and fits very nice. She has more for sale if you are interested. They are all different. There was thick fog yesterday and today. We waited till we could see the trees in the next campsite before we left this am. It is always so pretty when it starts to burn off. 

We are camped at Harris Beach State park, just north of Brooking, Oregon. We are coming back into civilization. The last three places were only half full campgrounds, dark and quiet. This one is full. Lights along the walks and bathrooms. It is a vacation week so there are lots of children.They are cute, but noisy. We walked along the beach and viewed the tidepools at low tide as the sun burnt off the fog.  

Pretty rocks in the sunlight. Flowers, John's feet with two sea stars and the ubiquitous green anemones. 

3 sea stars over a very colorful tide pool. Most of the colors in the pool are sea plants and rocks. Mussels and an orange sea star. The sun on the tide pools with Brookings farther down the beach.  

John waiting for me in a picturesque spot. Red sea star, white flowers, lots of mussels and barnacles.  

Crab on the beach, seaweed, clump of kelp roots and an arch in the rock that waves come through. Since it was low tide we were able to walk way up the beach and into these sea stacks.  

Sunset was lovely. The sun caught between two rocks and the setting sun looking like an erupting volcano.  

I was liking this white cloud to the right. Looks kind of like a white dove. The sun peeking out between layers of fog. 

November 16-17, 2018 Cape Blanco, Oregon

High 50's, sunny and windy. Really Beautiful.

John had the pork roast smoking by 655 am today. Our friends Cats and John took us to a secluded overlook for happy hour and sunset tonight here at the park. 

Cat's and John. John, Cats and John with a beer in the sunset. 

Sunset was stunning.  

Post sunset with the moon in the left corner. Post sunset viewers. 

Wildlife seen tonight. a deer watching sunset with us and a feral sheep on the cliffs above the ocean. There is a flock of feral sheep here on the beach. 

Today we hiked with Cats and John down to the Sixes river estuary and back along the beach. Light behind an old growth sitka spruce tree. The view looking down on where we will go.  It was sunny, high 50's and no wind, perfect weather. 

The Sixes river entering the ocean.  Looking back up valley at the smoke.

Coming through the rushes to the beach. Black sand and sea stacks. 

John, John and Cats in the haze ahead of me. Lunch on the beach on the huge logs that are drift wood here. Cats and John brought home made bread, cheese, salami, hummes, and some of last night smoked pork. It was a feast.  

The view from lunch. Light in the trees, wind tracks in the sand, the beach was not sand, but these very tiny, just a bit bigger than sand polished rocks. There were these huge polished green serpentine boulders covered with barnacles.  

Barnacles, a sea star wrapped around the corner and barnacles on a piece of  wood.  

John tidepooling. Cats and John in the tide pools.  

A eyelash pool, colorful snails and anemones in the tide pools. The cove as we headed back up to the cape.  

Waves of fog rolled in over the cape as we watched.  A hermit crab lives in this turban snail shell,  beach flowers- scotch broom, pansey and a yellow flower. 

John, Cats and John by the cliff, with a view of fog instead of ocean, looking down the cliff from where they were standing. We headed back into the thick maritime forest.  

Fog in the forest.