Newport, Oregon...

Really enjoyed exploring Newport!  The first day it was sunny and fairly warm.  I was on my way to the lighthouse when I saw a gathering in the Deco District so I stopped.

It was their first Farmer's Market of the season.  It was fun to overhear people greeting each other whom they hadn't seen for a while, asking about family and friends, explaining what they had been doing.  I walked around and saw everything, and purchased a freshly baked cherry turnover.

Then I went to Yaquina Bay Lighthouse park, looked over the bridge, and took a tour of the structure...

This is like a "sand sweeper" that keeps the shifting sands out of the channel entrance...

It was a very busy day!  From the lighthouse, I crossed the bridge to the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center.  This was free and had lots of hands on activities and lots of fish, etc.

After we saw the lady feed the octopus, who would slowly reach up to grab pieces of squid to put into its mouth, she fed the Sunflower Star Fish.  These guys turn over and use these hundreds of little arms with suckers on the end to move the pieces to their mouth in the center.  I had never seen this before...

This is piece of the dock from the Tsunami in Japan that washed up on the beach in Oregon...

This is OSU's newer ocean going research ship, the Oceanic...

This is NOAA's ship, docked in the same area...

Still lots of time, so went to visit the Historic Nye District's shops and enjoy the sunshine overlooking the beach.  Lots of crazy Oregonians out there even in the cool temps...

 

 

 

The whole time I was in Newport, I parked at Walmart at night.  I was only there for a few days.  After this big day, I took it easy the next, found a set of outlets in a park building at the top of a bluff, and charged up, then watched the sun set.

 

:)