Wildlife

We saw a lot of wildlife in the last 24 hours including snakes, sea lions, seals, seagulls, and whales. And a starfish. 

It started with a nice walk yesterday afternoon in a nearby recreation area. It's a wooded area, not a beach. While on the walk we ran into 2 little snakes. Nothing like our big Arizona rattlers. I assume they were not harmful. Anyway, we didn't bother them, they didn't bother us.  I don't have a photo. But it isn't hard to imagine- 2 little green snakes about a foot long. 

 Beaver Creek Park, where we walk when the beach is too foggy. 

This morning we went into Newport and went down to the harbor where our favorite restaurants are located.  Before lunch we went to visit the sea lions that live off shore in the harbor.  

After our trip to Newport we went to our local beach where we ran into this gang of seagulls that hang out there.

While we were on the beach someone pointed out two whales offshore. I couldn't take any whale photos. There isn't enough time to snap a photo. 

 We also saw a few seals sleeping on a rock offshore. The climb on a flat or sort of flat place like a  flat rock and sleep on top of each other. The seal lions in Newport sleep in a pile like this as well. In this photo they are all piled up on this rock while they try to take a nap.

We walked along the beach from one end to the other. Franklin does this several times every day. I usually do it once.

The tide was low and we saw a starfish hanging onto a rock, waiting for the tide to come back in. 

Last but not least, we saw several of these strange birds along the highway. 

Unless something unexpected occurs in the next day or two, this is my last blog from the Oregon coast. 
We head to Portland on Monday and I'll share any interesting adventures we have there. 
Then we start our journey home. 

Some beach and sunset photo

This is our last week on the Oregon Coast. Form here we move to Portland for about 10 days, then start our journey down the California coast. 

Here are some photos of the beach and sunsets from our house. 

 

 Those are seals on the rock. The community is named Seal Rock so it is no surprise that we usually have a few seals offshore. 

 Here is a close up of our seals. 

Farm tours

 Seal Rock, Oregon, where we are staying,  is fairly rural. It flunks what Franklin and I call 'the bottle of milk test." Which means we are 20 minutes from the closest grocery store.- too far to make a quick run to the store in case of an emergency.  I've lived in the suburbs, like Scottsdale, or on beaches most of my life so this is a new experience for me (us). And while we would not chose it for a permanent life style we are enjoying being in the country for these 6 weeks weeks. 

Today a nearby farming community offered farm tours. Seven or so farms opened their doors so you can see a variety of livestock- goats, cows, llamas, peacocks, and buy some of their fresh produce and flowers. We took this self guided tour last summer and did it again today. 

In the cooler weather of Oregon many if not most crops are grown or at least started in greenhouses. 

Our favorite is the farm which has peacocks and llamas. These are not working llamas like we have in Arizona, which people use for pack animals on hikes or treks. These are 'rescue llamas". I am not sure what that means but it seems to include doing no work, just acting as pets. Here are a few photos of llamas and peacocks. 

 A llama

 Two llamas

 An old man and a goat. Maybe I should say two old goats.

A white peacock. Since last summer the farmer got rid of most of her colored birds and is now raising white ones only. 

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I also bought some flowers (dahlias) and vegetables. 
Next weekend we move from Seal Rock to Portland for 10 days. We will stop en route at a fabulous dahlia festival with acres of dahlia gardens and bulbs to sell. I can't buy any flowers  at the festival as it is too much trouble to transport them to our hotel. And I can't buy any bulbs as they won't grow in our Arizona heat. Instead I got a few dahlias to enjoy this week instead. 
Here is a photo from last year's dahlia festival. I seem to have misplaced all the photos of the gorgeous flowers that I photographed last year. Nevermind. There will be more photos next week after this year's festival. 

BBQ Albacore Tuna Cookoff

Today we went to a BBQ tuna cookoff. 
     The tuna here on the coast is albacore, a white tuna. It is healthier than the red tuna we usually see as is younger and smaller so it has less mercury than the big red tunas. 
     Here in Newport we can buy whole tunas (10-25 pounds)  right off the boat which caught it. Since we are a family of 2 I usually buy it in a fish store instead. They label the tuna with the name of the captain and how it was caught- troll caught or line caught. But you don't buy tuna steaks here you buy wedge shaped loins like a steak tenderloin and cut it into steaks yourself. 
     This cookoff was a two day event and we chose to go the second day when culinary students were cooking rather than the professionals. I figured tuna was not that hard to cook and the students would probably do as good a job and it would be less crowded. And I think I was right on both counts. Except the recipes were different. For example I asked one student how they made the candied lemon peel for the garnish and he said he didn't use sugar, he put the peel in a pot with a can of Red Bull and reduced it. Well, probably the professional chefs didn't do that. 
     Here are some photos of the tuna dishes. I labeled the ones I remembered. If you'd like to see the recipes they will be posted in a week or two on www. oregonalbacore.org. 

This is a fish cutting demonstration. This is a tuna loin cut in 1 1/2" slices, skin side down. Tuna is a fatty fish so it doesn't need much marinating. Maybe 30 minute or less in Italian salad dressing or lemon juice and olive oil in a plastic bag. 

Busy Summer Days

Busy Summer Days

We had company the past 4 days, Hoa and Bryon, from Scottsdale. We had great fun showing them around and they seem to find our part of the coast as attractive and entertaining as we do. We did some fun touring and both ate and cooked some great food. 

On Monday we visited some of our local beaches. The closest beach is at the end of our street, about half a mile away but there are several others nearby, each with their own geological features- such as rock, boulders, streams, and tidepools. 

Hoa at Seal Rock

Mussels at Seal Rock

Hoa and Byron love to forage and arrived with a lot of blueberries they picked inland a few days earlier. We made several different blueberry cobblers and wonderful blueberry pancakes. Later in the week we found  lot of blackberries bushes and made blackberry cobblers and blackberry jam. 

We went on a picnic, visited a small farmer's market, several vintage shops, a small local museum, and took lots of photos. 

Hoa picking blackberries on our picnic

Byron picking blackberries along the road. We baked blueberry cobblers, blackberry cobbler, and even made some blackberry jam. 

The Newport Aquarium

This is the start of a busy week for us. 
Last night we went to a fundraiser at the aquarium. Newport has a very good aquarium. We tried to go there last week when there was a special event- Tuna Day, to celebrate the very active local tuna fishing industry. But the event was way too crowded for us so we left and didn't go in. 
We got another opportunity to view the wildlife last night and it was PERFECT! There were only about 100 people at the fundraiser so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. They had fish snacks, and some fish videos. The aquarium has both indoor and outdoor exhibits so I even got a chance to wear one of the new cashmere sweaters that I bought at the Ventura, California flea market. I was thrilled to have  an opportunity to wear it.

Here are some photos from the aquarium:

Jellyfish

A Sea Otter

Franklin with a model of  Great White Shark 

 
The fundraiser continues tomorrow with a whole day of fish oriented films. We'll go to one or two short films I think. The rest of our week looks pretty busy as well. Sunday we're having two couples over for dinner and a tango lesson (we're giving instead of taking for a change) . Then Monday a couple from Scottsdale are coming to visit for a few days. Then we go to Portland for a few days. A busy week.