A friend had suggested to my mom that the kids would like to see the carnivorous plants at the Darlingtonia State Natural Site. It was right off the main highway, so we stopped to see them. They were way bigger than I thought and so cool! It was s great, short stop, for sure!
I had a list of a few neat places to see along the coast this day, but unfortunately the parking lots were busy so couldn't stop. One was Thor's Well and one was Devil's Punchbowl. Luckily, there are so many other places to stop. We went into the town of Yachats and stopped by the water. The kids had fun climbing a bit on the rocks and there were a couple small tide pools. There were also surfers in the water, so we watched them for a bit.
We saw another place that looked like a nice beach stop, so we spent a little time on the beach at the Governor Patterson Memorial State Recreation Area.
My Dad had proclaimed the burger at Rogue Brewery on the south side of the bridge in Newport as the best he's ever had. So, we originally planned to stop there for lunch. But we had also heard this was a great place for seafood and Roy was wishing for some chowder and we had burgers the night before. So, we found a place that seemed like it would have good seafood for Roy and non-fish options for the kids. Unfortunately, the food took foreeeeeeeever to come and it wasn't very good. And the server gave some attitude about it. Should have just gone for burgers!!! We walked up the street and had some ice cream on the way back to the car, so that always makes everything better!
Our next stop was at Lincoln City Glass Center. The kids and I had appointments to blow our own glass! I've been fascinated by glass blowing for a long time and couldn't wait to get a chance to see how it was done AND participate! It was amazing to see the process, and we all really loved the experience. It was not a cheap activity, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so we just did it! You are allowed one person in with you to take photos, so I was Riley's photographer and Roy was Leighton's. Then Leighton came to be mine, and Riley took a few for me, too.
Our hotel for the night wasn't too far away. After relaxing in the room for a while, we decided to stay in and have an easy dinner in the room, so I walked to the grocery store for a few items. Riley wanted to walk down to the beach but Leighton was tired, so he and Roy stayed back while Riley and I walked down the hill and found the beach. We put our shoes and jackets down on the sand and wandered, but we noticed the tide was coming in fast, so we went and moved them really far off the shore. We were heading to a big rock Riley wanted a picture with when I turned around and saw a lady picking up our stuff! We ran back to get it. She was just collecting things she saw on the beach and was moving it up higher on the sand. It was nice of her, but there was no danger of it getting wet where we'd left it and now we were far too exhausted to walk back all the way to the big rock after the long run we had! We were hoping for a sunset but it was too cloudy, so we found a set of (60!) stairs to take us back to the road where we could find our way back to the (hill that we need to walk up!) hotel.
When we got back, Roy and I took Riley to the pool and hot tub while Leighton stayed in the room reading. Riley brought her underwater camera for a few pictures.
The glassblowing must have been a wonderful experience. Did you get to keep what you helped make?
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