Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach

After we left Newport, we decided to stop at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach on our way to Ocean Shores, Washington.  Though Samantha was 2 inches too short to be allowed to climb the stairs in the lighthouse, we spent some time wandering through the Visitor's Center and then down to the beach.  I'm not sure she got a lot out of the Visitor's Center, but she did enjoy climbing on the seal statues there and walking around their lighthouse display. 



Exploring the Visitor's Center

Meeting a new friend

Since she couldn't go up in the real lighthouse,
I guess this is the next best thing!

One of the guides in the center let us know that it's perfect tide pool weather, so we descended the wooden staircases to the beach.  There was another guide at the bottom of the stairs who provided an orientation of the types of animals we'd see in the tide pools, plus the rules on where to step, etc.  We wandered around and saw some fantastic tide pools.  Again, Samantha was a bit timid so she didn't want to touch any of the animals.  We even saw some seals while we were down there.

On the stairs down to the beach

Perfect tide pool viewing

Down on the beach with Daddy

When we'd finished down at the beach, we climbed the stairs and headed up to the lighthouse to walk around.  Samantha was allowed to go inside the lighthouse, just not to the top, so we walked around on the main level there and explored a bit.

The spiral stairs leading up to the top of the lighthouse

Visiting the rooms in the lighthouse



Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We had a long drive ahead of us so we started our trek North on the Pacific Coast Hwy...a beautiful drive!