Oregon Coast Aquarium - Plus

The weather was nearly perfect yesterday and was a good day to venture out to some places we have been looking at to visit. One of the attractions that was high on our list was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It is located in Newport and is one of the most unique aquariums in the country because of it's outside features. It is very deceiving as you enter the building (below):

When you walk into the building you are at the cashier's desk where you pay your fee and instead of going directly into the aquarium, you are in the huge Gift Shop behind the welcome desk. I guess they want to make sure you don't miss it after you complete your visit. Anyway, after the discounts for seniors and AAA it cost each of us $12 to visit.

There are several buildings and displays within these buildings that contain large aquariums with all kinds of fish and ocean life. The picture below is of the largest crab species in the world - the spider crab - and this particular aquarium had about 6 or 7 of these:

After viewing different aquariums in these buildings, you go outside to covered areas (with nets) where there are several different bird species that are unique to the ocean. Below is one of the more popular ones, the Tufted Puffin:

While walking through one of these many buildings, there is an area (below) where you actually walk through the aquarium, with fish all around you, and it's like walking through a tube:

It was a very different sensation walking through these as the fish were also under your feet. We spent a couple hours at the Aquarium and left with a feeling that it was time and money well spent.

We wanted to stop at an area called "Cape Foulweather". We've driven past this turnoff every trip we have taken to Newport, and decided to visit it once and for all. It was a great decision, as this was a spectacular day to witness a spectacular view. We drove down a winding road off of Highway 101 and arrived at the parking lot at Cape Foulweather. Here is a shot of the lookout building and gift shop:

This location is 500 feet above the ocean and the lookout points are fantastic. This shot is looking south toward Newport:

You can barely make out the lighthouse in the top right of the picture that is on Yaquina Bay in Newport. This is the most spectacular view of the shoreline that we've seen since we arrived here. Below is another shot, taken from the rear of the lookout and Gift Shop and facing north:

The history of this Lookout is interesting in itself. It sits on the top of this cliff that is part of a 164 acre purchase by an individual and his wife back in 1934. He was a representative of Hershey Chocolate Co. and I have to wonder first of all, how much they paid for the property and, secondly, how a representative of a chocolate company could afford this beautiful chunk of land. They built this lookout and called it Cape Foulweather because it was named on a day of bad weather. Note: that could have been any day.

It was a fun day and we were grateful for the fantastic weather on our day off. Today is cloudy - at least this morning - but we hope to go to another interesting place. Stay tuned...