South Beach State Park outside Newport, ORJun 14, 2012
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South Beach State Park campsite G17
Campground trees are covered with moss from so much moisture
Yaquina Head Lighthouse 1873
| June 14, 2012 I’ve been at South Beach State Park near Newport, OR since Monday. Monday was just getting settled as check in is 4PM! Had difficulty finding a place to unhitch the car because the loop that I’m on is so curved; unhitching requires as straight a position between MH and car as possible, otherwise there’s too much torque on the tow bars. After driving around 3 times I decided on a spot. I got out and thought I was being bothered by sweat bees-turned out to be giant mosquitoes. They just flocked around my body and face. Unreal. I haven’t had any problems with them up til that time. No choice at that point but to unhitch and find the repellent later. The site I have is very long so no problem getting both the MH and the car backed in nicely. I have electric and water at this site; no sewer but there’s a nice dump station which is fine with me. I didn’t bother to do much but set out the stool as it was misting and late. I could do more tomorrow. Tomorrow, however, was a total washout, rain-wise. It rained and poured all day. No setting up more of camp that day. No doing dishes, though I did try out the showers and hoped that the water stayed hot. It did! I took the day to evaluate my future travels and have come to the conclusion that I have to start heading back to Wisconsin. Money is just too tight. Too many large expenses related to the MH and vet bills for Abby [$150 for blood tests!] have taken their toll. I need to start back. I will still see some sight along the way and make a stop at Grand Teton National Park but will take less time and make less stops that I originally thought I would. So I did research, tried to make a timeline [still working on that] and generally pondered my decision. Wednesday I headed out of camp to go see Yaquina Head Lighthouse, original operation started in 1873. The 93 foot-high tower is the tallest on the Oregon coast. There are 114 steps to get to the top of the lighthouse; I know because I climbed them all and really almost passed out. The now automated light, that the 114 steps led to, aids in navigation along the seacoast. In the cliffs around the lighthouse, seabirds made their nesting areas. I saw several adult cormorants feed their young. They had very little room for their nest and the ‘young’ were getting pretty big. Fascinating!! I’m having to be careful on how much time I spend in the sun. Since it is cool and often windy near the ocean, I’m fairly covered but my face and hands are repeatedly exposed to the sun, to which I am extremely sensitive. Today I tried going out later in the afternoon and ventured out to the sand dunes and beaches that go with this park. There are accessible paths so that one doesn’t have to trudge through the sands leading to the ocean. It’s a long way and the dunes would be quite a climb. So I took the walkway out to the dunes and sat at the top of some pretty tall ones. I could have gotten down them but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back up. Unless I crawled up… So I sat at the top and watched people in the water, most on the beach, some flying kites…all on a beach formed by a jetty that led the boats into the marina at Newport. Along with the jetty came a horn that sounded every 15 seconds. I can hear it now at my campsite and I’m a long way from the beach. It must sound to tell the boats where the jetty is. The beach was beautiful white sand and the ocean fairly calm, the tide out. Reminded me of Andrea-Kohler State Park on Lake Michigan near Sheboygan. |
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