Saying Goodbye to YHONA

 May 29 - 31

Our last week at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (YHONA) was certainly bittersweet. We drove north along the coast on Tuesday.

Pacific City - told Matthew we may have missed seeing the icebergs floating past Twillingate, but this is what it would have looked like, only white

 We loved the rocks at Pacific City beach and Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area

We did not rise o the challenge to climb this dune

We continued up the coast and explored Cape Meares Lighthouse, a non-working lighthouse

The height of a lighthouse is determined by the ability of the light to be seen 20 miles away. Since this cliff is so high the lighthouse did not have to be very tall.

The rotating lens mechanism

Skylights inserted in the topmost floor to provide light below

Eagles really are not the fierce creatures portrayed in popular culture - they have a wimpy voice and they are chased off and harassed by crows and gulls 

Had to stop at the Tillamook Factory and watch the cheese being made and packaged, but were disappointed in the ice cream flavors we chose to buy. 

Continued our drive north - such a beautiful coast

The Three Graces

Cannon Beach was our last stop. While we hoped to see crested puffins, they are more active in the morning. Instead we watch hundreds of common murres come to roost

Managed to stop for the last of the sunset 

Had a lovely goodbye gathering Wednesday eve at Szabos with the staff and volunteers and then Friday was our very last day

First banana slug I've seen this trip

This muscle shell fragment is huge!

Goodbye seals and pups

Goodbye cormorants - good luck with your nest building

Murres beginning to roost on colony rock

Had a lovely exit interview with Ricardo and Andrew. They had nice things to say about us and told us we were more than welcome to come back next year. 

Following our last shift our cohost volunteers, Kevin and Steve, treated us to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant

And then our time at YHONA was over. We packed up Saturday morning and drove to Springfield to visit with Nate and Rux and the rest of the family for a few days.