Oregon

We are leaving for home today but have been away for nearly two weeks. We were first in Oregon near the coast staying with family in a house on the Wilson River near Tillamook. We spent a week there exploring the coast and enjoying family time and then went to western Washington for a backpacking excursion with our oldest daughter and time with our youngest son and family. We are going to pick strawberries later this morning and then head for home. The photo is of the lighthouse at Yaquina Head Natural Area, one of our favorite places on the Oregon coast. The area, near Newport, Oregon, not only features this beautiful lighthouse, but seastacks, thousands of seabirds, whales, seals, tide pools and beautiful scenery. We drove there from Tillmook last Friday, a beautiful day, stopping at various beaches and viewpoints along the way and then enjoying this wonderful place which many of the family had not seen.

Taken from Otter Crest on the Oregon coast while traveling down the coast with family from Tillamook to Yaquina Head.

This is a boulder made almost entirely of obsidian and photographed at the obsidian flow in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. What looks a bit like coal glinting in the light is actually the volcanic glass, obsidian.

This is a close-up of an obsidian boulder at Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. It is in an area covered with obsidian formed by a flow that is estimated to have taken place about 1300 years ago.

There was still snow at these elevations when we visited the obsidian flow in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. These are pieces of the black volcanic glass known as obsidian, acres of which cover the ground in this area.

These will be the last photos I post of our Oregon-California trip. They are of the last place we visited before heading home, the obsidian flow at Newberry Volcanic Monument in Oregon. This flow is relatively recent, only about 1300 years ago and is spectacular with obsidian everywhere including massive blocks. It was tempting to pocket a few pieces but there are draconian fines for doing so and getting caught. For those who do not know, obsidian is black (usually) volcanic glass, some of which is more visible in the inset photos than that on the slope in the right of this photo. There are trails through the flow and it was one of favorite places at Newberry.

This is half of Paulina Falls, a double waterfall on the creek that drains Paulina Lake in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon.

Paulina Falls is on a creek that drains Paulina Lake in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. It is a short hike to the double falls which drop 80 feet (24 meters) as the creek flows around an island.

This is one of the waterfalls that drains Paulina Lake in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. The falls are on Paulina Creek and flow around an island before reuniting further down.