Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: seal

(+6 insets) Harbor Seal Pupping Season at Yaquina Head Light House! Everywhere along the coast of Oregon, there are so many wonderful things to see! One day we went out to the mouth of the Yaquina River, which featured the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We read that there were tide pools and seals, trails and magnificent views. We were not prepared for the wonderful things we'd see that day! As luck would have it, we arrived during harbor seal pupping season! Furthermore, I nearly vibrated with excitement when I found out the area around Yaquina Head had a colony of seals there! In fact, to keep them safe, part of the accessible beach where the mothers and pups frequented was cordoned off and watched by eagle-eyed caretakers who were quick to tell anyone too close to please stay behind the tape. Yes! With all of the selfish ignoramuses out there, were very pleased that the seals had protectors looking out for them! Today's Picture Who doesn't love to watch seals?! They are like huge sea puppies and I adore them! Although the main attraction was the mothers and pups laying around on the algae-covered rocks, spotting them swimming around was a great game! I managed to get this incredibly lucky shot of an adult popping out of the water on its back and turning over, with a spray of water launched next to it. It's one of my very best sea life pictures! :) Today's Insets Inset #1: The main draw of this area is the gorgeous Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Viewed from the rocky beach near the Harbor Seal pupping grounds, you can see the wonderful tide pools found all up and down the coast here. Inset #2: The algae-covered rocks where the Harbor Seals raised their pups were full of rolly-polly moms and their babies. I couldn't stop cooing as I took pictures! :) How nice it was to have my Sony RX10 IV bridge camera with its 24-600 lens! I couldn't have gotten any worthwhile seal pictures without this super camera! Inset #2: At the far side of the accessible part of the beach I spotted a little cove where a mother had come out of the water, her pup just visible at her side. She looks rather non-plussed, don't you think?! :D Inset #4: Cormorants and other sea birds covered the rocks at the far side of the beach and Steve and I enjoyed watching their antics. I was happy to see that the area was cordoned off too, as the birds were busy planning families too. They were far enough away that I wasn't sure any pictures would turn out and I was delighted when I found this picture turned out so nicely! Inset #5: Yaquina Head's Cobble Beach was very unique because it was covered with true cobble stones, something we'd never encountered before. These polished rocks were slippery to walk on--warning signs were posted!--and they created an incredibly loud, almost musical tone as you walked carefully over them. Inset #6: The tide pools next to the rocky beach were teeming with life! This image shows some anemones and mussels that we saw, surrounded by different kinds of algae. Thank You For Visiting! Every time I check on my new presentation my face breaks out is such a big smile. It makes me so happy that you folks come to visit, even though I've been so negligent in my reciprocal visits. We've been getting so much frost in the mornings but in the afternoon it's warming up and Steve and I, with Pumpkin too, are going on walks in preparation for our upcoming adventures! Hope you're all healthy and doing well! Explored on 2/3/22; highest placement #1.

(+4 insets!) We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in Brookings, Oregon. Oh happy day! :D We read the forecast last night and it said "sunny" and we thought we must be on another planet! :D On top of that, there would be a classic car show to visit and a short but wonderful harbor walk to go on too. Then we found out there is a festival here just for this weekend! There is a garden show, an arts and crafts area with many vendors and artwork to see too. We discussed what we should do and decided to see the car show and go on the walk today and tomorrow we will go to the arts and crafts vendors. Instead of going to the garden show, we'll then go on a beautiful hike that we found just north of town. Wait a second…weren't we supposed to be going home tomorrow? Actually, yes! But we suddenly realized that if we drove home tomorrow, we'd be sharing the road with the countless vacationers all headed back to Medford and beyond…what a bad idea. We pictured traffic jams the whole way home…ugh. So instead we're staying another night! Hooray!! Once we had our late breakfast we headed out to the classic car show. It was a mere 10-minute's walk from our RV and we were actually alerted to the show because we saw it on the way to the RV park yesterday. The car show was really large with lots and lots of amazing oldies. We recognized a bunch of them which show at the Medford Cruise every June and never tire of drooling at these lovely autos, whether or not we've seen them before. They weren't all oldies either…Steve got to sit in a new Tesla, and holy cow is that a cool car! I only had time to process one picture of the cars for today so I chose a gorgeous old Rolls Royce. The details are incredible and I'll try to post some at a later date. After visiting the car show we tucked into a seafood restaurant on the way back to the RV. Steve has been pining for crab since before our trip so he finally got his wish! I chose cod fish tacos and they were amazing. We traded bites of our dishes and had a thoroughly wonderful meal. After stopping in at the RV, we went on the Harbor walk, which was a stroll around the harbor area and out to a jetty but it was lovely and we enjoyed seeing the boats as we walked along. Walking out onto the jetty was where the magic was. The view was super and I noticed some suspicious shapes in the water that I stared at as we got closer. Were they what I thought they were? YES!!! SEALS!!!! YAY!!!! My Sony was able to zoom in close enough so that I could actually get pictures to share!!! YES!!!! Looking at the images on my computer I could see that two of these Harbor Seals were a momma and her fast-growing pup. Can you say DARLING?! :D I was over the moon with joy that I got pictures! While we were there we met a couple of fellows who were out there fishing (without any luck unfortunately) and it turns out that Matthew and Larry were from MEDFORD! Such a small world, and even though it's just a couple of hours away, we were all amused by this fact! We enjoyed chatting with them for quite a while before we finally departed. As we were about to leave I noticed that the seals were gone…and then I laughed…the tide had come in and removed their sunning spot! And then I saw movement in the water and could see one of the seals swimming towards us! To my amazement I got pictures which turned out, what good luck!! So, this evening's main picture is my best seal picture, which shows mama and baby and a friend. I've also included a picture of sleepy mama and baby, and the two pictures of the swimming seal. Finally, one picture from the car show, huzzah!! Pam, I hope that you are doing well…yikes the weather sounds dreadful where you are! I do not want to call you Dorothy so please stay safe! :) *BIG HUGS*!!!! Explored on 5/27/19; highest placement, #1.