OREGON COAST!

We headed north of town today to hike along the coast in search of whales. No whales, although Kate may have seen a distant spout. California gray whales are migrating from Alaska to the coast of Baja, California (Mexico) now. They spend the autumn and winter there; they mate en route, and the babies are born near Mexico. They will return to Alaska in the spring.

We saw no whales, but the rock formations off the coast ( the IMMENSE formations!) resemple whales. One tall, narrow formation looked like a whale breaching - rising from the water with its eyes facing the sky. Another looked like a seal, with its nose in the air. A third (the largest) reminded me of a whale emerging from the water to take a breath, Real whales are covered with barnacles that hitch a ride on them. This rock was covered with shrubs and one tall tree (a Douglas fir, I think, it was pretty distant.) Other rocks like fallen black hailstones rested off shore; the wind whistled through one sea arch. Astounding.

This park is home to many intertidal zone areas, but the tide was too high for us to explore them. We had fun watching chickarees (small squirrels) scurrying up and down tree trunks. One red shouldered hawk called to us, "Pyew! Pyew! Pyew!" A very cool day.

Toomorrow we head for Eugene, where we will spend New Year's Eve. From there we will go to Corvalis, where we will spend two days visiting an ecovillage. We may be busy over the next few days, but will check in when we can, and will tell you what an ecovillage is.