Depoe Bay with the Cowleys

We had a 10 day trip to the coast with Brent's family in early July and it was so nice for Brent and I to finally have a break from work! Thanks to Brent's parents who reserved beautiful condos in Depoe Bay. PS. Videos aren't working yet - sorry! I'll see if I can get them to work in another week.

Grandma and Grandpa got in late at night so the kids had a happy morning seeing them. Brent and I had not had time to pack, so we spent the morning packing and doing honey-do projects, aka projects we had saved up for Brent's dad to help us with! 

We drove to Costco and got food and then drove the two hours to Depoe Bay later that afternoon. I had not looked up anything about the area or condos and was so surprised when we saw our condo had this gorgeous view!

Our condo was right below Grandma and Grandpa's condo, and they both overlooked this bay and large rock that had so many sea birds and seals. We had fun each day watching the wildlife and how it all changed as the tide would come in and out. 

There were lots of fun swimming pools in the condo and as the week went on, Coen decided he was brave enough to put his face in the water! The pools were heated, but I liked spending my time in the hot tub. The high was in the 60s most of the days, but the breeze made it feel chilly for me. Check out the trees in the background- so pretty!

Another view from the condo:

There were quite a few buildings of condos, all along the coast. As we would along the path, people would be sitting on their patios watching whales.

Beautiful flowers at the condos!

We went to the beach, but it was cold and windy this day! The kids still liked playing and finding cool rocks in the stream that entered the ocean.

This may be the best picture I took the whole trip haha.

We spent lots of time whale watching- we saw multiple whales each day. There is a group of about 200 whales that live here in the bay, and at other times of the year you can also see whales migrating.

The white buildings in the background are the Worldmark condos we stayed in.

Coen was having a majorly grumpy day and was mad about everything. We had a picnic here, and everyone except for Coen enjoyed it.

We went to the Saturday market in Newport. We all got a laugh out of the $25 cherries that Tammy bought there. She just bought a normal amount but they were like $8 a pound! They sure were yummy. 

We went to the Newport coast and the favorite thing was playing teeter totter with this big log. The kids would get a ride when Grandpa sat on his side of the log. 

We had an exit sign right above the door to our condo and noticed that a bird had a nest with three or four babies there! We were entertained watching the mama bird fly back and forth and feed her babies, and watching the babies grow quickly each day. 

One day as Brent was walking past, he whistled loudly and the mama bird went a little crazy and started swooping around Ava and Brent, as if to say "go away." As the bird swooped toward Ava, she let out a scream like she was about to be murdered. I was in the condo and went out to see Ava running toward me panicking, with Brent laughing his head off. 

Ava's comment: Ava was sooooooo afraid of the birds.

We brought some games to play- here we are playing Codenames. 

Daniel, Marcie & Mitch arrived late Saturday night. On Sunday morning at church, Brent discovered his sister was 7.5 months pregnant haha. She wanted it to be a big surprise for him!

Daniel brought his spotting scope and things got a lot more fun in the wildlife watching department. Down in front of the large rock with the seabirds, a photographer from the National Geographic told Brent he was there to take pictures of the bald eagles causing pandemonium and stealing the sea bird eggs.  At sunset, we got to watch it through the spotting scope! The seabirds started squawking and going crazy! The bald eagle was trying to get close to the rock with all the birds, but about four seagulls were gaining up on the bad eagle and chased it away. 

On the 4th of July we went to some fun tidepools at the beach by the Devil's punchbowl. 

There were so many creatures to see, including purple urchins, sea cucumbers, anemone, and sea stars (which are apparently no longer called star fish).

This is the backside of a sea star

I thought it looked gross!

Stars and stripes forever!

It's the Circle of Life!

This is what the tide pools look like at low tide.

We walked over to the Devil's Punchbowl, which you can only do at low tide, since the bowl shaped area fills with ocean water at high tide. It's hard to get it in a picture, but these high rocks completely surrounded us, so it was like we were tiny cereal in a large bowl.

These are the beautiful rocks and sea glass I found on the beach there.

Brent brought his new pazookie pans! We ate delicious food the whole time.

This was our 4th of July picture:

Video of Audrey & Coen being cute on the couch

We went to the Newport coast and watched a firework show over the water. We got there right as they were starting and were happy that there was no traffic leaving.

I really loved finding the sea glass, so the next day Brent said he'd take me back to find more. On the way, he pulled off to the side of the road where he had been with his parents and told me I had to see the view, since this spot is 500 feet above sea level. I got out of the car and was waiting for a group to take a picture so I could go have a look. As I was waiting (and watching whales) I heard them speak, I realized it was some friends I new in Brazil! We walked back to the car so the Johnsons could meet Brent. Ava learned the word "coincidence" :)

We went on a hike to Drift Creek Falls which was about 45 minutes from Depoe Bay, up a twisty road in the mountains. It rained a bit on us, but not for too long. We enjoyed how GREEN and mossy everything was! The hike is 1.5 miles to the waterfall, and then another 1.5 back. 

You cross a suspension bridge that hangs 100 feet in the air above the waterfall and the creek. The bridge sways a bit as you walk on it, and my legs started to feel a bit like jello, but we all crossed it!

Here's our group after crossing the bridge. You can't tell from the picture, but the waterfall is 66 feet high.

The tiny little dot on the left side of the bridge is Marcie walking back.

We hiked down to the base of the waterfall with Daniel. 

Getting brave to do the walk back across the bridge.

Video of Brent crossing the bridge:

The next day we went on our big all day adventure with Brent's parents in our car. First stop was the Tillamook factory.

We got lots of samples of cheese (some people went through the line a few times, cough cough).

The kids were mesmerized watching the cheese whirling through the different processes and stations.

Holding up their cheese!

Riding in the Tillamook with Grandma and Grandpa. The three kids first did their own picture, which was a gif, and in one of the frames Audrey is punching Ava. 

After Tillamook we drove up to Astoria. We went to the Astoria Column and once again my fear of heights was put to the test. I was trying to not freak out as I climbed higher and higher. After the 164 steps, it's a beautiful view of the Columbia River and surrounding area.

You throw these wooden airplanes off the Astoria column and they fly really well. Brent and his dad gathered lots of the airplanes at the bottom and Brent and Coen ran back up the Column to throw them off again.

Coen is such a cautious boy,  and always scared of everything so I was surprised that he wasn't scared at all of heights. He ran up those stairs with no problem!

Brent took us to see the Goonie House,

And the school from Kindergarten Cop.

Brent loves Astoria so much.

After we went to the Wreck of the Peter Iredale, which is from 1906! 

The water was so warm here! It must have been the dark sand and some warm currents.

After Astoria we went to Seaside for dinner and I got the most delicious salmon. Mmmm. 

Then we went to Cannon Beach (but missed Marcie, Mitch and Daniel who had left a couple hours earlier). 

We got home late at night after a packed day!

My dad sent a kite with Daniel and we flew it at the beach. 

The kids loved jumping in the water!

The adults all had a kid-like moment and we were thoroughly entertained for hours (yes, hours) looking for agates (cool rocks) in the sand.

 The kids favored us with a performance:

Beautiful sunset. 

We played pickleball the last few days, right in front of the condo. One time when Brent and I were playing, a whale came up in the bay, beside the bird rock, and did a big spout! 

Brent's parent's took the kids for us so that we could go on a little date to the Thai restaurant in town. The food was SO good. The view was amazing, and my date was too, so I'd give the date an A+!

While we were at lunch the kids went to the whale watching center and learned about whales and saw them, as the workers project the live video on a TV.

After our date we all went to the Yaquina Head light house.

Finishing our popsicles out of the freezer while we played Pickleball.

As we were leaving, Audrey and I were walking to the car and a guy came out of a condo and told me there was a whale right close. We decided to walk on the backside of the condos, to see if we could get a glimpse of it and we did! Here's a video:

And that concludes our trip to Depoe Bay. Brent and I both wondered how and why we had lived in Oregon 5 years before we went there?! It is a new favorite. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!