Depoe Bay, Oregon

A Spring get-away for the Taylor family

April, 2010
Cynthia, Morgan, and I spent a relaxing week in Depoe Bay, Oregon.

Here are the highlights:


We rented a condo perched on a coastal bluff above a secluded little beach (pictured above).
The sea stacks on the right side of the photo were a natural arch until it collapsed in 1998.
A near-by hotel is still called "The Inn at Arch-Rock". Ha!

Depoe Bay has declared itself "The Whale-Watching Capital of the Oregon Coast".
This is largely due to the resident pod of Grey Whales that live in Depoe Bay for about 10 months of the year.
(But not in April)

We happened to be in Depoe Bay during the peak of the Grey Whale migration from Baja to the Arctic.
We saw a few spouts, backs, fins, and even a calf's tail out beyond the breakers.
Morgan saw the ocean for the first time, but probably didn't quite make out the distant cetacean migration.

Our new baby backpack in action.
Can you find Cynthia in this photo?

Depoe Bay is also home to the world's smallest navigable harbor.

The bay itself has a very rough floor, with a deep and sinuous trench.
This makes for strong currents and very large and dramatic waves that crash spectacularly against the coast as well as against the fishing and whale-watching boats trying to make it into the harbor.

Morgan's first beach-crawl.

We visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

Cynthia and Morgan were almost swallowed whole by a Megalodon (I thought those were extinct!).

We also found our way to the Rouge Brewery in Newport.

Morgan chased some mashed peas and squash down with a couple pints.

We explored different parks and beaches every day that we were there (except one, when I got sick).
As you can see from our Cascadian garb, we fear no rain.

DNA does it again.

Cynthia, all fired up from months of volunteer work, patrolled our beach for litter and filled garbage bag after garbage bag.
I think our little beach acted as a trap for light-weight debris. In mining it would be called a placer deposit.
Our disposable culture and industrial over-production has produced an abundance of useless and discarded plastic crap.
Humanite (my new word) is deposited on beaches around the world twice daily (high tide).
Cynthia found all kinds of humanite: shoes, fishing gear, bottles, styrofoam, and endless amounts of old weathered plastic bits.
I'm sure things weren't like this when I was a kid.


Despite the periodic reminders to use less disposable crap, the beaches were gorgeous.
More importantly, the time we spent together as a family, away from the daily routine,
was a much-needed break and very well-deserved (if I do say so myself).

The End