not only the largest sea cave in North America, but it is also the only known Sea Lion rookery here as well. This time of year, the cave itself is actually empty as all of the sea loins are out swimming in the water, beefing up on bottom fish for winter. They all huddled in a huge pod that was visible from the road or else were strewn along a narrow part of the coast where at least there were 200 of them at all times. We had the most fun watching the ones along the coast since there was about 20 or so at any given time that were trying to get up onto the ledge, allowing the waves to
propel them on the rocks and then waddling the rest of the way up. After a little while we decided to move on and continue down the coast until about 20 minutes later when we were forced to stop again. Katie had read in one of our numerous guidebooks that this section of the coast was particularly interesting due to a number of sea geysers that were visible from the shore. We got out to investigate and were almost instantly enraptured by the incoming tide and the slowly disappearing tide pools. We quickly walked out as far as we could without getting wet, looking expectantly into each tide pool we passed but ultimately found nothing more than a few dead crabs. What we did discover however, was just as satisfying as any tide pool creature could have been. What we were standing on was a little stone peninsula which jutted out into
the ocean. When waves came in, they not only crashed on the edge, but also flowed right past us up these little coves eventually thunderously crashing against the stone, hurling the waves
airborne on average about 30 ft. It was simply amazing to watch the waves come in, rush by you and shatter skyward. We probably spent an hour running up and down the various peninsulas, no longer concerned with the tide pools, but rather focusing on the places where the waves crashed the best. After we had walked the half mile of coast we headed up to a much more easily negotiable
foot path which Katie and I had failed to notice in our excitement to reach the waters edge. We got back in the car and headed back down the coast making one last stop in the area before moving on. A little down the road we pulled into Newport OR, home of the world famous Rogue Brewery. We pulled in and much to Katie's delight, they were having a garage sale, but first I insisted we eat. We headed up into the brew pub having to walk first through the brewery itself and conveniently the gift shop in order to get there. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get a seat, but when we did
we were offered the free tasting of the day and got to enjoy one of the best spots in the place, right along the window looking out into the bay. After our meal we overheard some people trying to find the brewery tour and discovered that we were just in time to join it. We did and about an hour later were much more informed about beer and the history of Rogue itself which we were both rather impressed with. After all this we headed over to the garage sale which ended up to be a big disappointment and only useful if you were interested in spending loads of money on beer, which
we weren't. We left Rogue and continued up the coast enjoying the many bridges and our last few views of the Pacific before heading inland. This time, instead of taking back roads into Portland, we headed right for a main drag and followed it all the way into downtown, reaching Portland about 8p.m. We were welcomed back with open arms to our couchsurfing friends Dustin and Alyssa's place. Dustin was out of town for work but Alyssa and Sarah offered to come out with us and show us around town. Alyssa had suggested the Fremont neighborhood which she had been to during the day but had never experienced at night. When we got there the first place we tried to walk into looked more like a midnight diner than a bar. We basically walked in, looked around, and walked right back out. A little down the road we had better luck. This time we ran into Alameda Brewing Co. Overjoyed with our luck, we stopped in and had a drink at the bar. Katie and I had still not eaten dinner yet and we weren't all that interested in the brewery's food which looked a little fancy and pricey for us, so we again hit the streets and walked down until we found more inviting accommodations which we quickly did. The next bar we found was packed with people, had the baseball playoffs on the TV, and was equipped with a full menu of fried food. Now were talkin! We ordered 3 different fried appetizers for everyone to split, then all huddled around the Megatouch machine and played a few rousing games of photo hunt. After we had secured another ADAM BANKS victory we quickly devoured our food. Next, Katie decided to share her newfound love of Buck Hunter with the girls and we headed over to do a 4 person trek. Sarah was especially thrilled to discover both of these new games and after dominating at photo hunt took Katie out of second place in Buck Hunter. Content with our evening, we all piled in Sarah's car and headed back to the house where Dustin and
Enrique were waiting for us. Dustin drives a video game trailer around for work and he luckily brought it home this evening, which meant that we got to hang out in it. If you have never seen one of these, imagine a giant trailer with a big leather couch lining one side and 4 big screen plasma TV's lining the other. Then add in the three most current game consoles and 50 of their top games. This is what was presented before us. Dustin showed us around in it a bit and we chilled in there for 30 minutes or so, but since he had been working all day, he was quite burnt out on the truck, so we headed back inside to relax for the rest of the night before hitting the sack.
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