Seal Rock Oregon is located just south of the bigger town of Newport Oregon. It is a tiny, I mean tiny little town located just off the 101. We stayed at “Seal Rock RV Cove” (https://www.sealrocksrv.com) and we were lucky enough to have a premium front row view overlooking the 101 highway and Seal Rock beach.
Seal Rock is a turnout on the 101 and I guess this is where they get their name from. There is a huge rock that well, looks like a seal (or so Lori told me). The beach was nice, and we could watch the dramatic change in the tides every morning and night. My only complaint about this spot was the noise from the cars on the 101 highway.
Our first day we backtracked down to Florence because we saw a historic waterfront we wanted to go visit. Along the way there we stopped at “Devils Churn and Thor’s Well”. You park off the road and take a trail down to the bluffs and the ocean. We started to hear these large “booms” and we were looking around to see where they were coming from but could not figure it out until we reached “Devils Churn”. This is a place where the ocean comes up a slot in the rocks and crashes into the rocks so hard it has worn domes and arches in the rock. The booms come from the waves rushing in and hitting the rocks.
After spending some time watching “Devils Churn”, we hiked down to “Thor’s Well”. This is a giant round opening in the rock caused by the sea eating away the rock. The waves rush in and push the water up through the opening and it comes out the top in a huge blast. The tide was somewhat down when were there, but it was still worth the trip.
We drove down to Florence and walked the old town waterfront. You get quite a lesson on the bridges in these towns and their history, and it is always fun to see the differences in each town. The waterfront is lined with every type of tourist shop you could think of. They also have bars and restaurants as well as fishing and whale watching charters.
We decided to get lunch at a highly rated place called “Nibu”. The menu looked good, so we went in. The place was packed, and they had a sign that said, “hostess will seat you”. Well, after just about everyone in the place walked right past us, we thought “maybe we will come back after lunch hour”, and we did.
The second time was no better. I finally asked a busboy if they had a hostess and he said, “would you like me to clear a table for you”? I said sure, and he pointed to one and said, “how about that one?” I said sure and he finally sat us. Now that should have been enough of a warning for us to move on but no, we decided to stay. Long story short, it did not get any better. It took 1 ½ hours to get our food and finish up. All these shops are so short handed it tanks their service. Anyway, the food was OK, but not worth the wait.
We went through more shops on the way out and I found another candy store. This time I actually bought some candy because they did not have many free samples.
The next day we went north to Newport and ended up at Nye Beach. We found a chowder house and had a great lunch of chowder for Lori and fried clams for me. After that we strolled the boardwalk shops to kill some time then headed to the Newport Cinema to see the opening day showing of “Mission Impossible”. I love small town cinemas because we watched this highly anticipated movie on opening day with 12 of our closest friends from Newport. Great way to see a movie!
Our last day there we went north to see some WWII radar bunkers built into the side of a hill. It was quite a drive but we wanted to get there in the toad so we would not have to come back south from our next stop. It turned out to be quite the drive, almost two hours. We found the trail and hiked up. What a bust, nothing there but some old walls that were overgrown with bushes. We made the best of it and went to the lighthouse on the point to take some pictures. It was cold and windy most of the day, so we headed back and checked out some of the local Seal Rock cuisine.
You are not going to believe what we found next, we were driving down 101 just North of Lincoln City and we saw a turnout for “Boiler Bay”. Turns out a 174 ft steam ship had run aground there in the early 1900’s and caught fire. It blew up and the only thing left was the boiler. It is still there today, and you can see it at extreme low tides. We went and checked out Boiler Bay but could not see the boiler. I may have to come back during extreme low tides and get a picture of it.
On our drive back through Newport we saw a waterfront district and the next day we decided to check it out. This turned out to be another bust as it is more fish processing plants than anything else. If you like the smell of fish in the air, Newport waterfront is your place to be.
If you ever stop in Seal Rock make sure and check out “The Chubby Lil Mermaid Bakery and Cafe” for donuts and sweets (they have drip coffee only) and for lunch or dinner I highly recommend “Luna Sea Fish House”, they have great seafood selections and are well known for their great food.
Next stop – Astoria, OR.
