Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site, Newport Oregon

I took Boomer to the ocean for the first time last year and he freaked out. Most likely because he had never seen a body of water that big and then add in the huge waves to go along with it, you can probably see why he was scared.

While in Newport Oregon we stopped at the Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site and I took Boomer to the ocean again. The ocean was old hat by this point and Boomer was no longer afraid.  He chased the waves and tore through the sand like a dragster car taking off for it’s 10 seconds of fame.  I don’t really blame Boomer; he had been stuck in the car for most of the day and to get out to stretch his legs probably equated to more fun than I could imagine.

Boomer found himself a stick, which looked oddly like a large cigar.  Perhaps he was working on his “street cred”?  Something a dog with his kind of cred needs to work on.  Boomer ran around the beach with his stogie enjoying life like the happy dog he is. The only thing that makes Boomer unhappy is when I don’t throw his stick for him. But even then I am not sure he’s unhappy… probably more confused than anything else. How could I not want to throw the stick for him?  Watch how confused he is.

A tormented soul…

We broke the rules while on the beach, as your dog is supposed to be on a leash, but really how could I deprive Boomer of running around on the beach?

After we had worn out my throwing arm, Boomer and I headed back to the car where he rested and I walked up the hillside to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

The lighthouse is unique in the fact that it has the living quarters attached to the lighthouse, a rarity in the state of Oregon. The lighthouse was built in 1871 and is the only historic wooden Oregon lighthouse still standing today. It was an active lighthouse for only 3 years, becoming decommissioned in 1874 after it was deemed hard to see from the ocean. Kind of an important thing as the purpose of a lighthouse is to alert ships to land ahead. Another lighthouse was built a few miles away at Yaquina Head, which can clearly be seen from the ocean.

Inside the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse you can take a self-guided tour of the interior.  The inside is staged as it would have been when it was an active lighthouse. It must have been laundry day as that would explain their clothing flung about the room.  But who am I to judge?  Sometimes I have floating piles of dog hair drifting about my house.