Feel the Ocean Breeze

Heceta Lighthouse
While the Oregon Cascade Mountains hold dear to my heart, my second love of Oregon would be its magnificent coastline.

From the Oregon-California border to the mouth of the Columbia River shared by the State of Washington, the Oregon Coast is one of the most beautiful and scenic wonderlands that our country has to offer.

This post would be enormous if I attempted to provide photos of all of the coasts beauty from border to border, so I leave that to you, the reader, to take the time to explore this area if you haven't already.

Cape Perpetua
Several times during my College years, several of us would take a weekend (if not an extra day of no classes) and head for the ocean. Our main destiny normally would not be very far from Oregon State University in Corvallis. We would go to Newport and drive south to Cape Perpetua area where several campsites existed. This location is a few miles past the town of Yachats. Most often we would use the campsites as staging area to explore or play. We loved the Cape Perpetua area. From Yachats to Sea Lion Caves, we would explore the tidal pools, hike the trails, visit the Cape's Info center, have picnics and do a lot of partying.

Some of my friends were students in the Oceanography department and they would explain all the different species of Sea Urchins and Anemones that we would find. Some times the pools would display an abundant amount of sea life with breath-taking beauty of all the different colors of species that could be found.


Inevitably while playing around the tidal pools, we all would get wet one way or another; if we weren't trying to get close to a water column spray on each incoming wave, we were preoccupied enough to not notice the incoming tide water circulating around us and creating islands in the rocky shoreline. One time we almost had to swim to get back safely. We had found an incredible amount of sea life. From the Urchins and Anemones mentioned previously, we found Starfish, and again, several different species. This excited us. Being so distracted by the sea life, we stopped noticing that we were becoming isolated very quickly from the mainland. The tide had been moving in for quite a while.

We managed to make it back safely, but some of us actually lost footing and had to be grabbed, the currents and eddies were getting very strong.

From this Cape Perpetua Info Center and nearby camping, one could visit these tidal pools by taking about a 1/4 mile trail provided by the Siuslaw National Forest Service

I share this experience and photos of this beautiful scenic recreational area, for you to enjoy and hopefully take the time to visit if you have not done so already. The coastal mountains truly march right down to the sea here for the Cape's overview lookout point is approximately 500 feet above sea level. It is truly an awesome view. From this viewpoint, you can look way down to the Info Center, the Tidepools, the churns and out to sea for miles.

Well, as with any breathtaking experience I have enjoyed, it inspired me to write a song and I will share that with you now:

Feel the Ocean Breeze..

Click here to listen to the song with lyrics

Feel the Ocean breeze
A blowin' past your shoulder
And the salty taste of the chilly
Sea water
Out ahead a ship is docked
And swaying
And lovin' Seagulls soar in the air
A playing

I'm singing my song until the
Dawn
And Dreamin'
Of moments I can share
Just by loving you.

Sitting by the fire light
Staring in the Night
Drinking our Brandy and
Watching the Pale Moon's Flight
We feel the glow of Love and all
Its passion
While the Waves go in and out
In Rhythmic Fashion.