My mom was here fora little more than a week. She timed her visit to coincide with Lily's year end dance recital. While she was here, we went for a trip to Newport, OR on the coast. We like going to Newport because it is home to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, has a couple restaraunts we like, and there are some great tide pools too.
We stayed at our favorite hotel -- the Inn at Otter Crest. It is on a bluff overlooking the ocean just north of Newport. It has an outdoor heated pool with wind shields to keep it pleasent even on blustery days. There are stairs down to a cove with a beach and great tide pools filled with starfish, anemonies, and sea urchins. Sea lions also enjoy resting on the rocks. The photo is from the hotel grounds looking north along the coast.
The day we got there, we had an early dinner at a retaraunt we hadn't been to before and we loved it. I think it's replaced our previous favoite, Sharks.
On Friday, we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. This place is great. When we got there, they were about to feed the sea otters so we hurried out to watch. The keepers brought out buckets of butter clams in the shell and partially shucked them for the otters. The otters then floated on their backs while eating the clams. The keepers said that the 50-60 pound otters eat about 19 pounds of clams (shell weight included) a day.
Lily has been quite captivated by octopusses lately so the next exhibit we visited was the octopuss cave. We were really in luck because the octopuss was active. He spread his tentacles all the way across the glass and then we got to look him in the eye while he swam back. Lily thought it was great.
My mom got to experience the touch tank where people are allowed to touch starfish (different ones feel differently -- some spiny and some velvety soft), sea urchins, and anemonies. I tried to warn her but she was still startled when the anemonie tried to grab her finger with its sticky tentacles.
We wandered through the indoor exhibit tanks and saw jellyfish, crabs, fish and more. One of their best exhibits is the tunnel. There is an arched walkway through a set of tanks so the fish are below, beside, and above you. The sides and top of the walkway is made of plexyglass so the view is outstanding. One of the tanks is full of sharks so it an eerie feeling to be in a darkened tunnel with sharks all around.
That evening, we had dinner at Sharks and I had their seafood cioppino which I can't resommend enough. I have to admit that I think I enjoyed dinner from the previous night more.
On Saturday morning before we packed up, we spent a nice time at the hotel's playground and had lunch at the Moe's West at Devil's Punchbowl.
All of the children were very cute as they performed and of course Lily was wonderful. She pranced around the stage in her blue leotard along with her classmates doing a dance that Liz, her teacher, had come up with.
All of the children were very cute as they performed and of course Lily was wonderful. She pranced around the stage in her blue leotard along with her classmates doing a dance that Liz, her teacher, had come up with.
