More Lighthouses

The Oregon coast is dotted with lighthouses, and we are diligently working on seeing as many of them as possible.  Next up: Yaquina Head lighthouse – a very picturesque spire near Newport, OR.  We got passes to take a tour inside the lighthouse, hefting the oil cans that the keepers had to haul up the stairs to keep the light burning before modern bulbs replaced the whale oil and kerosene, and seeing a slice of history in the keeper’s log book.We climbed the spiral stairs to the top, worth the effort to see the light mechanism and the massive first order Fresnel lens.Just below the lighthouse sea lions were hauled out on rocky islands, barking and cavorting in the waves just off a beach made of cobbles……basalt tumbled by wave action to a smooth rounded finish.  We hiked around the Yaquina Head promontory, enjoying views in all directions. 

Not to be confused with Yaquina Head, there is a small lighthouse to mark Yaquina Bay in the town of Newport.The tower just to the right of the lighthouse is a Coast Guard observation tower, actively manned, looking out towards the rock jetties protecting Newport’s harbor entrance.Like many of the other jetties that have been built at harbor entrances, this jetty helps to keep sand moved by ocean currents from building up and shoaling the inlet.  Wind sculpts the sand, making wave-like patterns in the beach dunes.We strolled the beach until the angled light nudged us towards the shops and restaurants on the working waterfront for some dinner.  We were drawn to the barking of sea lions, harbor residents perpetually napping or arguing about someone disturbing their nap.These are California sea lions, smaller than the beefy Steller sea lions we see at home in Petersburg.  But they behave much the same way – real characters!Newport is a pretty town with plenty of working boats to look at, a great aquarium, and a marine science center to explore.  With our background in diving and love of sea life, both spots were a favorite.You’re never to old to have a happy childhood!

A Little Glass Adventure

The town of Lincoln City, Oregon hosts the Finders Keepers event where beautiful blown glass floats are hidden on the town’s beaches for anyone to find.  We walked a lot of beaches looking for these treasures but never found any.  But since there are a number of glass art studios in the area we decided to take advantage of the chance to try our hands at making our own glass creations.For a fee, we were each allowed to “help” a professional glass artist make a float or a fluted bowl with colors that we chose.  We’ve watched demonstrations in glass blowing “hot shops” before and found the process fascinating, so it was great fun to get up-close-and-personal with it.

Starting with a “gather” of 2400 degree (F) molten glass on the end of a blow pipe, the artist adds color by picking up colored frit from a steel table.The glass begins to cool very quickly so it’s put into the “glory hole” to be reheated, fusing the colored frit into the gather.The process continues as the artist puts a small puff of air into the glass, allowing the moisture of his breath expand in the heat to form a bubble.  We repeatedly reheated the glass in the glory hole, and we blew more air into it, enlarging the piece and shaping it with a wet wooden form in between.Jim made a float, so the process for his project was just about complete at that point.  I made a fluted bowl, so the next step was to turn the hollow ball into a flat piece.  The artist took a hand torch and heated the end of the ball while I blew more air, until the weakened hot spot broke open.  He then heated it and opened it further.The final touch was to spin the flat plate at varying speeds and angles to create the fluted shape.

The pieces are finished by adding a glob of glass to form a flat base, then rushed to an annealing oven to cool slowly overnight.We had a blast learning a little more about glass and making some pretty creations to bring home to the boat.