Newport, Oregon and South Beach State Park

We spent 3 weeks in the Newport area where there is tons of stuff to do. I continue to be amazed by the beauty of the Oregon coast and the abundance of awesome things to see and do. This post will only cover the first week.

During our first week we stayed at South Beach State Park. I’ll admit this was not one of our favorite state parks because it was very crowded and noisy. Our site was on the corner of the main road into and out of the campground so there was constant activity right outside the door meaning we had zero privacy while sitting outside.

The thing this park had going for it though was the location. The beach was only a short 1/4 mile walk down a trail from the campground, and there were very nice paved bike trails.

One evening I checked out the bike trail that goes all the way to the Port of Newport fishing pier just under the beautiful Yaquina Bay Bridge.

Another evening I got my people to join me on this bike ride and we stopped at the Rogue Brewery for dinner and a tour of the brewery. The tour was really interesting and the kids got to try out some root beer while Chris & I got to try the real stuff.

The tour guide was very enthusiastic about his job and made the tour very enjoyable. I thought it was cool how they make these barrels.

Barrel making

Finished product

Part of the tour included a ride on this little train to go to different buildings. This was especially fun for the kids.

Riding our bikes back home into the sunset was such a treat!

The Hatfield Marine Science Center is also near the brewery which we went to on a different day. This is a small science center that is part of Oregon State University and it’s free to get in.

There was a beautiful display of sea creatures that you can sometimes find in the tide pools in the area. We learned about how you can touch the sea urchins and anemones and the spines will clamp around your finger. It doesn’t hurt, just feels funny.

Fat Cat had an adventure while we were at South Beach. We decided to take her to the beach one night to watch the sunset. Yeah I know, cats are not fans of going to the beach but for some reason Chris thought it would be a good idea. He wore her around his neck on the way there because she’s not a fan of walking on a leash.

At one point she was snuggled up under some towels and somehow a dog seemed to know just where she was hiding because the dog ran right up to her to start playing. She leaped into the air and hissed, then arched her back while her hair stood on end. It was quite a site to see!

We stuck around a little bit longer to see the sunset, but I can tell you Fat Cat was not happy and did not settle down to relax again.

Fat Cat is on alert for any other dogs.

To show you just how mad she was, I think we drove her to drink!

She’s considering it.

Oh no!

Now before anyone gets mad at me for letting my cat drink beer, I’ll let you know that she really didn’t drink any. She just sniffed it, so no worries!

And that was enough adventure for Fat Cat for a while. 🙂

Stay tuned for more fun things to do in the Newport area.