Friday Field trip: Oregon Coast

We headed out early on Friday morning to a very wet and rainy Oregon coast for a special field trip with Aaron's life science class from co-op. We had 2 kids from our area get dropped off at our house so they could just ride over with us, so we had a full van with 5 kids and me the driver. It was a long drive over. Thankfully we watched some blue planet on the way over, and on the way back the kids mostly fell asleep because they were so tired from all the fun. Or maybe it was just all the teens that fell asleep because, well, they're teens. The 2 younger kids way in the back didn't seem to fade. Anyway, I digress...

It was beautiful even if the seas were rough, and the waves were high. There was even a "high gale" wind warning in effect.

The Whale Watching Center at Depoe Bay.

This was our 2nd stop of the day, but I like these pictures so I wanted to put them first. The Whale Watching Center at Depoe Bay. Even the whales couldn't be seen very well with the windy, stormy weather, but we stopped in anyway because we'd never checked that place out. It is pretty neat. They have binoculars in there and there are some Oregon State Park volunteers there to help you understand the things you're seeing. I think I'd like to stop in on a clearer day sometime.

Being outside was just downright cold and blustery, but these boys just loved it. I couldn't keep them inside. They just loved exploring everywhere. Alex was really disappointed that we wouldn't be able to go to any beaches that day. The weather and the water was just too rough to even walk out, but the Whale Watching center had these great lookouts.

Before we went to the Whale Watching Center we were at the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center this was the starting point of our adventures that day. We played with the tsunami wave station. The kids always play with this one for a very long time. They worked together building things to knock over with the waves.

There is a cool table with sand that changes the topography as the sand is moved around. It shows kids how the landscape changes as they play with it in real time. Pretty cool. I'm sure there is much more to it than that, but I don't remember all the technical details.

Another fun exhibit was the land erosion simulator. The kids could build things up on the sand and see how the waves will break it down over time.

After the kids were done with the science center the plan was to do a Quest (scavenger hunt type walk) outside. The rain wasn't letting up anytime soon. We talked to the workers at the science center to see if they had any ideas for other indoor activities we could do, but there wasn't much except the Whale Watching Center (which we did!).

Despite the rain a group of the kids still wanted to brave the rain and the wind and try to find the quest. Those who didn't want to go stayed in the cars with the Mom's who stayed behind to eat lunch, and just hang out until they were done. This was my view after I finished my sandwich. I never imagined that I'd get a moment to read on that busy rainy morning. It was kinda nice. The kids were visiting in the back, and the rain was trickling on the windshield, and our rained out coast trip was turning out to be a fun adventure.

The kids had success on their quest, but the paper was torn to pieces because it was soaked, so they had nowhere to put the stamp (or something like that). They came back and we headed back up the coast toward home, stopping at the Whale Watching Center on the way.

The weather at the Oregon Coast was really no surprise. I went knowing it would be a rainy day. This is pretty typical weather, but that day was a bit more stormy than we expected, and there are usually at least some pauses in the rain. It was just a downpour most of the day. Still a beautiful day at the coast!