Saturday, August 27, 2011

Newport, Oregon–Part 1

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Yaquina Head Lighthouse Newport, Oregon

After our week long stay in Coos Bay we moved up the coast to Newport, Oregon. When we were here two years ago we came for a couple of days and stayed for a week. This time we came for a week and have decided to stay for a month.

Our first week here was a rather busy social week for us. Montana Owner. com friends that we met last year in Washington D.C. Bob & Pam Martin have been here for 4 months as volunteers for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, also known as ODFW. They have been stationed at the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area as volunteers to point out and identify birds, seals, sea lions and tide pool critters. Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area which includes the Yaquina Head Lighthouse is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management known more frequently as the BLM. Most of the volunteers at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area are BLM volunteers. However do to inter-agency agreements Bob and Pam are there as ODFW volunteers.

One of the first things when we arrived in town was to reacquaint ourselves with the local microbrewery, Rouge Brewery. They have 30 beers on tap! We only sampled a couple.

The following day Bob & Pam came over to give us a tour of Newport. Included in the tour was a stop at Georgie’s Grill an upscale spot with a great view on the coast. The food was great and we had a great view up the coast to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Next we went for a tour of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Although Bob & Pam have been volunteering here for 4 months they hadn’t actually been on the lighthouse tour. We are always ready for another lighthouse tour. We enjoyed the tour very much and got to compare and contrast this tour with the tours we had done down at Cape Blanco. Bob & Pam introduced us to the other volunteers at the lighthouse we got to compare notes about volunteering for the different agencies.

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At 93 feet the Yaquina Head Lighthouse has the tallest tower of all of the Oregon Lighthouses.

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One of the most obvious difference between Yaquina Head Lighthouse and the lighthouses we have volunteered at is that the Yaquina Head Volunteers wear 1870s period costumes.

P1050892 P1050893P1050894 It is 114 steps to the top of Yaquina Head Lighthouse!

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The Yaquina Head Lighthouse lens is a Fixed 1st Order Fresnel Lens. Fixed meaning that this lens does not turn. This is the same type of lens that the Cape Blanco Lighthouse had originally.

Model of a fixed (non-rotating) 1st oreder Fresnal Lens 

This is a model of a fixed Fresnel Lens.

Old style 1000 watt blub on right. New quartz 1000 watt blub on the left.

Since the Lens doesn’t turn the Yaquina Head Lighthouse gets its unique signal by lamp on the right turn on and off a fixed intervals. This picture also shows the Old style 1000 watt blub on right and the new quartz 1000 watt blub on the left.

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Another view of the inside of the Yaquina Head Lens.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Newport, Oregon.

7 comments:

  1. The view out there looks so lovely and cool! Hard to imagine that smaller bulb puts out the same ammount of light the big one does. All in all, pretty interesting! Hugs to you two!

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  2. nice to see a post from you again..love the Oregon Coast and we have visited Yaquina Lighthouse so it is great to see it again!!!

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  3. Great spot! Does Raider get to wear a costume too? Will you stay as volunteers?
    Do they provide good camp spots for volunteer RV's?
    We have had nothing but problems with our new Chalet rig. Might have to send it back to Albany, OR...there are so many structural red flags, and other malfunctions.. Not at all what we wanted to be dealing with just after purchsing it! Good grief.

    Have fun there!
    Sweet hugs,
    Sierra Rose

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  4. Another A-1 post from Oregon. You all should be
    getting a commission from the State of Oregon for all the promotions you are giving them. Mom and Dad want to runout there right now...but I won't let them leave me. Give my Raider a grat big hug from his BFFF,
    Madi

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  5. Thanks for another insider's look at a lighthouse. I can certainly see why you'd come for a week and stay a month in a place like this.

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  6. All these lighthouses we have zoomed right by so many times, and now we get the inside look, very cool!!!
    Stay in OR, we're coming in a few months!!!!
    xoxo

    Licks and sniffs to Raider from the Pups!

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  7. The view is Amazing!! :)

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