Adventure Day at the Coast

This beautiful sunrise greeted us yesterday morning when we walked out the door to our van. What a way to start the day! With good weather in the forecast, and no obligations on the calendar, we decided to take our Cascade Camper van to the coast for the day. The Lincoln City area is close, less than on hour away, and chock-full of birding opportunities. Our top favorite continues to be the Alder Island Trail at Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  We arrived at 8:00AM, and were immediately overwhelmed with an unbelievable number of Great Blue Herons. We counted 17 in all, and in the end figured out that they have a rookery in a grove of Red Alder trees. You can see more photos and our observation list here

***

Our second stop was at the Connie Hansen Garden Conservancy.  This is a quiet place hidden away in the center of busy Lincoln City that we always enjoy for a bit of down time.  We had lunch in the van and then stretched out for a little nap.  This is why we enjoy the van for day trips, a comfortable place for lunch and a nap. Refreshed, we took a tour of the grounds to count birds and enjoy the flowers like this giant rhododendron.