Coast Getaway, Newport, OR

To celebrate our little man’s first birthday we did a little beach getaway. I rather do little getaways with the family than throwing a birthday party. My husband works late during the week and then spends time at his shop and then comes home….. Any ways, getaways make us focus in on us. On family. On priorities. On dreams. We come back refreshed and more in tune every time. We do have a rule – no YouTube or browsing social media when we are away with family. I love that.

We chose Newport because I had a “bucketlist” item to check off the “Oregon bucketlist” (I do have one of those). I was excited because I couldn’t do it last time we were in Newport because Oren was just about a month old and Jasper was two, and my husband didn’t feel safe with us going into the Devil’s Punch Bowl. Any ways, I’ll list the must do’s and our experience doing those thing.

Devil’s Punch Bowl

When you get to the beach park at the farthest right parking lot and walk right towards a walkway down the beach access. When your down on the right is a little water fall that leads right into the ocean – kids loved playing over there. When you go left you will see really cool rocks and keep walking to get into the punch bowl. MAKE SURE YOU LOOK UP THE TIDE schedule. There are two low tides there, a low- low tide and a low tide. You really want to explore this during the low- low tide. There is another beach access it’s on the left side of the parking lot, have to walk down a few steps ( a lot of steps) its worth it. The Beach is beautiful and even if there is a bit of wind the huge rock formation blocks it on the right. And there are a few Agate stones to be found in the sand.

2) Agate Beach

Agate beach is named after Agate gem stones found in that area. BUT, the locals all say they find more at Devil’s punch bowl beach area.

3) Yaquina Head Light House And Yaquina Bay Recreational Area

We went to Yaquina Bay Light house, it’s the oldest light house on the Coast. So much history. It’s free admission, with a box to throw donations. Bring a few bucks to support and have the kiddos get involved by throwing in the $$ and signing the guest book. It closes at 4 pm. The Yaquina Head Light house closes at 4pm as well and the park that it’s in closes at 5pm. So we didn’t make it to that one. Sad. There is a $7 fee to get into the park and there is a fee to tour that light house. I really want to do that one next time we are at the coast.

4) The Newport Aquarium

I absolutely love, love, love aquariums. I love underwater life. When we lived in Florida, my husband and I were Scuba certified and went diving as much as we could. I miss it. I just love seeing the sea creatures move, and just be so majestic in the water.

There are coupons in those stands that most hotels and restaurants have full of info on “what to do”, touristy things. I think it was a $5 child admission for the price of an adult. Guys, there is a really good coupon on line at a “Newport Aquarium”, HOWEVER this aquarium is in Kentucky! So Don’t buy your tickets on line to get that deal. The lady that was helping us purchase our tickets said it happens often and it’s a head ache to sort out.

5) If your into visiting a brewery, Rogue Nation Brewery & Spirits is pretty cool. It’s right there next to the Aquarium and under the Newport bridge and the boat marina. They have a restaurant and bar situation right in there. They are super family friendly. Staff is super chill and the food is pretty good. I’m not a beer drinker, but my husband is, so he thought it was pretty cool to have lunch there. The kids meals are served on Frisbees, that made my hangry boys happy.

6) Newport’s Historic Bay Front

We went here in the morning to have breakfast and stumbled into an awesome breakfast place. Gosh you guys, the pancakes here are as big as my child! No joke. The food has a French flare because the owner is from that part of the world. And let me add – she’s darling!!! I loved everything about this place and the staff. http://www.thecoffeehousenewport.com/ After that we walked down to the boats and found a boat selling tuna at an amazing price – fresh! We visited shops and the boys picked out little trinkets. Their favorite? It was at a tackle/bait shop right on the strip. When we walked in we were greeted by a huge dog just chillin on bait bags. The boys picked out these tackle fish things that cost .30 cents each and they were happy as could be. #boyworld . There are a few little shops here, restaurants, icecream, charter boat/fishing experiences, Ripleys Believe it or not, The Wax works, and more. We had fun just walking it.

7) Guys, I’m sure there are amazing places to eat all around this area. We always ask locals everywhere we go when we travel what they suggest. And they usually know best. This is this seafood place that we go to every time we are in Newport. It’s not fancy by any means, but it’s good stuff. Now- what is it called ? Not sure, I did take a pic of it below. I also heard the “chowder bowel at nye beach” is pretty good – but we never went. Also, Ocean Bleu at Gino's Fish Market and Cafe I was told was good too.

8) South Beach State Park is another one of our favorite beaches in this area. There are a few look out areas that are absolutely a must. So don’t just go down to the beach, make sure you explore that area. Really beautiful. My camera broke when we were there, I’m not sure if I have any good photos. Sad. This was the first beach we went, so the rest of the pictures from the trip are dark and out of focus, because the focus button broke and it was glitching bad.

Boys found these sticks hat resembled guns and they pretended they were starwars characters, shooting at things that were flying out of the rock formation. This was fun watching them as the sun set.