3:00 snapshot #771: Vacation recap #4
Dad and Andy 200 feet underground in a hole that smells of marine carnivore scat. How did we end up here?
We left Lincoln City and found a place on the map called Devil's Punch Bowl. Why not? There was a view high above a big beautiful beach where we saw surfers.
Up on the ledge, where there is a 180 degree vista of the ocean, there are these fairly tame squirrels. I couldn't figure out what species they are--they are tree squirrel shaped, but kept darting into holes. Googling shows that the squirrels are known features of the area, but no one seems to mention (or care?) what kind of squirrel they are.
Squirrel and crow alike flatten themselves out on the sunny cliff.
The punch bowl itself was out of punch, but had some tiny people in it.
There were lots of flowering weeds up there, including this clover--I had never seen clover flowers this color before!
Down the road a piece we stopped at another high place.
We were looking down on another natural feature made by Satan (actually ocean water eroding basalt caves) called Devil's Churn, which totally doesn't look like an enormous vagina dentata or anything.
Apparently it can be dangerous to be near it at high tide, when waves crashing into it send water straight up.
Another cliff view had us looking down on sea lions, by gum! We were just on our way to Sea Lion Caves as it turned out. Thank you, LiveJournal friends for your recommendations and warnings. It was everything you said and more.
It's a pretty cool set-up, with the cave decked out like a museum. Here you can see the main viewing area into the cave, which is notable for having a larger collection of Northern Sea Lions than any other cave. Stern signage warned against flash photography, and tourists jostled for good spots to take blurry photos.
This is about as good as I could manage. Still, it's worth going to see the sea lions, and to hear the cries of horror and disgust as children get out of the elevator and realized they are trapped in a cave with the smells of nature. I guess you kids aren't zookeepers, huh?
See you back up on the surface!