August 22, 2012...

We've been pretty close to the hotel for the last two days.

Monday night's sunset.

Top is a Tufted Puffin and the bottom is a Pigeon Guillemot from the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  Most of the animals at the aquarium were behind glass and so hard to get pictures of, but the aviary is in the open so the birds are accessible.

Today we drove the fifty miles from Newport, Oregon to Florence, Oregon (the home of the famous dynamited whale).  Do not watch this video with liquid in your mouth, it will end up coming out your nose.  The bottom two pictures were taken from the deck of the restaurant in Florence where we had lunch.  There were two seals in the marina that kept us entertained while we were eating.  Nice little shops in Florence but it isn't as picturesque as Cannon Beach.  I also found a great scrapbooking store in Florence - a big shout out to Rosie's Art Carnival on Highway 101.  I walked out with a very expensive small bag of supplies including stamps, stencils, and dies and I got a lead on a store here in Newport which opens at 10:00 am tomorrow (it's closed on Wednesday).  Guess where we're going to be at 10:00 am tomorrow?  After visiting the Paper Mermaid, we're on our way northeast toward Portland in the first leg of working our way back home.