Visiting the Charleston Marine Life Center was an awesome experience, delightfully fun and educational. A building that looks small from the outside houses a tremendous amount of hands-on, visually interesting exhibits and learning opportunities. Jackson loved feeling the sea stars, urchins and slugs. We all had fun listening to whale songs, clicks and social calls, and then recording and playing back our own for comparison! We looked at shells and other samples from the sea under microscopes, used binoculars to watch cormorants diving underwater up to a full minute at a time to fish, and observed amazing sea life native to Oregon waters thriving in large aquariums. Sea water is pumped into and out of the aquariums continuously, and all types of sea life take up residence in them (see sea worm photo below).
On the kind recommendation of the Marine Life Center staff, we drove up the Cape Arago Beach Loop. Beautiful viewpoints like Simpson Reef lined the highway, and we saw seals at Cape Arago. At various stops we could hear the seals barking before we could even see them.
We also pulled off alongside the road to do a little hiking to the cliffs above the Pacific coast. This was breathtaking! You could walk directly up to the edge, unbarred.
