In January of this year, I made a trip over to the Oregon Coast, and one of the places I spent a bit of time was at Seal Rock. Seal Rock is a little coastal town about 10.6 miles (17 km) south of Newport Beach along US 101. I was on my way to Cape Perpetua, but I had stopped there for lunch.

In fact, there is an awesome little cafe right on US 101 in Seal Rock called the Luna Sea Fish House. This cafe is wonderful with great food. The owner catches his own seafood fresh, and everything I had there was wonderful! One day I had the fried clams, and they were quite tender and really tasty. Another time I had the salmon; it was super tasty. The service is great and the staff is all really friendly. The funny thing is the place is quite small, and doesn’t look like much from the outside. But I have this thing where I just want to find a small local place and sample the local fare. It’s a fun place to hang out for a bit!

Anyway I digress. After lunch I headed over to the Seal Rock State Recreation Area (south about a block and across the road). There is a small fee to enter the park, but you can pay with a credit card. From the name, I was hoping to see lots of seals and sea lions. Now maybe it was the time of year, but I didn’t see a one.

However the surf was coming in, and the views were pretty cool. Here is a video I shot right after lunch before the clouds started to build a bit later. I spent some time just watching and listening to the surf. I could see spending a relaxing afternoon here just walking the beach.

All these rocks and no seals – I guess the gods were hiding them that day. Anyway, I didn’t spend a ton of time there, but it is a fun place. The scenery is incredible. And it’s only a few minutes south of Newport, if you are staying there.

If you look closely at the video and the photo above you might see a boat in the distance. I couldn’t quite make out what they were doing, but it was there for a couple of hours. Probably they were fishing, but I have no idea what the catch would be that time of year.

So, if you are looking for a nice place to spend some time that’s near Newport and easily accessible, I can recommend Seal Rock. The views are great, and at least in the off season, there is plenty of room and space to get away from the crowds and contemplate this beautiful planet.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and have fun out there – nature can help heal our souls.