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We started out that Saturday morning with only the intention of going to the Oregon Coast Aquarium https://aquarium.org/ which was about an hour and 40 minutes away. When we got there it was fairly crowded but we still got through each exhibit fairly easily. By far the best feature was the shark tank which had live Leopard Sharks and Hammerhead Sharks, and even some stingrays mixed in. The tank surrounded us like we were in a tunnel surrounded by water. There was also a live tank to feel certain sea creatures like starfish and sea urchins. After finishing up at the Aquarium we headed into Newport to grab a bite to eat and decided on Mo’s Seafood. Mo’s had the appeal of an all-american burger joint but with seafood options, we got seated fairly quickly for how busy they were and they had a great kids menu for Orion. 

After we got done with lunch it was only 2pm so we pulled over and went to the first patch of sand by the ocean we could find and started exploring. We quickly found some rocks that needed to be overturned and as soon as we did several crabs went scurrying. I’m not sure if I’ve ever hear Orion shriek with more delight as he tried to pick them up and set them free in the ocean. Next we decided to stop at Devil’s Churn and hike down to the tide pools where we saw more ocean life in the pools, and even a few sea lions!
We looked for whales on the way home but never saw one, our last stop was my favorite beach Heceta Head Beach that has a gorgeous view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse. From there we watched the sun go down. It really was the perfect day, and it was all because we followed our flow.
Pro tip: Heceta Head Beach has amazing tide pools if you go down to the right and climb up a few rocks