"Thar she blows"

This was the highlight of the trip. We went whale watching. We took a fishing boat that was about 50 feet long out to watch the 45 foot gray whales. It was national whale watching week in Oregon and all along the coast there were volunteers with binoculars helping you spot them. The whales are migrating back to Alaska to feed after being down along the Baja penisula for the winter.

I wish my pictures could do this experience justice, but they don't. By the time I clicked my camera, they were already going back down. Every time one surfaced the captain would yell "Thar she blows" at 2:00 (or wherever). Then everyone would look and try to snap pics. We went out about 1 1/2 miles. They told us that the whales travel a little highway out there and the captain put us right in the middle of it. We followed a pod of 3 for quite a while.

The closest one we saw was about 50 yards away. It was close enough that we could hear the blow hole not just see it. It was amazing. I thought for sure Chad would get sick. When we were trying to decide what to eat for lunch before we went out on the boat, I told Chad "you better get whatever will taste good coming back up." He has a weak stomach and gets motion sickness easily. But with a little help from dramamine, he did great. But let me tell you, that boat was rocking and rolling. The swells out there were 30 feet high. It was crazy, like a roller coaster, how your stomach drops out. I loved it!

Back to the port. What a great time this was on Day 4.