ontheroad- OR coast

Tuesday Aug 11

MARIANA' S TRENCH We spent another day in Newport. At the Mark Hatfield Marine Museum-connected with the U of O we saw some video of unersea earthquakes. They bounce up like foaming shaving cream but do not blowreally far becaues of the intense water pressure. They are able to study the deepest part of the ocean--the Mariana Trench- which is a bit deeper under water than the peak of Mt Everest is above sea level. They don't have equipment that allows divers to withstand the pressure of going down so low but they have remote operated vehicles that go down low with their cameras. It is totally dark down tahere there but they find that life continues and plants live off of chemosynthesis (because there in no sun for photosynthesis). The fish get around from feel and maybe sonar. Some of them are totally white because they don't need to camoflage themselves because there is no light.
JETTY POWER- We visted South Beach State Park and walked the trail to the South Jetty. Remember these structures were laid perpendicular to the shore to creat a safe harbor for ships. As a result of this they caught debris and sand. This sand builds up the shoreline. Our path to the ocean was clearly marked with where the shoreline was in 1899, in 940, and in 1974. It is a good walk between the markers.

We viisited a lighthouse in the NewEngland style in which the keeper and his family lived in a house at the bottom of the light. This is a pretty fancy house and has been restored to a glory.

There doesn't seem to be any immigrant population here. David noticed that all of the chambermaids are young locals. Local population that we meet as well as some Minnesotans and Montanans have more traditional values than I had considered.