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750 NW Lighthouse Drive, Newport, 541-574-3100, blm.gov/learn/interpretive-centers/yaquina. 10 am–4 pm daily. $7 per vehicle.
Sure, we might be cheating by listing a visitor center for a federally owned natural area; few people visit the Oregon Coast’s rugged Yaquina Head just for the museum. But still: It’s a really good museum! Category fraud aside, consider this a reminder that it’s possible to take your family to a 151-year-old working lighthouse less than 5 miles outside Newport. Groups of 10 gather at the interpretive center, then get a look inside the lighthouse keeper’s quarters. They won’t let you upstairs to look at the Fresnel lens, but there’s a life-size model in the museum, plus a 20-minute documentary that suggests the only thing more powerful than the ocean pounding on this desolate point was the punishing loneliness. Outside, a web of paved trails leads to overlooks—bring binoculars to spot puffins, colonies of cormorants, and harbor seal cubs.
Don’t miss: The tide pools at Cobble Beach and Agate Beach are staffed by seasonal volunteers who hand out laminated cards identifying the anemones.
Will kids like it? Are they old enough to watch The Ring? Then they’ll recognize Yaquina Head as the movie’s extremely haunted lighthouse, which should give them goosebumps. Too young for ghosts? Puffins.