Sea Lion Caves in Florence, Oregon is the largest sea cave in the United States, and the tenth longest sea cave in the world. Visitors have been observing sea lions at this location since 1932. Now travelers take an elevator 208 feet down into the cave but when it first opened they walked down a 1,500-foot-long trail that was hand carved into the cliff face. Although the smell of sea lions stimulates your odor receptors when parking, surprisingly there are little to no pungent smells while in the cave. Maybe this had to do with the fact there were only two sea lions in the cave at the time, the rest were sunbathing on rocks outside. Although sea lions are the main attraction, the caves are also known for the birds. My new favorite bird is the long beaked, orange footed pigeon guillemot.
