Newport and Nye Beach
Much like Florence, Newport was centered around its old harbor area. But it's a much larger city than Florence, with more sprawl along Highway 101. Approaching from the south, we crossed the huge bridge that spans Yaquina Bay and that separates the bayfront from the main highway. After driving around for a while, looking at boats and sights along the bay, we crossed the Highway 101 into the neighborhood of Nye Beach.
Nye Beach was built in the 1890s, and it was where the "summer people" would stay. It's filled with quirky shops, restaurants, flowers, and easy beach access to a very long sandy beach that was popular with kite flyers. We stayed in this neighborhood on Thursday night, and visited the beach and overlook a couple of times.
The main site to see in Newport is the Oregon Coast Aquarium. This popular spot was not as large as I had expected, and some of the exhibits were a little "off" (why a turkey vulture exhibit?). But the starfish and jellyfish exhibits, the octopus, and the puffins and murres were terrific. There were several large "Passages" you could walk through and have the fishlife all around you.
I think kids, though, might get an even bigger kick out of the nearby Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center. This large complex had lots of hands-on activities about sealife, boats, etc., including a recreated tide pool filled with sealife that you were encouraged to touch.