The End

 

Our morning walk was an experimental walk from Driftwood Beach, just a couple miles north of us, to Seal Rock. It wasn’t completely clear from looking at the maps if there would be places where there was no beach to walk on between the two ends, but we decided to try it anyway. Leaving from Driftwood beach we saw what might have been the beginnings of the cool sand waves that we used to play in on Agate Beach. The beach is wide until you get close to Seal Rock, then there are a couple of places where you have to scramble over some rocky outcrops to get through. We made it just to the south edge of Seal Beach, but didn’t climb down from the sunset watching rock onto the beach because we were worried about the tide – there’s one section that would have been little dicey if the tide came in. 

Cliff dwelling

Slickrock, but wet

Once we’d gotten back past the nervous point we were able to relax and take our time and visit the tide pools. There are fewer tide pool creatures here – we didn’t see any starfish or mussels. We also had fun noticing things that look like Sedona, but aren't. We had a smooth walk back to access point 66, and a short stop at the trailer before heading to town for lunch at the big Rogue brewery, which I don’t like as much as the one across the bridge. After lunch we walked out on the jetty where many people were crabbing. While we were out there it was windy and there was starting to be some fog out on the ocean. We walked back to the truck and went across the bridge to get gas, and by the time we came back the bridge was completely fogged in, and it was foggy for most of the drive back to the KOA. It cleared up around Driftwood Beach, and when we got back it was lovely and sunny where we were but foggy out on the ocean. I sat outside to watch the fog and ended up having a lovely nap.

We had another wonderful afternoon of relaxing – knitting, duolingo, and online CPR/First aid training for me; online forklift operator training and image processing tutorials for Dave. We’re thinking we’d rather be in South Beach State Park than here – it’s much closer to Newport and has hiking trails you don’t have to drive to – but we have made great use of the wifi here at the KOA. We had yummy green chili chicken enchiladas from home for our trailer dinner and spent another relaxing evening doing our favorite trailer-y things. That is all.

Zurita! And a bunch of stuff before.

 

Thursday

You may have noticed a pattern of taking a walk in the morning, and today, another beautiful sunny day, was no different. Last time we were here we walked from the Hobbit Trail Trailhead to the Heceta Head lighthouse and back. The way back starts with long, steep climb, and I’d gotten quite out of breath. We were curious to see if all the walking we’ve been doing had any effect, so we went back and yes, it had – what had seemed like a long, difficult hike seemed much easier this time, although we did stop a couple times on the way up. The forest near the lighthouse is very young, and none of the forest is all that old, just a few big trees near the top of the trail. We still wonder why that is. 

It's fall, and in Oregon that means mushrooms. We saw a lot of cool small mushrooms and some that almost looked like leaves, and on the hike back we met a woman who was collecting chanterelles. We looked for them on the rest of the hike but don't have the knack (and don't worry, we wouldn't have picked and eaten them without having them checked by a mushroom expert). When we got back to the trailhead I decided I wanted to walk down to the beach, remembering it as a short, gently sloping walk. It turned out to be about ½ mile and a significant drop. I wanted to see if you can see the lighthouse from there. You can’t. There was very light fog on that part of the walk, though, and it was very cool walking through it and seeing the light reflecting off of it.

We got back from the walk and thought we might eat at Yachats Brewing, but it was just after 11 and they don’t open until noon and we were starving, so we went up to Newport to revisit Wolf Tree, where the food and beer are reliably good. It’s also in a very interesting area, a subdivision called Wilder Corner, with houses and apartments that look like you could be in Beaverton. There’s also a disc golf course and some hiking there on timber land. If you send them a picture of your driver’s license you can get a permit to go hiking there, which we did, but the permit didn’t come until the next day and we were pretty walked out anyway, so we went back to the trailer for another relaxing afternoon.(Look for the permit e-mail in the starred inbox) 

When we got here on Monday the campground was pretty much empty, and we were the only ones on the river end. Today several more folks pulled in, including two huge RVs on either side of us, so we lost most of our view, which is too bad. We still have a nice view from the grassy area behind the trailer.

Hobbit Beach is #93

Next up, we headed into Newport for dinner at Zurita, a new restaurant in the Nye Beach section of Newport, about a block from Nana’s. When we first walked in it was a little off putting – for one thing, it was very cold, and the décor looks a little like a cheap Mexican restaurant except it has maps of Spain. We ended up eating in the big upstairs space which was COLD but with a more funky vibe and also a giant hibiscus plant and little tiny bits of ocean view through the windows. And then the food came. We had 4 small plates, two of which (the tortilla espanola and the roasted asparagus and artichokes) were spectacular (I’m drooling right now remembering them) and two of which were merely delicious. Dave enjoyed trying several of their Spanish wines, and I had a cocktail made of sherry, bitter lemon soda and mint that was just superb. For dessert we shared the goat cheese custard with a cinnamon-apple puree that was outstanding. If you’re ever in Newport be sure to hit Zurita, is all I can say. Then it was back to the trailer for even more relaxing.

Bonus Photo: Leaflike mushroom

From P to shining P

Just before we went to Cape Cod this summer, we got a paid version of the AllTrails app, and it has been a great thing. You can go on the app and look for trails nearby, filtering by how long they are and how far away. I’d done some looking and one of the hikes took off not far south of here and went along the beach. We ended up doing a section of the hike, starting at the Governor Patterson State Park parking lot (#68), walking past the Big Stump, and popping up at the Beachside State Recreation Site (#70) for a stop at their restrooms before heading back up. While we were at Beachside we thought it would be fun to check out their campsite, which is right on the beach. We discovered site 63, which is absolutely fantastic – slightly separated from the others, and angled so that we’d be looking out over the ocean from our recliners. It’s our goal to reserve it next fall. 

Beachside Campsite 63

The whole roundtrip was just over 5 miles, so a good start to the day. There aren’t as many big monoliths on the coast here – seal rock is about the only one – so beach walking isn’t quite as interesting as it is in the Arch Cape/Cannon Beach area that we’re so familiar with, and of course since we aren’t familiar with this area, we can’t do a sand report. It was another gorgeous day out. We stopped at the trailer and got cleaned up, then headed to Newport for our afternoon activities. We had lunch at the Bayfront Rogue Brewing, picked up our boarding pass, and walked around the historic bayfront area for about an hour before lining up to board the Discovery for some ocean and river sightseeing. The historic bayfront seems a little less tacky touristy than I remember it – it’s still touristy, but the shops actually had some things you might like to bring home.

A gorgeous day

Dave got to drive

Last fall when we were in Newport we’d taken the Discovery (that’s the name of the ship) and run into a wall of fog on the ocean. It was a beautiful day today so no chance of that. We ended up being on the ship with a large group of well behaved 6^th graders from Cascades Academy in Bend. We went out into the ocean and had a fun time going up and down the swells. I liked having the kids on board because they were all hooting and hollering as the boat went up and down, which meant I could too, without people staring at me. I was hoping we’d see some gray whales, but I think we used up all our whale watching luck off the Cape this summer. After too short a time we turned around and did some cruising up the estuary, stopping to pick up the crab pots which had caught quite a few crabs, including a huge Dungeness that the tour guide said was the biggest she’d ever seen – maybe 7.5-8” across.

Back on land the ice cream shop next to the tour office was just opening up, so we stopped and got ice cream cones – chocolate peanut butter for me, and mudslide for Dave. He was planning on just having some tastes of mine but he really doesn’t like that flavor so he got his own. It turned out to be a good thing, because walking around town on our way back to the car eating yummy ice cream on a warm sunny day turned out to be one of the highlights of this trip for both of us.

We got back to the trailer a little after 5 and had delicious Pasta a la Norma from home, and watched “October Skies”. A good day.

Waldport/Newport KOA

One of the biggest benefits of not working is that we can go places during the week, when they are less crowded. So on Monday (having made not 1, 2, or 3 but 4 appointments for Bubby to visit retirement communities while she’s here) we hitched up the trailer with minimal difficulty and headed towards the coast. It was a beautiful sunny day without much traffic, and we didn’t let the google lady take us “the back way” the way we did last year. As we approached Lincoln City we could see the fog sliding down the hills, and sure enough Newport was completely socked in, cold and cloudy. When we checked in at the KOA we found out it was that way all last week, but Tuesday was supposed to be nicer. Fingers crossed. We drove through the nearly empty campground to our spot overlooking the Alsea Bay (#27) and got set up, again with a minimum of difficulty. The view from the back of our site is just magnificent. One of our main goals for this trip is to get some relaxing in before things get completely crazy busy, and we worked on that goal for a couple of hours before we headed south to Yachats for dinner at Ona’s, where the food continues to delight. The roast oysters were different from but as good as the much-touted oysters from Winslows, and I love the mushroom pate – Jen might too! We got more relaxing done back in the trailer.

Tuesday we woke to beautiful sunny skies. Our plan for was a morning hike at South Beach, but I was having some weird flashes in the corner of my eye. At 7:12 I  sent an e-mail to Baseline Vision Clinic in Hillsboro, and by 9:00 the amazing Dr Joan Miller had called to talk about it and made an 9:30 appointment for me at Newport Vision Clinic, where they dilated my eyes and made me look at the machine with the asterisk and we were all reassured to find it was normal aging and not any kind of scary detachment. Dave got to get a live view of my eyes through the asterisk machine and said it was cool. It turned out that the eye clinic was right up the street from Newport Brewing, and while we were walking around waiting for my eyes to dilate we found a secret parking lot for it. After the appointment we went to South Beach State Park and walked out to the South Jetty, and then it was time for lunch. We went back to Newport brewing and parked in the secret lot, which is above the restaurant and involves walking down a long flight of stairs. We were feeling quite smug and like locals since we knew about the secret lot until we got to the main entrance and discovered that they have a giant parking lot right out front. Last time we were there Dave had nachos and they were Not Good, but I’d had a yummy elote bowl and good beer, so Dave was willing to try it again. This time his food was very good, and we did the “crab” beer sampler, 6 beer tasters on a plastic fluorescent pink/orange crab shaped tray. I liked all the beers but Dave thought the sour gose was really awful, like sour milk. I quite liked it. Then it was back to the trailer to get more relaxing taken care of. It was such a beautiful day that I was able to sit outside most of the afternoon.

Usually we plan all our dinners in advance, since places fill up. Since it’s the middle of the week and the off season we’ve been winging it, and we were mulling over our dinner choices when Dave remembered Nana’s Irish Pub. We got there around 6 and were seated right away (!!) and enjoyed our delicious Nana food – Sausages in puff pastry for Dave and a steak and guinness pie for me. Way too much food but too yummy to stop eating. They had a reuben on the menu and I almost got it – the person sitting at the next table had one and it looked delicious, but I stuck with the pie. When we got back we had a fire in our firepit and watched the moon rise. A very nice day.