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.