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