Well, almost nothing. It was cloudy all day and rained as predicted. We went into Arcata and had lunch again at the Kebob Cafe. It was excellent. And then we visited the Moonstone Crossing Winery right in tiny Trinidad (population less than 400 people). At dinner last night at the Laruppin Cafe, we enjoyed a bottle of 2016 Moonstone Crossing Pinot Noir and we loved it. The winery has three versions of pinot noir, so we bought two bottles of each to take home.

Other than that, it was stay at home, watch tv, run a wash, and take naps. The camera never moved. Perhaps tomorrow, our last full day in Trinidad, will be more exciting.

Clear and sunny when we got up. Rain coming tonight, so we’ll make the most of today.

I thought my hiking days were over. Walking, OK. But hiking? Well, remember Trinidad Head, that big land mass across the water from our Sea Cliff House? It’s pictured just below. There’s a hiking trail on it and in a weak moment I agreed that we’d do it. So we did it. Here are way too many pictures from the hike on Trinidad Head (split into part one and part two).

Here’s a bonus panorama picture from the hike showing Trinidad from up on the head (click to enlarge).

After the hike we stopped for breakfast/lunch at the Sea Scape located right there where we parked for the hike. Elaine had breakfast (eggs over with sausage and hash browns. I opted for lunch. A nice stout beer with chowder and an open-face crab salad sandwich. Yum. I got a piece of blackberry pie to go because it was so good last time we ate here. I’ll eat that tomorrow.

Then it was home to rest. Just below Sea Cliff House is Indian Beach. Well, it was Indian Beach until someone decided that was politically incorrect, so it was renamed. But everyone calls it Indian Beach and I can’t find the new name anywhere. It’s a steep climb done from our house (and seemingly steeper back up). what possessed me? Here are pictures from the beach including quite a few of birds and a couple of a surfer on a motorized surf board. Who knew they existed. The beach is sort of in a cove so the seas are not as wild as you saw in previous pictures. In one picture you can see our house if you have sharp eyes. It’s almost invisibly camouflaged from below.

Dinner tonight at Laruppin Cafe, an eclectic fine dining establishment in Trinidad. Great local wine. House appetizer platter. Six Humboldt Bay oysters for me. Delicious lamb chops for me. Locally caught red snapper for Elaine. For dessert, I had crème brûlée, Elaine had lemon tart. Yummmm!

First off, one picture from yesterday that I forgot to post and then promised videos from yesterday of the mighty Pacific from a few different stops along the way.

Wednesday dawned cloudy after rain during the night. But we decided to trust the forecast for clearing and head 30 miles north to view the Redwoods. Good decision! If you don’t like tree pictures, fast forward. No four leaf clovers. Elaine looked for one. The Redwoods are magnificent.

Heading home, we saw some elk by the road. Just females and youngsters. No bucks. Still, we stopped.

On 101 between Trinidad and the Redwoods (35-ish miles) there is one place to stop for food. We stopped at the Snack Shack in Orrick. Well! It was sooo good. Elaine had a hamburger with tots. I had a double elk burger with onion rings. And we chatted up an old resident who told some good stories. And we met a friend of his, a Yurok native American. It was fun. Before lunch there was a brief stop at a beach.

Then it was home for reading, naps, rest, and relaxation. Then cocktails on the deck. Dinner was home cooked – Italian sausage on the grill with peppers and onions. Yum. The views from the deck were, as usual, magnificent including a gorgeous sunset. See the seals on the rock in one picture? Look closely.

Quite a day. And tomorrow looms. Big dining night out tomorrow.

Tuesday was supposed to be more storm, but after the sunset last night, we were hopeful. Hope won! Tuesday was beautiful from start to finish. Some fog, but enhancing fog. I’ll let pictures tell the story today. All these pictures today are taken within three miles of Sea Cliff, our house. Wonderful day. LOTS of photos including panoramas and videos.

Luffenholtz Overlook

Beautiful area. Met some nice girls who took our picture.

Houda Point

Moonstone Beach

Lunch was at Trinidad Beach at the Seascape Restaurant. Great beer. Great food. Stunningly great blackberry pie a la mode. Great views.

Trinidad Beach and Pier

A couple of panoramas – click to enlarge – check tomorrow for surf videos

Quite a nice day. See you tomorrow!!

Well . . . . .

Sunday night after dinner at home we watched some football and went to bed. There was no rain and light wind. As we slept the storm arrived, mostly in the form of wind. At 2:20 am the power went off. We might not have noticed, but it caused the security system in the house to start beeping madly. (Elaine heard it – I kept on sleeping until she woke me.) I finally managed to get it to shut off, and we went back to sleep. The power came back on at 4:30 am. I left a light turned on and it woke me when it came on. Kudos to RCEA (Redwood Coast Energy Authority). When we got up at about 7:30, the heavy rains started. It continued all day. Supposedly the rain will continue into tomorrow and then we will see some sun on Wednesday onward. In any case, for Monday we are hunkered down.

Since sightseeing is out of the question in this weather, we decided to drive into Eureka to the closest Costco (20 miles). So much for hunkered down. Alas, in messing with the security system to shut off the beeping earlier, I somehow armed it. When we went out the front door, the alarm sounded – very loudly! And I don’t have the alarm code. Visions of police and fire arriving with sirens blaring passed through my mind. A quick call to the property manager got me the alarm code and instructions how to unarm the system. Fun, fun, fun. Problem solved.

Since we going out anyway, we decided to try the little Kebab Cafe in Arcata, midway between Trinidad and Eureka. The owner, raised in London after his family emigrated there from Cyprus, came to the US with his English wife in 1997. They opened Kebab Cafe, unpresuming and small and located in a strip mall, in 1977. The food is delicious. I had a delicious gyro pita sandwich and Elaine had a favorite of hers, the falafel sandwich. It was so good, in fact, we may go back for another lunch this week.

The horrible weather continued until, magically, we saw patches of blue sky and signs of a sun as darkness approached.

After indoor cocktails in front of a fire in the fireplace, dinner, courtesy of Chef Elaine, was pulled pork with barbeque sauce and veggies and Costco French bread (and, needless to say, a nice wine).

The weather for last night and today was perhaps the worst we have ever had on vacation, but it was a bit of an adventure. Tomorrow is another day.

I said no post, but surprise! It was raining when we awoke and when he headed south to Trinidad. We stopped for America’s breakfast at McDonald’s – sausage egg mcmuffin and hash brown. Yum. It rained for a good part of the 6.5 hour drive, but mostly light rain. When it wasn’t raining we stopped for a couple of pictures of the OR/CA coast.

We got to Trinidad about ½ hour before we could check in, so we went to Murphy’s Market in town to pick up dinner – enchiladas and salad – and some ice in case there was none in the house (for cocktails). We already had wine and vodka (naturally). Then we checked in and unloaded. Here are some pictures, all taken from inside the house. It’s cloudy and chilly – no cocktails on the beautiful deck – but no rain. See you tomorrow (which is expected to be very rainy).

Pics from last night at the Thai restaurant. That’s the view from our table. That’s Thai beer I’m drinking.:

It was cloudy and rainy off and on all day. We had to pack everything up as we’re off for a week in Trinidad, CA tomorrow morning. We did go into Newport for a final lunch at Local Oceans. Again, that’s the view from our table.

It was dreary and cold back at the condo. The view from the balcony is very different when the sun isn’t out.

Oddly enough, it cleared way off in the distance for a final sunset as we sipped cocktails on a chilly balcony.

The blog will probably take a day off tomorrow as we will be on the road most of the day. Or maybe not. In any case, I’ll be back on Monday from Trinidad. Forecast is rainy for Monday but decent the rest of the week. We’ll see.

The weather continues to be fantastic. Clear this morning, no fog. Sunny and cloudless all day. The Pacific mellowed dramatically and looked more like a mirror than an ocean. We did our separate walks as usual. I took a photography day off, so no pictures. We did a lot of reading and had lunch at home.

Cocktails were on the balcony as normal.

Our last dinner out in Depoe Bay was at Bay View Thai Kitchen. It’s very good Thai food from a nice young family from Thailand.

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be our last full day in Depoe Bay. If the forecasters are correct, the weather is going to turn wet during Saturday and stay wet for awhile. We leave Sunday morning for the 6½ hour drive to Trinidad, California.

The weather for our two weeks here was remarkably good as compared to last year when our last week in Depoe Bay was cloudy, rainy, and foggy. We went eight days with no sign of the sun.

No pictures today. Boo!

Little talk, all pictures today. Did a different wall circling Wyndham World Mark Time Share Resort. Closest to Bird Island. Seals resting.

Our Condo. Inside and out. Great view from the master bed. Why get up?

Visited the Oregon State University Marine Science Center. Learned a lot about the ocean and watched a great video about the ocean. My video here shows some rockfish (which make good eating).

Lunch was at a new place for us and new to Nye Beach –Zurita’s Tapas. Very good. We shared watermelon and tomato salad with goat cheese, delicious crispy calamari, lamb meat balls (OMG good), and rustic bread. Elaine had sangria; I had a Spanish glutton-free beer (go figure) that was excellent. But the sangria was so go, I had to get one of those too.

Then we spent a pleasant afternoon on the balcony in bright sunshine. We saw boats again as the three-day small craft warning was finally lifted. Cocktails, of course. Dinner was excellent – leftover meatloaf. Great sunset. And we went to bed as the waxing crescent moon reflected off the water. The bright lights on the horizon are commercial fishing ships out of Newport.

We had rain during the night, but it was mostly clear with the usual fog lurking about. Walks went on as normal. Depoe Bay’s “downtown” is two and a half blocks. One long block, one short, and a few business at both ends. It’s all on the east side of the street. The west side is the Pacific Ocean. Today’s photo extravaganza is all the storefronts in the long block. You’ll see plenty of gift shops. And, surprisingly, Gracie’s Sea Hag is suddenly open for breakfast.

We drove into Newport today with two purposes in mind:

The Nye Beach Shopping District

Nye Beach has a nifty little shopping district with some eclectic shops. One in particular is our favorite – the Archway Market and Cafe. It’s part cafe, part normal market, a wine store, and an interesting gift shop with some unique items. Last year we bought a bunch of stuff to use as stocking stuffers and we wanted to repeat that experience. Mission accomplished! Here are some pictures taken around the Nye Beach district (although none of at the Corner Market). Go figure. Petunia’s Porcelin Gifts (with all the rules) didn’t open until noon, so we couldn’t visit. I resisted going into Bridie’s Irish Shop for fear of dropping lots of coin on things I didn’t need. The sign about toxic clams may well explain why I haven’t seen razor clams, an area staple, on any menus. The last picture is actually a designed sculpture made of whale bones and whale teeth.

The Pacific Maritime Heritage Center

The Center is run by the Lincoln County Historical Society. It’s located at the harbor practically right next to Local Oceans, our lunchtime restaurant of choice. (You can see Local Oceans and its mural in the shots from the rook of the Heritage Center which offers a great view of the harbor and the Yaquina Bay Bridge.) But we had never been into the Museum. It sounded boring. In fact, it’s a little hidden gem. There are lots of exhibits about fishing and lumbering. Newport is a fishing capital and is sometimes called the Dungeness Crab Capital of the World. And logging is another local key industry with its capital in Toledo located just 10 miles away. Lots of commercial fishing and crabbing is centered in Newport Harbor (which is noted as one of the most dangerous harbors in the world to navigate). There is an interesting room detailing the life of Ernest Bloch, Jewish composer and humanist, who spent the last 18 years of his life in a house at Agate Beach in Newport. There is a great story about the Bloch’s crucifix statue here. And there is a special exhibit of art by Harvard educated Josie Iselin about the Curious World of Seaweed. All in all, it was a great stop and a couple of hours well spent. We were the only ones in the place!

Busy day! Then home for naps and balcony viewing in, once again, great weather. (The forecast for Sunday, the day we head south to Trinidad, CA, on is not so good – more later.) Cocktails were ,much enjoyed p the balcony. And then it was dress up (sort of – at least I wore socks) and out to dinner at Tidal Raves. Smoked salmon chowder and crab cakes for Elaine. Shrimp & crab cocktail followed by local halibut special for me. Great wine again.