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Friday

Walks in the morning. Some pictures along the way:

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Nice in the morning, rainy in the afternoon. We decided to do a bit of exploring while the weather stayed good. We drove to Siletz Bay National Wildlife Preserve. It’s located just five miles from the condo and we have driven by it hundreds of times without stopping. It’s a preserve for salmon, birds, and animals and is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We saw none, none (save a sea gull), and none. The Siletz River, which runs alongside, is obviously a favorite spot for salmon fishermen (following strict preserve rules). We had a nice hike through the preserve. We did hear lots of little birds. It was a very pleasant walk.

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Then we drove another mile or so into Lincoln City’s Historic Taft District. We parked and walked along the driftwood log cluttered beach. Normally there are lots of seals basking on the offshore island, but there were few today. There were lots of people casting into the sea for fish from the beach. We didn’t see anyone actually catch anything.

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Then it was lunch at Mo’s Seafood and Chowder, an Oregon seaside tradition with lots of branches along the coast. We split wonderful lightly fried calamari for an appetizer. Elaine then had a shrimp salad sandwich and I had a crab melt sandwich with cheese. We walked on their new pier before leaving.

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Finally we decided to drive Oregon Route 229 from the Taft area all the way to Newport along the Siletz River. Very scenic. On reaching Newport we returned home. Nap time. Then cocktails on the deck. As we imbibed, the rains came. Our balcony is covered (by the balcony above), and we sat and watched the rain for awhile. The appetizers consisted of Blue Heron Black Pepper Brie that we got in Tillamook earlier in the week and smoked steelhead trout from Robba Gump Smoken Fish Company in Depoe Bay. Boy, is it good!

Saturday

There was still some light rain around in the morning, but we took our separate walks. I saw a nice rainbow that ended at the pot of bouillabaisse gold at Tidal Raves. The weather cleared quickly and it was a sunny day although much cooler than it has been. For the sixth straight day the red flag has been out at the harbor (small craft warnings). That means another day of no fishing trips or whale watches. This is the longest stretch of rough seas that we have seen here in all our visits.

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We drove into Newport for the weekly farmer’s market where Elaine loaded up on vegetables. Alas, the French Bread Lady was not there! On the way home we drove the scenic Otter Crest Scenic Loop. Then it was a quiet lunch at home, naps, cocktails on the sunny balcony.

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For dinner we went to Bay View Thai Kitchen in Depoe Bay. We enjoy the food there once on every trip. We shared spring rolls and shrimp wrapped in basil won tons. Elaine had a vegetable red curry. I had a seafood curry served in a hollowed out coconut. Then we went to Gracie’s Sea Hag Lounge for a drink at the bar and to watch the Ray Charles imitator perform – he’s been there for 26 years.

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Not much to report. We did our walks in the morning. We drove to Newport to pick up a couple of items. We took naps. It was rainy all morning but cleared in the afternoon. We had the usual cocktails on the deck at 5 pm. We walked to Tidal Raves for our second dinner there. Dat’s about it. Some random photos follow.

US Route 20 in Newport, OR – 3,350 Miles East and You’d Be on Route 20 in, I Think, Waltham

Sunset on the Balcony

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It was foggy, cloudy, and drizzly in the morning. Elaine took her walk into town anyway. I walked the other way, away from town, to Boiler Bay Overlook. It’s one of the nicest overlooks on Oregon 101, but not so nice when it is drizzling. Great whale watching and bird watching spot. I saw no whales and only a few seagulls (flying rats) and blackbirds.

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The afternoon was sunny. Elaine got her haircut. And the Chamber of Commerce called. Guess what? We won an overnight stay at the Inn at Otter Crest in the raffle at the Salmon Bake. We may give it to someone. We drove into Newport and had lunch at our favorite luncheon spot at the harbor, Local Oceans, a combination fish market and restaurant. We shared the must-have grilled calamari salad for a starter. I had my usual sandwich, the rockfish italiano while Elaine enjoyed fish tacos. No food pictures today. We watched the sea lions for a bit and visited a few of the many shops.

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Cocktails on the balcony were under bright sun. Dinner was homemade pizza and salad. Then early to bed.

Wednesday was sunny all day with a little light fog in the morning. We decided to walk (together for a change) into town and have breakfast at Gracie’s Sea Hag. Elaine had scrambled eggs and diced ham. I had a Hangtown Fry – an omelet with Yaquina Bay oysters. Yum. Then we checked the foggy harbor and watched the surf across the street as it pounded the rocks. Great spray. Instant rainbows.

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In the afternoon we drove the hour north up the coast to Tillamook. We had yummy ice cream cones at the Tillamook Creamery. They make the best ice cream! Then we visited the Blue Heron Cheese Store to get some of their great pepper brie. I took some pictures on their property where they have various live animals and lots of old equipment.

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Updates

• Elaine found turtlenecks at Fred Meyers, an all-in-one superstore chain that I have only seen in the Pacific Northwest.: Also bought another corkscrew to replace the Chinese piece of crap that I bought the other day. This one is also Chinese and isn’t very good, but a least it works.
• For those who asked about cameras: Most pictures are taken by me with a Canon G7X Mark II. Pictures by Elaine are with her Sony Cybershot DSC-W830. Occasionally there might be a picture taken with my Moto 4 phone.
• For those who asked about Tidal Raves: I have no info on why they are selling the place – probably to retire. Will try to find out more on subsequent visit.

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We did our separate morning walks – Elaine goes earlier and walks faster. I go later and walk slower. I took random pics along my walk into town and back.

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So, it’s Monday and the sun is out. It wouldn’t be a visit to Depoe Bay without a visit to Yaquina Light in the Yaquina Head Outstanding Beauty Area (run by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management. Our Lifetime National Park pass gains admission without the $7 fee, We hiked up Salal Hill Trail to the top and then had our picnic lunch on our favorite bench. I’ll let the link above and the pictures below tell the story.

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Cocktails on the balcony were under cloudy skies with roaring waves. No boats of any kind were out today – seas too rough. The Coast Guard was out at night with their boats and helicopter doing training. Dinner was at home: delicious meatloaf with baked potato and salad. Yum.

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We awoke to rain and it lasted most of the day. So we had a very quiet, mostly stay-at-home day watching football. No Patriots game on here. Mostly we watched the Saints beat the Seahawks in Seattle. That makes the local folk unhappy as Depoe Bay is in Seahawk country. The chairs on our deck are Seahawk chairs.

To those who asked about the chairs in a previous post’s picture, here is the story behind the chairs. Several years ago I had a chair (very much like the ones we have now) shipped here from Amazon. I had hoped that the chair would be here the next time we came. On our next trip we were in Costco after landing at Portland airport and I saw the Seahawk chair and bought just in case the one from last year was gone. When we got to the condo, it was indeed gone. Come the next year we again flew into Portland and were at Costco again and they still had the Seahawk chairs. So I bought another one thinking the one from the last year would be gone. It wasn’t, so now we had a matched set. This year we were driving, so we put the (non-Seahawk) chairs we have in Scottsdale in the car. But the Seahawk chairs are still here, so the ones from home remain in the car. So, there’s WAY more information than you need about the chairs on our balcony.

We drove into Lincoln City to pick up items we forgot yesterday at Safeway. And we stopped at the Lincoln City Outlet Mall because Elaine wanted to get a turtle neck. We tried six stores (E Bauer, the Gap, Columbia, Old Navy, North Face, and Under Armour) – no turtlenecks. I did pop into the Kitchen Outlet to buy a corkscrew to replace the broken one at the condo.

The skies magically (but not unexpectedly) cleared at exactly 5:00 PM for cocktails on the deck.

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By 6:45 when we left for dinner at Tidal Raves, it was raining again. Tidal Raves may well be my favorite seafood restaurant in the world. It’s small. It has great views from every table. And the food is superb. We had a half order of Seahawk Bread with our cocktails. Soup comes with the meal – I had clam chowder while Elaine had smoked salmon chowder, For mains, I had pan fried oysters with fries and Elaine had Herbed Rockfish. The wine was Beaux Freres Les Cousins Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Pictures below.

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Here’s an American success story. There are two older Hispanic gentlemen who have been at Tidal Raves for 25+ years. One busses tables, the other works in the kitchen. Well, the older of the two is now buying the place and will take over running it. They are very nice guys and I hope they succeed by keeping the place like it is now.

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First off, here are a couple of pictures of the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA taken at night after dinner. I forgot to include them in the last post.

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Friday’s drive into Depoe Bay had a couple of planned stops. I wanted to get some good Oregon Pinot Noir and I thought Costcos in Oregon did not carry liquor. So I had scouted a wine store in Eugene, OR that we would stop at before stopping at a Costco for some other things. Lo and behold, Bo’s Wine Market is closed for 1½ hours each YEAR while supporting a hunger drive. We got there just as they closed! No wine for us.

So it was to Costco on the other side of Eugene. Egads, they sell wine! It’s just hard liquor that they cannot sell. So we loaded up with Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and also had Costco pizza for lunch.

We rolled into our Depoe Bay condo on schedule at around 4 PM. It looks the same and we enjoyed cocktails on the balcony under partly cloudy skies.

On Saturday we drove early into Newport (12 miles) for the weekly farmer’s market. There is a woman there who makes and sells delicious French bread. Elaine loaded up with fresh vegetables and free range eggs. After going back to unload the car, we walked into town for the 63rd Annual Depoe Bay Salmon Bake. We enjoyed the delicious salmon baked over a live fire, served with cole slaw and grilled bread. We had Tillamook ice cream cones in town for desert. Dinner at home will consist of bread, cheese, and corn on the cob – eclectic but delicious.

It was another beautiful day on the balcony for cocktail hour. The temperature was 69 degrees, but the balcony is a heat trap with the afternoon sun shining off the ocean directly in your face as the balcony faces west. It’s almost too hot to sit there. But the cocktails are great and the whales are out there playing. We see too many to count.

A Day in Depoe Bay

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Unlike yesterday, Thursday was all highway driving – CA 99 and I-5, Bakersfield to Redding – about 7½ hours on the road.

In Redding we stayed at the Sheraton at Sundial Bridge. Sheraton is part of the Marriott Hotels now and once again we stayed free using my Marriott points.

We walked around Turtle Bay on the Sacramento River, a beautiful place right next to the hotel. The Sundial Bridge is beautiful. It actually acts as a sundial with its shadow. It was designed by Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava. Pedestrians and bikes only. We walked through the gardens where not much was blooming at this time of year. We came back again at night after dinner to see it lighted up.

Dinner was at Janya Thai where we ate last time we were in Redding four or so years ago. Great meal!

Tomorrow morning – on to Depoe Bay.

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VIEWS OF TURTLE BAY AND THE SUNDIAL BRIDGE & GARDENS

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Wednesday, September 18th

So we are off on a road trip to Depoe Bay where we will stay 16 nights in our usual condo. We left this morning. Short post. The major accomplishment was driving from our house to the hotel in Bakersfield, California, our first night stopover, without ever touching a major highway. No interstates. Mostly on roads with one lane in each direction. Amazing sight of the day: a deserted gas station on Rte 62 in California festooned with old shoes. No traffic until we got near Bakersfield where we encountered a turnover accident and then lots of road construction in Bakersfield. We are staying at a Marriott Springhill Suites using Marriott points. Dinner was at Nuestro Mexico, a hidden gem in Bakersfield. Who would have expected superb seafood here: Scrumptious ceviche for an appetizer (we shared). we both had Mariscos (shrimp, scallops, and fish) for our mains – mine with chile verde, Ealine’s with poblanos. Wonderful. Come to Bakersfield and try it. Tomorrow we are on to Redding, CA.

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