We’re starting to wind down and wear out. Saturday will be our last full day in Trinidad before we begin the three-day trek homeward. So tomorrow (Saturday) will likely be the last blog post.

Friday’s weather was just about perfect for deck viewing, so that’s pretty much what we did. We did go back to the Seascape Restaurant for one last breakfast.

Then it was pretty much going to be a veg day at home. However, Elaine decided to walk down to the beach below us. It’s a steep climb down and even steeper back up (or so it feels like). But off she went. After she left, I decided to join her. Tough on the knees going down; tough on the lungs coming back up. But we both made it. The beach was always known as Indian Beach until that became politically incorrect. So it was renamed Old Home Beach. Everyone still calls it Indian Beach. From the beach you can catch two glimpses of our Sea Cliff House way up above.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The pictures from the beach walk.

And a panorama (click to enlarge)

The rest of the day was spent on the deck. Around cocktail hour a whole bunch of pelicans landed on the beach and on the rocks. What do you officially call a whole bunch of pelicans? A school? A bevy? A flock? Do you know? Answer after the pictures of the pelicans and some other birds on the beach (taken from the deck way above)..

So, a bunch of pelicans can be called a squadron, a pod, a pouch or a scoop of pelicans. It says so here.

And some final snaps taken from the deck.

One final picture. This was taken with my sunglass lens held over the lens of the camera.

Another nice day, intermittently sunny and foggy. No rain. We decide to drive 30 miles north and visit the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (co-administered by the California Parks System and the National Park System). Always good to walk amongst the big boys.

We drove the whole length (30 odd miles) of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway where you are right there with the redwoods. 25-35 mph speed limit. Lots of places to stop and take walks. And not crowded.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The star of the show is the Big Tree.

Here are more pictures of our walks around the redwood giants. See Elaine tree hugging. See huge mushrooms growing on the trunks of some trees.

After the Redwoods, we stopped in Orick, a once thriving lumber town now reduced to just 350 odd people (and some of them are very odd). The K-8 elementary school has eight students (and two teachers). This is Elk Country and we usually see lots of elk grazing on both sides of the highway. We didn’t spot even one this year. We did stop at EdeBee’s Snack Shack for lunch. It’s been there since 1947. We found this place on our last visit, and it’s a must stop. We met the owner and the town weirdo (two different people). The weirdo will talk to you, but if you aren’t talking to him, he continues to talk anyway in conversations with imaginary people. Eventually he rode off on his bike. Elaine had a beef burger and I had an elk burger. We shared fries and onion rings.

And we met the owner of the semi-closed hardware/junk/antique store next door to the Snack Shack. He’s trying to sell it for $750,000. Good luck with that. There does seem to be a lot of neat old stuff inside, but that’s a lot of money for potential junk. He does have some neat signs in the windows. I asked him if he’d take $500K right now and he replied, “Hell, yeah”.

We stopped again in Trinidad to visit a gift shop or two. I walked around and took pictures of flowers while Elaine shopped. The last picture is from a small side road. What is it? You decide. I don’t know.

Night shots from the deck last night. Bright moon. That’s Trinidad Pier with all the lights.

Tonight we did sit on the deck with some sun and some fog. Add fog to things I don’t understand like how planes fly (yeah, yeah, aerodynamics), how big steel ships float (yeah, yeah, buoyancy), and cryptocurrency (yeah, yeah, block chains). One minute you can see the three rocks (Papa, Mama, and Baby rock). A few minutes later you can’t see Papa Rock at all. Anyway, here’s some pics. See the moon in the last picture?

Where did Papa Rock go in these two pictures? The fog bank rolled in.

We awoke to nice blue skies and decided breakfast out was a good idea, so it was back to the Seascape Restaurant. Elaine had scrambled eggs and sausages with home fries. I, of course, had a Hangtown Fry. No food pictures this morning. Flies are a problem around here. The restaurant provides a fly fan for the table which keeps them at bay. You can buy them on Amazon, and they work.

According to Wikipedia, “the Hangtown Fry was invented in Placerville, California, then known as Hangtown. According to most accounts, the dish was invented when a gold prospector struck it rich, headed to the Cary House Hotel, and demanded the most expensive dish that the kitchen could provide. The most expensive ingredients available were eggs, which were delicate and had to be carefully brought to the mining town; bacon, which was shipped from the East Coast; and oysters, which had to be brought on ice from San Francisco, over 100 miles away.”

The Seascape is located right at Trinidad Pier. There are two small beaches nearby and great views all around. Pictures tell the story. The seagulls (aka flying rats) let you walk right up to them. Lots of kelp in the water and on the beaches. Interesting car in the parking lot. The front license plate on the car says Virginia, but the couple in the car are from Fresno.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Back home for a bit and then we decided to drive the four to five miles down Scenic Drive to take some more pictures. The road is horrific – one lane in places, loaded with potholes, dirt and gravel in other places. But there are three great places to stop for pictures.

Tepona Point

Tepona Point is my favorite spot. The light fog adds to the atmosphere of the pictures. They have done a lot of work on the trail and the platform since our last visit. Now the state needs to fix the road. The beach down below is Luffenholtz Beach. We didn’t go down to the beach. Two panoramas (click to enlarge) and one video. And lots of pictures.

Watch the video here.

Houda Point

At Houda Point you are just down the road a bit from Tepona Point. We met and chatted up a nice Canadian from Toronto.

Moonstone Beach

Moonstone Beach is another couple of miles down the road. Wolf tracks on the beach? Nah. Lots of dog walkers here. Some big (dead) clams. Here we actually walked on the beach.

We made one more stop at Clam Beach down the road a bit. Nice beach but not very photogenic. Then it was back home to enjoy the afternoon reading, lunching, napping, viewing, relaxing, and what all. Here’s a picture of Clam Beach.

Click on the galleries (and images) below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

We went to bed last night as the clouds rolled in

We awoke expecting the predicted rain. This is what we saw first.

But the weathermen weren’t totally wrong (again). We went for a long walk on Trinidad State Beach and about town a bit under threatening but dry skies. Lots of pictures including three panoramas. How many can you spot Elaine in? Interesting sandals on the beach. Interesting chairs on the hillside. Interesting driftwood. Interesting vegetation. One picture of just sand. See the seagull on the rock?

I could find Elaine in five pictures (including in two of the panoramas. Did I miss any?

Also, we saw a vulture on the beach gnawing away at a dead something or other. A seagull watched enviously nearby. I (unintentionally) scared the vulture away and the seagull took over eating.

Trinidad Lighthouse used to be up on the hill. Now it’s on a memorial stand down by the beach.

Above the beach nearer the Trinidad town center is a nice place to take some pictures. The first picture is where the lighthouse used to be. Some nice houses up up too. I took a picture of one. Lots of people lost or buried at sea. (Interestingly, Trinidad’s official population is about 320 people not counting us. It is one of California’s smallest incorporated cities,).

Now it was 10:45. We drove around a bit and then returned to the beach area for lunch at the Seascape Restaurant. Hidden Gem! We both had delicious clam chowder. Elaine had a 1/2 order of fish and chips. I had an open faced oyster sandwich along with two Mad River Brewery Steelhead Extra Pale Ales. The brewery is tribal owned. Are those gigantic oysters or what? They also have home-baked blackberry pie. I got a piece to go.

While we were eating the rains arrived in style. It poured for awhile so we headed home for a quiet afternoon. We’re delighted that two days that were supposed to be washouts actually turned out pretty good.

Oh, someone wanted pictures from inside the cottage. Voila! The first picture is from out on the deck looking in. That’s a loft above the downstairs living/dining room. And you can catch a glimpse of the gas fireplace. Oops, who left the toilet seat up? It’s small – one bedroom (plus the loft which has a bed) and one bath. Perfect for us.

We woke to clouds which soon turned to rain. Lots of rain.
We hunkered down for the day.

This is what we watched out the window: video here.

More expected tonight and tomorrow. So that was to be the end of today’s blog.

BUT WAIT . . . . .

We did drive in the rain into nearby Arcata for lunch at the Kebab Cafe, a little joint we found a couple of years ago. It does a brisk takeout business and has a few tables (maybe eight) for those who want to eat in. Great kebabs and gyros. Great hummus (best in the world according to hummus fan Elaine). Great home-baked pita. We shared hummus. Elaine had a massive gyro (gyro meat is a blend of ground lamb and ground beef seasoned and grilled on a vertical broiler, then thinly sliced and served inside a warm pita with cold cut onions, tomatoes, cucumbers & cabbage with Tzatziki). And I had a Lamb Kofta (ground lamb mixed with herbs and spices) dinner plate served with cold cut onions, tomatoes, cucumbers & cabbage topped with our signature house vinaigrette dressing with of rice and Tzatziki served with a grilled pita. And a Lagunitas IPA for me.

After lunch the rain stopped for a bit and we stopped at a Safeway for some supplies. Oddly, it is located next to the self-proclaimed world’s highest totem pole.

Then we headed home to sit out the rain. I took a nap. Then, magically, against all odds and against the forecast of the NWS’s best meteorologists, the sun came out. Cocktails on the deck after all!

Standing on the deck, the trees are on the ground 70-80 feet below us and rise 100 feet or so above us. It’s really quite spectacular. Here are two pictures looking straight up from the deck.

And we even got a sunset.

The forecast tomorrow is wind and rain. We’ll see. Today was a nice bonus when we expected nothing but a washout.

I said probably no post, but here we are. Sunday morning was cloudy and foggy (as predicted). By the time we had loaded up the car, it was raining. So we expected a long, wet ride to Trinidad. But it wasn’t. Thirty minutes south of Newport we had outrun the rain and it was mostly hazy and/or sunny the rest of the way. But the weather is following us, so the rain will reach Trinidad eventually.

The ride was uneventful and quite beautiful along the coast, through the mountains, and through the Redwoods. We could have stopped for lots of pictures, but we mostly trucked on. We stopped twice (plus once for lunch at McDonald’s). Here are some pictures. No picture of my Big Mac.

We arrived at Sea Cliff Cottage to beautiful sunshine and had cocktails outside. The forecast, however, is ominous. Rain starting early Monday morning through Wednesday evening. We will make the best of it. The first picture is the view from our deck high above the Pacific. All the pictures are from the deck, in fact.

Another beautiful day to end our last full day in Depoe Bay. No boats out as the sea was raging. The beautiful sunshine ended as we had our last cocktails on the balcony. It will be a cloudy/foggy/rainy ride to Trinidad, CA tomorrow (about seven hours right down the coast). And we may have rain through Wednesday. We’ll see.

We had breakfast at the Sea Glass Bistro. Good eats. Stopped at Safeway for something or other. Nice display of Halloween pumpkins outside.

Then we just headed home to relax. The new series we are watching on Amazon Prime is the Girlfriend.. Six episodes. We’ll be finished it before we go to bed tonight. Weird show but interesting.

Here are two videos of the raging Pacific taken two hours apart. What a change in the weather in that time. And excuse my finger in the picture. I’m not used to taking videos with my phone.

Sunny Pacific here.
Cloudy Pacific here.

I may or may not post for Sunday as we will be all day in the car. Not much to report. If not, see you Monday from Trinidad.

Overloaded you with pictures yesterday. Not so today. Another perfect weather day. We stayed home and thew camera pretty much stayed in the case. A few odd shots including some whale watching boats. The jet flying overhead was An Air Emirates flight from San Francisco to Dubai. (How do I know? – my FlightRadar24 app on my phone.)

And we did go out to dinner to Bay View Thai Kitchen.

And then we stopped in Gracie’s Sea Hag again. Had a nice chat with a local couple. And we got to see their Ray Charles wannabe entertainer.

What camera am I using? Usually it’s my trusty Sony RX100v7. Some days (including all of today’s pictures) it’s my Google Pixel Pro 7 phone.

The good weather is about to end. Rain expected Sunday night well into Tuesday. So our two almost perfect weeks are over. Saturday should still be nice but the drive to Trinidad, CA on Sunday might be wet.

Someone asked about the plan for the blog. We’ll continue on for our seven upcoming days in Trinidad. We’ll be home on October 7th. After that the blog will go dark until the next trip – that will be a Viking cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles through the Panama Canal at Christmas time. We’ll spend Christmas and New Year’s on a ship for the first time ever. And we’ll have port calls in South American (Colombia) and Central America (Costa Rica and El Salvador). It will be our first time ever in South & Central America.

Until tomorrow, . . .

More sun. More wind. Quite cooler today, but warm on the balcony at happy hour with the sun shining directly on us off the glistening Pacific (we face northwest). LOTS of pictures today.

A different morning walk to show you this morning. Our condo is at North Point. As you look off our balcony to the southwest you can see Center Point and South Point. My walk today was out to the end of center point. So, halfway into town and then right out to the point. I went later than usual to be sure the sun was up and bright. Chilly and windy out there, but pleasant.

So, 4207 miles from here to Yokohama, Japan. That’s not a real seal in the picture, of course. One picture shows a abandoned house surrounded by chain-link fence that has been that way since our first visit here 10-14 years ago. How long have we been coming here? OK, I looked it up. Our first extended stay in Depoe Bay at this very condo was in 2014. The closeups from the edge don’t look that high up, but trust me, it’s a long way down. No fences or warning signs. I don’t go as close to the edge as I used to. Find the shadow of my head in two pictures.

First, a panorama (click to enlarge):

Followed by lots of photos.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Looking back across the water you can see our building on the far left in the long distance shot below. In the telephoto close up we are almost dead center on the second floor just above the first floor condo with no white fence in front.

Lastly from the morning walk, a video of the ocean here. Whew, that was a long walk.

We spent the afternoon visiting another roadside viewpoint at Fishing Rock Park. This is on a side street off the 101 coast highway and there are no signs indicating it is there until you get there. I suspect lots of tourists never see this site, another of my favorites. It’s a short walk through the forest primeval to get to the rocks. And we found one BIG mushroom. That’s not me in the last pic. I am in one pic though.

Then it was lunch at the Side Door Cafe, a restaurant recommended by our waitress at Zurita’s. It’s off the beaten track and you have to know it’s there. Zinnias on the table. Rosé for Elaine. Belgian beer for me. We both had seafood chowder. Albacore tuna sandwich with potato salad for Elaine. Pan fried local Willapa oysters for me (best ever pan fried oysters!) with shrimp cole slaw. Yum yum.

Then it was home to rest and relax. Busy time on the balcony for happy hour and sunset. We had a kite flyer performing. Gorgeous sunset. And a sliver moon. You can see the kite (barely) in a couple of the sunset photos. The light on the water in the picture of the sliver moon is a fishing boat.

That’s all for today folks. Good night.

Yesterday at Cape Foulweather there wasn’t a breath of wind. Today was different! Sunny and clear, but wind. Also, yesterday we visited Yaquina Bay Historic Lighthouse and I mentioned my favorite lighthouse was at Yaquina Head. So today we visited the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. That’s really the name, and it’s managed by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management. The wind was fierce! Conservatively it was blowing at 35-40 mph – it was tough to stand still and take pictures. There are several areas of the site.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The Cobble Beach

It’s a long stairway down to the cobble beach, and it’s tough to walk on the cobblestones. We’ve been down before and enjoyed it from above this time. Great views from the platform.

The Lighthouse

Yaquina Head Light is my favorite lighthouse. The light still shines. (All automated these days, of course, and no need for a lighthouse keeper anymore.) It was actually open to enter for the first time ever, but you couldn’t go to the top. Not much to see inside. Great views outside though. (There are tours at certain times.) It’s also a bird conservatory area and you can see the birds on the rocks.

Quarry Cove

Quarry Cove looks like a great natural site, but it was actually created by a man made and managed quarry (for basalt rock), Seals and otters in the water just sticking their heads up occasionally. And harlequin ducks on the rocks (look closely). See me in there hatless (because of the wind). Shadow picture too. The last picture best shows Quarry Cove from above.

Then it was into Newport for lunch at Zurita’s (again). A touch of Spain in Oregon. We ate inside this time (again because of the wind). Beautiful setting.

And great food. And great sangria. And great desserts. We shared

warm roasted organic carrots with whipped goat cheese, garlic crumble, and aleppo honey
crispy squid with chili allioli and black garlic allioli
duck mousse paté with toast points, pistachios, marmalade, fig spread, and olives
lemon meringue torta
dark chocolate dome with raspberry custard torta

We visited a couple of shops in the Nye Beach area and bought a few souvenirs and potential Christmas gifts. Then it was home for naps, balcony sitting, cocktails, sunset viewing, cheese and crackers, and eventually bed.