Rained all Saturday night but Easter was sunny and bright for most of the day. Some showers, of course; it is Ireland after all.
Easter was basically jet lag recovery day for us. We didn’t do much except take a walk. Our car didn’t move. By the way, the car is named Seamus for no especially good reason. It’s a 2021 Toyota C-HR Hybrid – has a battery but uses regular unleaded gas. No charging required.
We had lunch sitting outside noshing on delicious fish (cod today) and chips from Sheehy’s lunch wagon. Had a beer at Curran’s Pub with the locals. It’s not a big tourist draw. There’s a couple of great videos on the web about Curran’s. One (from Rick Steves) is here:
I had a good nap in the afternoon and we had dinner at home: breaded chicken cutlets, scalloped potatoes, and mixed veggies. Then we were off early to bed.
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Three cancelled trips to Ireland over the past two years because of the pandemic. Now vaccinated, boostered, and re-boostered, we are back! Ireland is open. Masks optional. No entry requirements for vaccinations or tests. (We will still need a negative test to go back to the USA.)
The camera is just coming out of the bag, so no pictures today.
The trip was OK. Uneventful flight to Boston for a couple of nights to visit relatives went fine. We stayed at an AC Marriott in Medford of all places. The overnight Aer Lingus flight to Shannon went fine. I even managed to sleep a bit on the Business Class lie flat seat. We were through passport control in about two minutes and our bags were first onto the carousal.
Only Enterprise will rent you a car in Ireland without hassle if you are over 75, so we rented through them. Alas, they had not yet reopened their Shannon operation because of the pandemic induced reduction in flights into Shannon. So we had booked a car to take us into Limerick to the Enterprise office there. The flight arrived early at 5 AM and Enterprise in Limerick opens at 9 AM. We spent the time at the Absolut Hotel having a nice Irish fry-up breakfast.
We got our car at 9:15 AM and before noon we were in Dingle to see Gráinne, our delightful landlady, by noon. The house was still being cleaned. No problem. We stopped in to see Tom at the Dingle Pub and I had my first Guinness since 2019 – I don’t touch the stuff unless I am on hallowed Irish soil. Then it was lunch at John Benny’s Pub, one of our go-to lunch spots. We both had Mike’s Fish Pie. No clue who Mike is. Finally, we did some essentials shopping at Garvey’s SuperValu – wine, vodka, cheese, crackers, water, coke, tomorrow’s dinner, etc. And then we settled in at 23 Ard Na Mara for our four week stay. (Our final week in Ireland will be on the road.)
We unpacked, enjoyed cheese crackers and cocktails, and it was off to a much needed long night’s sleep. I just got up – it is Easter morning in Dingle. It rained heavily during the night but it is looking bright out so far today.
We drove to Las Cruces, NM to spend Thanksgiving with Elaine’s family. Sister Caroline & husband Gary hosted at their house. Also present were sister Cindy & husband Bill, sister Ann & husband Russ, and brother Greg & wife Mona.
On Wednesday we all visited White Sands National Park. Well, all but Bill and Cindy. Bill was suffering from too much chili the night before. Here’s a few pics.
We got a lovely morning. Lots of pictures. The sun was just rising. I was mesmerized watching the waves, so lots of wave pics.
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Another walk to the Point
After the walk, it was off to Newport for lunch preceded by a stop at the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, jointly run by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. You didn’t think you were going to avoid looking at pictures of Yaquina Head Lighthouse, did you? Also pictures of Cobble Beach and the seals playing at Quarry Cove. This is a fun area to visit.
The Lighthouse
Cobble Beach (from Above)
Around the Lighthouse (Including Eagles)
Quarry Cove and the Seals
Then it was on to a repeat lunch at Pacific Kitchen at Nye Beach. We had the same meal as last time.
After lunch we stopped in Depoe Bay so Elaine could shop at her favorite sock store while I had a double deck Tillamook ice cream cone. It was high tide, and the sun was bright. The waves were crashing into the sea wall, creating a rainbow effect. I snapped a few pictures with my phone.
Finally it was home for a quiet afternoon. Tomorrow will be packing day. There may or may not be a post. I’ll probably post from somewhere the three-night (Klamath Falls, Reno, Las Vegas) ride home, but I don’t think we will stop at any photo worthy sites. But you never know. I’ll make a final post when we get home.
After I posted Saturday afternoon, we got another hail storm. So there were no outside cocktails.
Sunday, 11/7
We turned the clocks back last night. We haven’t done that since we moved to Arizona in 2001. During the night I woke up a few times. Twice I saw multiple stars in the sky. The other time it was pelting rain. It was raining we got up, but by 8 AM it had stopped. In fact, the sun came out. We did our walks. I took some different pics around Depoe Bay using my Moto G camera phone rather than my Canon G7X.
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We had lunch in Newport at the Gyro Guys. No seafood today. I had a lamb schwarma (sliced, seasoned lamb meat served on a lightly crispy, toasted tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayo & garlic sauce). Elaine had a falafel sandwich (falafel served on warm pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, & garlic sauce). Best falafel ever, she says. We also tried their baklava.
jn Then it was home to watch the final day of King Tides. As we watched, we got driving rain and some more hail. Mother Nature is working overtime. But as darkness approached the skies began to clear, and we got a great sunset off in the distance over the mighty Pacific. You can see hail on the balcony in the first couple of pictures.
Until tomorrow! Monday and Tuesday still to come in Depoe Bay before we begin the three night journey back to sunny Scottsdale.
This is the 400th post on this blog. That doesn’t count however many we had on the old blog.
Thursday, 11/4
Another quiet rainy day. No pictures. Nothing to report. We got takeout for dinner from Tidal Raves. Seahawk bread to start, of course. Elaine had Red Curry BBQ Shrimp (shrimp with a spicy glaze, coconut risotto cake, and Asian vegetables). I had pan fried Pacific Oysters with fries and house made slaw. Yummy.
Friday, 11/5
Over the years we have been blessed with terrific weather on our vacations from Depoe Bay to Dingle to Europe to Australia to New Zealand to Kenya to the Seychelle Islands to trans-Atlantic cruises to drives all across America and Canada. This trip has been the exception – lots of wind and rain. Still, we had some excellent days and one must make do with the hand one gets dealt. So anyway, today we had a bright sunny day!! We stayed home and enjoyed it from the balcony.
Today, tomorrow, and Sunday are days of the King Tides. King tides occur when the moon is closest to earth. Read about them here. The tides were impressive, but not much different than what we have been seeing during the storms we have been experiencing on a regular basis.
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Saturday, 11/6
Pelting, pouring rain during the night. No walks. Still raining. And cold – 43 degrees. We decided to head to the Surfrider for breakfast. Forecast called for more rain. The Surfrider is a three-minute ride away. When we got there, we had to sit in the car for five minutes until the hail stopped. Hail! Yet, as we ate breakfast, the skies in the distance cleared a bit.
After breakfast we drove to Lincoln City Outlet Mall to visit the Columbia store and a local artist store. Usually empty, the mall was packed. Early Christmas shoppers, I suspect. Elaine bought a couple of things. Then we stopped at Mo’s at Taft Beach. Mo’s is a popular Oregon restaurant chain famous for their chowder. We got a family size clam chowder to go and took it home and had it for lunch.
At home again, we saw the eagles again. Odd year. Only a few whales sighted from the condo. Quite a few seals and/or sea lions. Two eagles. One blue heron. Oh, and one day driving home on the 101 in Lincoln City we passed an antlered deer calmly walking down the sidewalk. Today I got a blurry pick of one of the eagles.
Then we watched the king tides as the sun shined (for awhile). I snapped a lot more pictures. Overall, not a bad day.
It’s 4 pm now. Cocktail hour shortly. It may be inside or outside, deciding on what the weather decides to do. I can see rain and sun depending n which way I look. See you Monday.
Cloudy but dry morning. Rain started around cocktail hour, so drinks were indoors. Not much to report today.
We got our walks in under cloudy skies. We decided to have lunch at our favorite lunch spot, Local Oceans. Alas, we discovered that Local Oceans is closed for the week for staff vacations. Nice concept. So, we went to a new restaurant with good reviews: Pacific Kitchen at Nye Beach. It’s a winner! It will be added to our select list along with Local Oceans and Tidal Raves.
We split calamari for an appetizer; I added two oyster shooters to mine. For the main Elaine had Seafood Louie (Northwest Dungeness crab and local Newport Bay shrimp tossed in thousand island dressing on a bed of chopped romaine, cucumber, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, and red onion). I had Fisherman’s Stew (Clams, NW fish, prawns, calamari and fresh herbs simmered in a zesty tomato broth, served with garlic toast). The broth alone would have been fantastic.
Crackers and Blue Heron brie for dinner. Season three of The Sinners underway. Heavy rain and 60 mph winds forecast for tonight.
Rainy morning. No walks. Went into Newport to fill the wine cellar. Mission accomplished. While in Newport, we tried a new restaurant for lunch – Georgie’s Beachside Grill at Nye Beach. It was good but not memorable. We both had clam chowder. Elaine had coconut shrimp (four shrimp in coconut breading with pineapple salsa and sweet-chili slaw. Served with potato salad). I had seafood sauté (prawns, scallops, white fish, calamari, clams, and wild salmon sautéed in garlic, white wine, and butter. Served with fresh vegetables and Parmesan garlic bread). The waiter was a fun guy.
A hazy sun with some fog came out in the afternoon and we were able to spend time on the balcony (including cocktail hour). Yesterday (Sunday) the seas was uncommonly like glass. It looked more like a lake than the Pacific Ocean. Today the waves were back in style. Here’s some pictures and a video.
Tuesday, 11/2
Rain again, no surprise. We decided to have breakfast with a view, so after our walks during a lull in the rain, we headed down the road to the Surfrider Resort for breakfast.
While I was on my walk, Elaine saw a beautiful blue heron on the rocks in front of the condo. Taking this as a sign from God, we decided to drive to Tillamook and go to the Blue Heron Cheese Company. They have upgraded their site to now be a lunch and dinner destination. They still sell their signature homemade brie, so we purchased some cracked black pepper brie and some herb brie. We had Tillamook ice cream cones and bought some decadent chocolates for tonight’s deserts. We didn’t even bother driving the additional mile or so to visit the Tillamook Cheese headquarters – been there, done that. Blue Heron still has their barnyard, but lots of the animals have been sheltered away for the winter. We did see some chickens, geese, and a big fat pig.
On the way home we stopped in Lincoln City at the Lincoln City Glass Center. It’s an artist’s cooperative where you can buy glass art and, if you want, create your own. Elaine bought a couple of items for home and for gifts.
Once again it cleared up some during the afternoon and we were able to sit outside, bundled up, for cocktails. We had leftover chicken and broccoli with parmesan for dinner, watched the end of season 2 of The Sinners, and headed for bed.
Some picture from a previous day getting ready for and relaxing on the balcony:
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Happy Halloween. It was a beautiful day until the clouds rolled in late afternoon. Cool on the balcony for cocktails. The ladies of Depoe Bay were supposedly out dressed as witches and collecting for charity. We didn’t see any witches.
It was a quiet day. We drove north into Lincoln City and visited some areas we haven’t been to before. Lincoln City has an Indian casino, the Chinook Winds, right on the water. We had never even driven by it, so we did. We expected something relatively small. Rather, it’s pretty big. We stopped briefly at another beach which was a long way down several flights of stairs. We didn’t go all the way down.
For years we have been driving by Kyllo’s Restaurant at “D” River beachfront. It’s right where we normally go the kite festival (which was cancelled, a victim of the pandemic). We decided to go in for lunch. It was excellent. We both had clam chowder followed by delicious halibut and chips. I had two glasses of Fort George brewery pale ale. Creamy and good. Elaine had pinot noir.
Then we enjoyed the rest of the day at home. No sunset. And the rain is coming back. The forecast through next weekend says “rain”. Oh well, we’ll see. On Monday our primary goal will be refilling the wine cellar and enjoying lunch somewhere. Monday will also be a “blog day off”.
EDIT: I forgot to mention below, the whales are back again. Saw a bunch yesterday.
Saturday, 10/39
We woke to a clear morning. It was a busy Saturday. Few words, lots of pictures.
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A Walk About Depoe Bay
Then we went to the Farmer’s Market in Newport. Got lots of fresh vegetables. Made a brief stop at Nye Beach in Newport
Nye Beach
On the way back to Depoe Bay we stopped at some of our favorite overlooks.
Otter Creek Bridge Overlook
Cape Foulweather Overlook
Devil’s Punchbowl Overlook
Beverly Beach Overlook
Lunch was at home. Some young Indian couples were enjoying the rocks in front and taking pictures. I snapped a few from the balcony.
Then we were off to two more favorite spots, me in my official Mac Jones Patriot game jersey.
Fisherman’s Rock State Park
Fogarty Creek State Park
The creek was more like a river this time from all the recent rain.
Then it was home for a nap and relaxing on the balcony. Cocktails as usual. Another great sunset. I didn’t take more pictures. Just refer to yesterday. Dinner was homemade pizza.
