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Oregon Coast

Because of Covid I didn't do any travel in 2020. That was tough for me. This summer though things were finally looking up. Sandy and I were both vaccinated. Cases were down. Restrictions were being eased and businesses were opening up. My first trip was to go back to the midwest in July for the wedding reenactment for Shannon and Jimmy. After returning from that I started to look at other travel possibilities.

Unfortunately smoke was a problem. Forest fire season started at the beginning of July - the earliest I had ever seen. Pretty much all of the western US was affected. So where could we go? The coast seemed like the best bet. Since the prevaling winds are from the northwest, anything east of the Sierras or Cascades would be smoky. But checking the smoke maps on the web, the Oregon and Washington coasts looked to be clear most of the time. It was tough to find a time slot since Sandy had a busy schedule in August, with lots of quilting classes and a weeklong trip back to the Midwest to help her parents get ready to move.

There was a window of a few days though. I texted a friend who had done dog sitting for us in the past. Even though it was short notice we were lucky and it turned out that she was available. I spent all night looking at places to go on the coast and what the possibilities were for lodging. The only reason there was any chance on short notice is that we were going midweek. I came up with a couple of options for Sandy. She found one that she liked - the Lincoln Sands Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon. I was able to book a room and we were ready to go.

We left early on a Tuesday morning and drove US 20 across the middle of Oregon. It was a sunny day, although smoky as usual. Then west of Vale we saw what looked like a dense fog bank. It was heavy smoke. For about an hour it was like driving in a cloud. Sadly it wasn't even from a nearby fire. The fires were around Klamath Falls and even further away in Califonia, so it was a huge area that was affected. I couldn't imagine living in that for a month or more. It didn't clear up until we were almost to Burns, when it went back to "normal" - just smoky haze. After going through Bend and then crossing the coast range, we finally came completely out of the smoke. When we reached the coast there wasn't a cloud anywhere and the sky was a bright blue again. It didn't have that grayish, washed out color that we had every day in Boise for the past six weeks.

Our room was nice and was quite large. The best thing was that it had a small patio that looked out over the beach and the ocean. The only weird thing was that the shower stall was right in the middle of the room and was entirely clear glass. Something to watch instead of tv, I guess.

As soon as we got our stuff in from the car, we headed out for a walk on the beach. It was white sand, from fifty to a hundred yards wide depending on the tide, and it stretched for about two miles. After about a half hour of walking, we headed for Kyllo's, a seafood restaurant just a few hundred feet down the beach from our hotel. Since we had started early that morning we were really hungry even though it was still early for dinner. But as soon as we got there, we could see a big crowd outside. I checked just to be sure and the hostess predicted an hour and a half wait. I guess being able to walk to a nice seafood restaurant right by our hotel was too good to be true. We had to get in our car and drive somewhere.

We ended up at Pub Fish and Chips. It certainly didn't look fancy. Their seating area was quite small but we were lucky and got a spot. Even though there weren't many tables they were very busy. There was a long line of people getting take out so our orders took a while. It turned out to be worth the wait. The fish and chips was excellent, as good as what we had on the wharf in Juneau on our trip there in 2018. After dinner we went to the grocery store that was right next door to get snacks and a bottle of wine. We made a final stop at Read's Homemade Candies. Sandy couldn't decide between fudge and truffles so she got both while I grabbed a bag of carmel corn. Then well stocked with goodies, it was back to the hotel to watch some baseball. The Brewers played a double header against the Cubs that day and we were back in time to watch the nightcap. The Brewers won the second game to complete the sweep, so it was a good day. After the game Sandy went to bed but since I'm a night owl, I stayed up late and watched the replay of the first game. I can't get enough of the Brewers beating the Cubs.

The next morning was another sunny day, although there was a light haze along the water. We started with an hour-long walk on the beach. Afterwards we went to the lobby where they had a very minimal breakfast. Basically we each grabbed a packaged muffin and ate it while we walked to the car. It was better than nothing, but not much.

Our plan for the day was to explore north along the coast. An hour of driving up Highway 101 took us to the town of Tillamook. The eponymous company located there makes really good ice cream and cheese. Their website indicated that besides tours of their factory, they had a large gift shop which featured their products, lots of specialty foods and kitchen-type accessories, and even a restaurant. Sandy wanted to check it out. When we got there it turned out that a lot of other people wanted to check it out too. There was a massive parking lot with what looked like hundreds of cars and rows of tour buses. There was a long line to get in that stretched out of sight. Apparently it is quite the tourist attraction. Sandy said she didn't want to go that badly, so we moved on. Time for plan B.

Next up was the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. Like Tillamook, they claimed to have an extensive gift shop with lots of specialty cheeses and deli products. And like Tillamook, they had the same huge crowd. We didn't even bother turning into the parking lot. Swing and a miss - strike two.

Since shopping wasn't working we decided to try sightseeing. We drove west to the coast. At the town of Oceanside we stopped at Symons State Scenic viewpoint. There was a great view of Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, which consists of several sea stacks a short distance off shore that are home to a lot of wildlife.

Next we continued to Cape Mears Lighthouse. From the parking area we walked the short trail that led to the tip of the peninsula. The lighthouse was there but it was closed because of Covid restrictions so we couldn't go inside. Because of the trees and the steep cliffs dropping down to the ocean, it wasn't possible to get any kind of distant view of the lighthouse. Bottom line, not the most impressive lighthouse we have been to. But the views up and down the coast from the trail were absolutely spectacular. The whole trip was worth it just for those views.

We also took a short trail to see the Octopus Tree. It's a sitka spruce with a bizarre structure. Over a hundred feet tall, it has multiple trunks which extend out from a central point before turning upward. It's not known if the strange shape is due to unusual natural forces or whether it was somehow created by native americans who lived in the area.

Afterwards we headed back to Lincoln City and got there by mid-afternoon. By then our minimalist breakfast had worn off long ago and we were way overdue for lunch. We stopped for what we call "linner" - a combination of a late lunch and an early dinner. As Sandy and I have gotten older we tend to eat less. Linner lets us have one meal in place of two. It has the added benefit that most restaurants are not very busy in the middle of the afternoon, and sure enough we didn't have any trouble getting a table at the Blackfish Cafe. Although the web reviews were really good we thought the food was just ok. Maybe it was a bit too yuppy for us. I thought that the blue collar fish and chips the evening before had been a lot better.

After eating we headed back to the hotel, but not before another quick stop at Read's Homemade Candies. Sandy got more truffles and I wanted to get more of their carmel corn. I thought it was exceptionally good. At least that's how I explained why I had eaten the whole bag the night before while I was watching baseball. When we did get to the hotel we took another long walk on the beach. It was a bright and sunny day and we wanted to take advantage of staying at a hotel right on the water. Afterwards we settled in on our patio with a good bottle of wine. We had splurged and bought a bottle of Grgich Hills Sauvignon Blanc. Then we watched the Brewer game. That was a lot of fun - the Brewers won 10-0 and the carmel corn tasted good while we watched the game. We did take a break during all the run scoring to watch a beautiful sunset from our patio.

The next day was another good morning, although there were some high clouds and more haze along the coast. Since the previous day we had explored to the north, this time we went south. Our first stop was at Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint. It lived up to its name. Windy, with large waves breaking on the ocean. From there we passed through the small tourist town of Depoe Bay. Sandy and I had stayed there at the Channel House on our first ever trip to the Oregon Coast. I still remember that our room had a hot tub on the patio that looked out over the ocean.

We drove as far south as Newport. We stopped at Yaquina Bay Lighthouse but it wasn't open either. Even the path leading to it was closed off. Then we went to the Newport Historic Bayfront and found a place to park. It's a touristy district and we walked along, checking out all the shops. None of them were very interesting though, and in my travels I have become quite an expert on tourist shops. When you can't even sell me a tshirt, that says something. So after walking up and down the main street we decided to head back.

By now it was early afternoon and time for our late lunch. After having fish two days in a row pizza sounded good. We couldn't resist stopping at Abby's Legendary Pizza in Newport. Since Abby is a Pizza Dog I know she would approve of lending her name to a pizza place. Or she could certainly be convinced if she got some pizza.

After that it was back to the hotel. We had another walk along the beach. Then there was wine and snacks and another Brewers game. They won again, beating the Cubs 17-4. Definitely a good series!

We talked about what to do the next day, our last one before heading home. Sandy suggested that maybe we should go home a day early. We had already explored both directions along the coast. Even though it was mid-week every place was crowded, and it was getting more crowded each day as the weekend got closer. Friday night figured to be bad if we stayed our last day. Apparently lots of people had figured out as we did that the coast was the place to go to escape the smoke from all the forest fires in the mountains. Sandy checked with the hotel and they were ok with us leaving early and not charging us. They probably figured that they would have no trouble renting out the room on a Friday night given all the people coming into town.

We spent the next day driving back to Boise. It was uneventful, although we were again impressed (not favorably) by all the smoke. It was moderately heavy all the way from the western suburbs of Portland to Ontario, on the eastern border of Oregon. We were home by dinner time. Abby (not of Legendary Pizza fame) was excited to see us again.

Although we cut it a little bit short, it was a nice break from our routine at home. It was good to take a trip again after having been cooped up for so long because of Covid. And we had chosen well to go to the coast where we could get away from the smoke from the forest fires that we had been enduring most of the summer. We are hoping that it will be the first of many trips that we can take again. Unfortunately the delta variant has just started to cause increases in cases and it looks like we might be heading back to restrictions again. Only time will tell.