Oregon: The Coast

R. and I drove the short distance west from Portland to Astoria, where we checked into the Crest Motel. It was very basic on the outside, and I wasn't very pleased that our deck door did not lock, but the inside was quite nice, and as promised, they had an outdoor hot tub in a gazebo. This came in very handy that night.

From the Crest, we drove down to Fort Clatsop, which was where the Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805-1806. There was one particularly knowledgeable ranger who dispelled our confusion about the construction of the rooms in the replica fort; the expedition would have built them a different way, with the fireplaces in the middle so they would let less heat escape, but the replica was built for tourists so they put the fireplaces along the walls. This same ranger later gave a rifle firing demonstration that was absolutely fascinating. I don't know anything about guns, but I love hearing someone tell me all about how complex instruments work. They had all kinds of live demonstrations at the fort, and they were all terribly interesting. I had to pry R. away from a weaving demonstration because it was 6:00 and I wanted to leave and get dinner.

We drove up to Washington's Long Beach Peninsula, which separates Willapa Bay from the Pacific Ocean, so that we could try the famous Willapa Bay oysters. To me they tasted like oysters anywhere. I ate two, and then I had fried razor clam for dinner, which was tough and rubbery. Well, with dinner you win some and you lose some. Those are the breaks.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I was chilled and could not get warm, but the hot tub turned out to be well heated, and I eventually felt warm and comfortable again. We slept late, and in the morning our first stop was Josephson's Smokehouse. The salmon jerky was actually quite fantastic, and they also sold cans of high quality salmon, tuna, and oysters. After stocking up at Josephson's, we drove to the Astoria Column at the highest point in Astoria, which commanded a sweeping view of Young's Bay and the Columbia River. Unfortunately, the column turned out to be closed for repair, so we couldn't climb up to the top like we wanted to. Instead we went to the Columbia River Museum, which R. wanted to see. I did enjoy it very much. We heard the stories of many shipwrecks, and we were particularly impressed by a life-sized display showing a river rescue with the boat nearly at 90 degrees across a wave. The particular boat was a self-righting vessel that proved nearly indestructible but was finally retired and set up in the museum.

We ate lunch at Baked Alaska, a restaurant on a pier over the river. I ordered sea scallops over fettuccini, and this time my order was a winner. I found out later that the area has particularly tasty scallops, which mine certainly were. I love scallops that just melt in my mouth.

Finally, after lunch, we started driving down the coast. We stopped in Seaside to see a replica of the equipment that the Corps of Discovery used to get salt from the sea water, and I was pleased to get to see that. We made a lot of stops to check out sea stacks and other viewpoints. At one point we took a random trail down through berry bushes taller than our heads, eventually emerging at spectacular sea cliffs with birds soaring around. It was splendid, and it was all ours.

We took the Three Capes Scenic Loop and got out to walk around at every cape, so it was already starting to get dark when we stopped in Pacific City on Cape Kiwanda for a tasty dinner at the Pelican Pub and microbrewery. McPelican's Scottish Ale was the best beer we tried; for some reason I was not a fan of their award-winning stout. The view held a particularly engaging sea stack, pictured with this post.

It was quite dark by the time we finally arrived at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, which I selected. Each room has a theme of a famous writer. We slept in the E. B. White room because it was the only one with separate beds, but there are many other rooms. The Oscar Wilde room features garish Victorian wallpaper because they say Wilde's last words were, "Either this wallpaper goes, or I go." Besides the themed rooms, they have an upstairs library area with coffee and tea, and mulled wine after 10:00, and they serve a great breakfast including a hot dish that varies daily.

The tides were unusually low in the mornings, and the people at the Sylvia Beach Hotel kindly alerted us to this fact, so we went down to the beach and checked out some tide pools before breakfast. Breakfast was German pancakes, and we dined with two English/ESL teachers and a museum curator. Before leaving town, we spent the morning at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was a nice facility, though somehow I was expecting it to be bigger. Still, I always love to watch sea lions, and I think my favorite part was the sea birds. The puffins splashed around and showed off.

After a stop for pizza, we hiked up Cape Perpetua, another of my ideas foiled by Mother Nature. I did not really realize how high we were going. We rose above the fog, so basically we completed a tedious 800-foot climb in high humidity in order to see ... NOTHING. That took a while, and after the hike we did not make many more stops. We turned off the coast at Florence and drove west, stopping only for dinner and gas.

Dinner was at a promising-looking restaurant called Our Daily Bread in Veneta, Oregon. Unfortunately, I happened to be in the mood for a hamburger because the restaurant offered free range beef. They did not ask me how I wanted it, which was a bad sign; and while R. dined on a pasta dish that he wholly enjoyed, I got a dry, overcooked piece of something that used to be beef but was no longer entirely identifiable. They were busy and never stopped by the table again after bringing us our food, so eventually we gave up on dessert, went to the cash register to pay, and left. I bought us a couple cookies at a gas station later that evening as we drove late into the night to Klamath Falls.