Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Good Food, Good Views, Good Weather, Good Golf

Believe it or not - today marks ELEVEN (11) weeks on the road!! When we left Park City on March 8th, it seemed like we had soooo much time to travel ahead of us and that thinking has remained with us. Until today - and the realization that there is a little less than three weeks left in this adventure;-(


Monday (May 23), we said a fond farewell to Florence with the promise to return. Another tough travel day was on the agenda - about 65 more miles up the coast to a State Park just south of Lincoln City. The Seal Rock Bakery & Espresso Drive-thru presented itself early in the drive and we couldn’t resist! Neither should you if you are ever in the area. They have the BEST home-baked breakfast goodies;-) (We did the walk-up ‘thing’ in order to save them the drive-thru with Magic).



Man, did they have good pastry!


We never made it to Lincoln City!! Found a great place (Pacific Shores Motorcoach Resort, a sister resort to where we stay in Las Vegas) just north of Newport, OR - and couldn’t resist the views.


Hmmm, so what do you think of our view?




Pretty good?




Damn good!!


Perhaps one of the most notable ‘must dos’ in Newport is the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which is ranked in the top ten in the nation. I am just NOT an ocean/sea person - much prefer bears. It was interesting, however, to walk through the “Passages of the Deep” exhibit where one walks through a suspended underwater acrylic tunnel to see sharks, bat rays, and other deep-sea fish swimming. All this visit did was confirm why I don’t eat anything that comes from the ocean!!



The Newport Aquarium was nicely done.

A visit to the historic Nye Beach district seemed as though we were in Manhattan Beach , CA - with far fewer people. In the 1890’s the “summer people” began coming to Nye Beach by train (here is the railroad in development again!). Today, Nye Beach attracts tourists to shops, restaurants, lodging, and - in our case - also in search of the dry cleaner!



Nye Beach.

Tuesday was yet another day with absolutely beautiful weather!! So - we were off to the golf course. Played a beautiful course at the Salishan Lodge just south of Lincoln City - front 9 inland and the back 9 on the water. Again, we had the course all to ourselves. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer round of golf!



Wish my golf game was a pretty as the flowers.




Salishan Golf Course was nicely laid out with some good views along the way.

Heading ‘home’ back down the coast several stops were in order. Just south of Depoe Bay we jumped onto the ‘old road’ - the Otter Crest Loop - which hugs the beaches and sandstone bluffs. It does ascend to the 453-foot headland of Cape Foulweather - named by Capt. James Cook, the English explorer, who discovered the Cape in 1778. The weather was particularly stormy on the day of his discovery - thus the name. If he had been there on a day like our visit the name would have been “Cape Clear as a Bell”;-) (Gary’s contribution to the blog write-up!)


We had great weather at Cape Foulweather.


The view from Cape Foulweather. See the Lighthouse in the distance?


Ahoy, Matey!

Our next two stops could be spotted from the lookout at Cape Foulweather - Devil’s Punchbowl and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.


The Devil’s Punchbowl - which looks like a punchbowl carved out of the lava rock - gives a ringside seat to a frothy confrontation between rock and tide -


The Devil's Punchbowl.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse sits atop (and at the tip of) a narrow, coastal headland that extends one mile into the Pacific Ocean. For 4,000 years, Yaquina Head has provided coastal inhabitants with a pathway into the open sea. Native Americans used this pathway as a place to hunt marine mammals. Explorers, marine traders, and pirates used the headland as a navigational marker for more than 300 years before the U.S. Lighthouse Service built the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in 1873. At 93 feet tall, this is Oregon’s tallest lighthouse and continues to cast its light with the original lens in place!!



Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, OR.


These gulls seemed to be having a little airborne spat.



Well, it had to happen. After such a spectacular day yesterday the rain finally moved in and it is pouring! It is a good thing we have days like this every now and again or this blog would never get any postings.


Maybe now that this is done, we will take a little car trip over to Corvallis to check out the University and get our afternoon snack;-)


Sun’s out - gotta go - E & G

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