We left Salem the day after Amanda’s parents got back home and headed back to Depoe Bay. It was a nice mid-morning mid-week trip, so not much traffic at all. We stopped at the casino in Grand Ronde, which is about the halfway point, but we only went to the gas station, not the casino. It seems like a nice place, the Spirit Mountain Casino, but we just aren’t that interested in what they have to offer. We pass another casino, the Chinook Winds, when we get to Lincoln City, but only went there once a few years ago to eat a delicious buffet lunch. Besides seafood and prime rib, they also have delicious fry bread, made while you wait.
Anyway, we did stop at the same fruit stand I’ve been
visiting every time we drive the Salem to Depoe Bay route, and I got corn and
strawberries and blueberries. I don’t know where the corn comes from, but it is
very good! We were back in Lincoln City before we knew it, and then it’s just a
long drive through that long town and a short drive beyond it to Depoe Bay.
That afternoon, since Cy and Amanda both had the day off, we went to the beach. Oregon beaches are windy, generally chilly, and usually the water is fairly choppy, but it was a sunny day so we didn't quite freeze. Instead, we flew kites, Cy practiced chipping golf balls out of the sand, and Chloe the dog ran around chasing sticks and yelling at us when we didn’t throw them again quickly enough.
left corner.) The sand is warm, so if
you are laying down, it is warmer.
The morning after we got back, Amanda and I met her friend Christine at the Otter Crest beach, because there was a particularly low tide, which left hundreds of tidal pools to explore. I saw sea stars, sea anemones, small fish and tiny crabs, and even some coral.
The purplish things in the photo at left are sea stars; at right the two
round orange-rimmed objects to the right of the kelp are sea anemones
There were lots of people there, and many of them headed
south to another nearby feature of the Oregon coast, the Devil’s Punchbowl.
When the tide is high, it is filled with swirling ocean water, but with this
low tide (it was 2½ feet below normal low tide), the water was out and you
could walk into the Punchbowl. The only problem was there were a lot of rocks
to climb, clamber over, and jump between to get there. I got to the opening
that went into the Punchbowl, but the rocks were slippery and I’m not so sure-footed
anymore, so I took pictures from there, but Amanda and Christine went into the
Devil’s Punchbowl, and they said it was very cool.
Tidal pools at Otter Crest beach, and a view out
through the inside of the Devil’s Punchbowl
In the evening, we had another fun activity; Amanda was the
featured artist at a “Meet the Artist” event at a cocktail bar in Lincoln City.
She was interviewed by a friend of hers who sets up these evenings—the closest
I can describe it is something like a live podcast. Amanda brought a number of
her sculptural ceramic pieces and answered questions from the interviewer and
the audience for about an hour. They were sitting on a stage with the setting
sun behind them, so I couldn’t get a photo of them, but I did get one of the
ceramics.
Amanda’s ceramic pieces on display at Kindred (by Zest).
Most of her artwork is functional, including their address plaque.
And there was an amazing charcuterie spread that the
interviewer had brought; she is trying to start a business catering such
boards. She does such a lovely job, and there was so much of it—she encouraged
us to bring home a box of leftovers and it made a great grazing lunch while we
watched the US men’s soccer team take on (and beat) the Australian Socceroos the next day.
Cy had the day of the soccer match off from the harbor,
where he has started working full-time as the harbormaster now that school is
out. It was Juneteenth, which the crusty old fishermen took with varying
degrees of acceptance, but that didn’t matter, because Cy could come home to
watch the match, and it was a good one.
He does work weekends, and so does Amanda, so we find ways
to amuse ourselves. For example, we found there was a ship chandler’s store, or
more colloquially a marine supply shop, in Newport, so Mike and I went there
looking for some stuff to keep the fiberglass of the Scamp all nice and shiny.
We found Englund’s Marine Supplies in Newport, down on the bay, and they had friendly and helpful folks who showed Mike what he needed to save the top of the camper from oxidizing. Across the parking lot, the Yaquina Yacht Club was offering free sailboat rides for the Sailstice, as they called it, but it looked like they were booked up. I did see a lovely big sailboat out on Yaquina Bay, perhaps the one giving rides on a nice sunny day.
A photo from the Yaquina Bay
Yacht Club Sailstice flyer
We also went to the Fish Peddler, where I got some scallops. We learned from the guys at Englund that scallops are not populous (or much of a cash fishery) on the west coast. They told us occasionally a shellfisherman will happen upon a bed of scallops, but anything we found to buy would almost certainly be from the east coast. So, I learned a little about local seafood, but I also bought some scallops that were flown in, to make Coquilles St. Jacques. Which, by the way, was delicious.
After we got back, Chloe the dog and I walked down to the harbor to visit Cyrus at the harbormaster’s office. Chloe was ecstatic to see him, since it had been 4 or 5 hours since she saw him last, and of course I was glad to see him, too, but I do have a better sense of time than Chloe does. I enjoyed having a chance to see his office and the toolroom, which he told me needs some organizing (he’s not wrong). Then Cy suggested that Chloe and I go back to the house by way of the path he’d blazed from a little city park up to his backyard. Off we went, with Chloe leading the way, because she knew the path.
Unfortunately, all she wanted to do was go back to where Cy was, so she led me astray, I slid on a mucky rotten log, and fell hard. I considered sending Chloe back to get help, but I managed to get up and give her a stern talking to about her navigational skills. I picked the path we took after that, which only led to the bottom of the street where the stairs down the the harbor begin. At least I knew where we were, and we got home a few minutes later, me much the worse for wear, with a sore rear end and muddy pants and sweater. That was the worst of it, though. I’m just not trusting Chloe’s sense of direction any more.
Chloe is a good dog, but I’m not going to let
her lead the wagon train any more . . .
Awesome pictures
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