Good Afternoon Ladies &
Gentlemen,
Now we begin Part Two of our journey… the Oregon
Coast.
Monday
Continuing after lunch at Gallucci’s, our next stop was
in Newport. See, I know that was where the Oregon Aquarium was… and a giant
beautiful bridge… but I had no idea that Rogue Nation World Headquarters was
there… and in the shade of the bridge so… we made a quick stop to grab about a
dozen bottles of fine brewed beverages, get some pictures… and then be
on. We toured it a few days later... but I'm gonna share the pictures with ya now.
Our next stop was the Sea Lion Caves about an hour south
on the coast, which are the World’s Largest Sea Caves!!! Usually these caverns
are filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of sea lions… but this time, there
were apparently only three. However, it was still an amazing sight to
behold!
After the caves, we met up with Chick’n’Wing & her
family (no Wingman as they’re unfortunately going through a divorce) at the
Discovery Point Resort in Winchester Bay to start our week of riding the sand
dunes, crabbing for dinner, catching up on good times & relaxing on the
coast.
Tuesday
The city of Winchester Bay is a cute little tourist trap
of a town… and you can tell who are locals & who ain’t… but for the most
part, not a bad place at all. First off, the cabin that we were staying in… had
almost exactly the same fixtures & set up as the house that I grew up in. No
joke. Couple that up with riding high speed sand rails on the Oregon Dunes… with
the ocean breeze… cool, crisp temperatures but not raining… crabbing for dinner…
and hot ladyfriend to bang in the evenings… basically this was 13-year old
$teve’s fantasy come to LIFE!!!
We
started off the day by renting some crab traps & heading out to the docks to
see what we could find… and honestly, it wasn’t much… but it was still fun. For
lunch, we met up at a place called Griff’s that had some fantastic seafood… but
you might expect that when it’s right there on the dock. The rest of the day was
spent crabbing & relaxing… and then C&H drove in from Portland to spend
the day with us… so we were up until after midnight having a few drinks &
telling stories & just general merriment.
Wednesday
We
all started out with some crabbing so here are a few pictures of
that…
Unfortunately the big ones that we could keep weren’t
around… and I think that harbor seal was picking off everybody’s bait anyway… so
eventually we caved in & decided to head to a few of the canneries &
boat shops where they had some amazing prices on crabs ($9 per pound), prawns
(large, meaty & $12 a pound), salmon ($7 per pound) & raw sea oysters
(GIANT and $8 for a dozen) for what was honestly… the greatest Seafood Lunch I
have ever had. Hands down! So much goodness, such delicious & fresh food, I
dare say that even a Michelin-star restaurant couldn’t have made a better meal…
and best of all, we were spending it with loved ones. Here are some
pictures…
That night, C&H drove back to Portland… but we’ve
pretty much decided that we’re going to have to come back to this place soon.
Good times!
Thursday
We
drove back to the city of Newport to check out the Oregon Aquarium. Rumor had it
that it was pretty good… but then again, we have a decent one here in San
Francisco… and an incredible one in Monterey (as seen in Star Trek IV) so it had
some stiff competition. That being said… this aquarium was pretty awesome as
well. I highly recommend it… here are some
pictures…
After the aquarium, we had lunch at Rogue Nation
Headquarters… then Chick’n’Wing & her family went in their car, while Dizzy
& I took the brewery & distillery tour. Fun fact: We’re basically going
to become microbrewers now. I’ll keep you posted on our delicious creations.
That night, we attempted to watch “World’s Fastest
Indian” in the RV but we were all just too excited (and a little tipsy) so we
told stories with it playing in the background really. However, Dizzy & I
watched it a few days later… so here’s my review. This movie stars Sir Anthony
Hopkins as Burt Munro, a real life 67-year old Kiwi (man from New Zealand) who
attempted to break the land speed record in the 1960’s. Essentially, he’s kind
of a kooky old man who has loved motorcycles since he was a wee lad… and has
been customizing them all of his life for speed. In a day & age when super
speed cars were being fabricated, he took a 1920’s Indian motorcycle and
customized it into essentially a bullet-like death trap… but wanted to test it
on the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week to break the record. Well… this
movie is the unlikely journey that he took to get there… and let me just tell
you, I absolutely loved it. The story was fairly well-paced, funny, there may
have been a few fabricated parts obviously but… still, a great tale of
overcoming adversity at any age. I highly recommend
it.
Friday
Friday morning we left for a beautiful drive towards
Crater Lake in the southeastern part of the state. It was only about four hours…
but there was just about every kind of weather from fog in the morning… to
pretty warm & sunny across the central part… and then rain… and just before
we got to the lake… no joke… we had snow. Yes, snow… in August. Anyway, the
story of Crater Lake is that it was once a might volcano… that basically just
BLEW its top right off one day… and now it’s like a giant bowl with a beautiful
pristine lake filling it. We
also drove around the rest of the park to see waterfalls, rock formations & of
course gift shops… enjoy...
That night, we arrived in the city of Klamath Falls
about an hour from the lake… and we basically went to the taco truck in the
motel parking lot, grabbed dinner & watched TV. It was pretty good taco
truck food. No squirts at all… but there was a dream that I’m going to mention
in another post…
Saturday
We
grabbed some “brunch” at The Creamery, which is a pretty awesome restaurant /
microbrew / hangout in downtown Klamath Falls. We bought a microbrew flight that
had 6-8 ounce samples of their 7 different brews… so basically about three beers
a piece… and chased it with what’s called “The Oregon Logger” which is
“tenderized seasoned steak deep fried to a golden crisp and stacked with
cheddar, bacon and a fried egg all layered between a toasted sesame seed bun.”
Sounds good, right? It was… and it went well with onion rings & fully loaded
tater skins… and the beer of course.
Best part: To walk off the beer a little, we went inside
the restaurant & wandered over to the stills where the beer was brewed. As
luck would have it, the assistant brewmaster was at the bar drinking &
offered to take us on a tour of the facilities. The brand is Klamath Basin Brewing and if you’re lucky enough to live in select cities in Oregon or Weed,
California… try their Vanilla Porter and their amber ale isn’t bad
either.
After lunch, we headed back home… but made a brief stop
in Redding to see the Sundial bridge (and collect smashed pennies for Dizzy) and
then meet up with Dizzy’s friend Flea in Sactown for dinner at La Fiesta. Good
times. Here are some pictures…
That evening, we watched “The Incredible Burt
Wonderstone” starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi & Jim Carrey. It’s the
story of a pair of magicians named Burt & Anton (Carell & Buscemi) who
meet as young boys… find a common love for magic… and became the dynamic duo of
Vegas. Well, after a decade or so… their act gets kind of tired & stale… and
Burt is kind of a pompous dick… and basically they get fired (by the late James
Gandolfini) and their replacement could potentially be a new age, gritty (and
bonkers) street magician named Steve Gray (Carrey). Throw in some jokes, a story
about finding your love for magic again, and a pretty inconceivable love story
between Burt & his former assistant (Olivia Wilde) and poof… you’ve got a
movie. Now… it wasn’t as bad as everybody I talked to made it out to be. I
enjoyed it… and it was pretty much what I expected going in. Steve, Steve &
Jim (playing a Steve) are what you have come to expect from them… Olivia Wilde
is VERY easy on the eyes… and there are jokes about magicians. It’s not a
Scorsese flick… or a documentary about the world of magicians… it’s a comedy.
Enjoy it.
Anyway, that should do it for tonight… hope you enjoyed
the trip half as much as I did… or even about 15% would be a nice percentage
since it’s really just a bunch of pictures. Have a great day
everybody!!!
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