Right At The Fork

Late morning Friday I got the bug to get lost, and so I called The Proposal Rock Inn in Newskowin and booked a room for a night, just to get away to some place I'd never stayed overnight. Cheap. $60.

Driving with music blasting with my dog in the back through beautiful Oregon scenery is often just the antidote for spending too much time at my desk in front of the computer.

I took the route that takes us through Salem to just south of Neskowin. By the time we got out there I was hungry for lunch. I wanted to try the Otis Cafe since I'd heard great things about it, but the line was longer than I wanted to deal with (less daylight hours for photographs), so I saw a joint across the street.

The sign and my review are all contained in this shot. Hard to believe you specialize in corn dogs and you serve them so that the dog is cold in the middle.

I love Oakley lots, and wasn't sure about giving it to him, but I did.

Much better than sitting at my desk.

Then we got to the Inn, and I took a walk to the beach to enjoy the sunset at Newskowin Beach. That's Proposal Rock.

I played around with the settings on my Droid Maxx.

The we walked around Newskowin, which just might be the most charming little spot on the coast.

Hey, how did they know? OK,

This little house has been on the market for a while. I love it and would LOVE to buy it.

This one was pretty cute, too. Check out the use of bottle bottoms in the foreground.

They kind of want you to drive slowly in Newskowin.

I didn't feel like driving, so I went to the Hawk Creek Inn and ordered way too much food. The Spinach Salad was great. The small 13" pie with a few toppings on it was $19.50. In my mind, way too much for a small pizza, but this is Oregon and that's what they charge for pizza out here. Nonetheless, the smell had me jonesing for pizza so I ordered one and figured I'd take the remainder home. I thought for those kind of prices, it was a bit soup nazi-ish to notify on the menu that any substitutions were charged as though you added an ingredient-- "No exceptions!"

Oh well, the service was cordial but the pizza, even though cooked in a brick oven, was absolutely nothing special. The dough was way too thick for my taste. And I had to ask them to put it back in the oven because it wasn't quite done enough. Goes to show you that you can't trust Yelp all the time. It's tough to be from New Haven and order pizza. Nonetheless, there are pizzas I do love out here. This wasn't one of them.

The walls at The Proposal Rock Inn are paper thin--I put my headphones on so I could drown out the hours of conversation in the room next door. This was particularly annoying because the woman at the front desk said only six rooms were occupied. I did like the room though. It was clean and well-appointed and seemed as thought it recently been updated.

We got up and took a beautiful walk. We were the only ones on the beach.

That's the Proposal Rock Inn.

I am one who often presupposes long lines everywhere. And since the lines were long for lunch at the Otis Cafe the day before, I assumed Saturday morning would have lines.

Wrong.

The selections were vast. It appears The Otis Cafe specializes in German potatoes and homemade bread. I haven't ordered chicken fried steak since I lived in Ohio in the 70s. But I thought it would give me a little sampling of the bread, the potatoes, and the dish the server said was fantastic. Everything was. Seriously, I'd drive out the coast with this place in mind. I got loaves of the pumpkin bread and whole wheat sourdough to go. (No, I did NOT finish it. Half the chicken fried steak and some of the potatoes were left.)

Instead of heading back up 101, I thought I'd use the Nav and take some back roads. I ran across this:

The windy road was pretty secluded. Nice sights.

Inviting. (Is that a Swastika?)

Then we headed north up 101 toward Route 6.

I couldn't help but take these shots.

Not vintage, but a good effort.

And then, there was this, just to remind anyone that they were in the red part of Oregon.

A few weeks prior, heading up 101, there was a cop on my tail for about five miles. I had seen a sign for Munson Falls, but didn't want to turn, cause I just thought he might think I was trying to divert from his sights (I might have been going 60 in a 55), so I didn't go.

This time I did. This is the trailhead, about 2 miles from 101 just south of Tillamook.

Those falls were HUGE. the trail was closed at this point though.

But still, it was a gorgeous little hike.

Then we headed back to Portland, just a little more than 24 hours after we got out to the coast. I love Route 6.

And this is what I call Rosebud Falls.

And this is right before you get to 26.

24 hours away.

A little mini vacay. Our way.

I started to write this blog a few weeks ago and just returned to see that I never published it. There was another day but I'm leaving it the way it is for now.

I am one who thinks that anyone who says Portland weather sucks all year should just move. Compared to other climates, we endure some misty winters (little snow) in return for not having to shovel and super, non-humid summers. They're longer than most think, because they're very consistent, unlike the summers I was used to in Connecticut, or worse, Savannah or Arizona, where I've spent much time in my life.

That being said, on a beautiful Portland Friday morning, I checked out the weather for my favorite weekend destination, Yachats and Seal Rocks, and saw it looked pretty good. I got my work done and planned a couple of nights of camping at my newly discovered zen escape, where I can camp in relative seclusion:

have views like this from my site (granted, with a telephoto lens):

and be able to walk across the street and have incredible walks and vistas. Each time it's different. The sun, clouds, tides, animals, etc.

This was catching sunset on a Friday night.

and my favorite shot of the night:

Two hours later, there was a full moon on the beach. Incredible (no pics).

The next morning, after lighting this and having coffee,

we walked down to see the full moon setting, while the sun came up. (You couldn't do this if you weren't across the street.) The closest hotel accommodations are miles away.