Dreary Day in Pacific City

Pacific City, Oregon: Though not predicted, we had two big squalls blow over us overnight, pounding rain on our fiberglass roof. It certainly wakes us up. When it was time to get out of bed, the weather was still dreary and we knew it would impact our cycling plans for the day (especially since DT does not have fenders on his bike. (Since I am a needlepointer, rain has no impact on my ability to fill time.) Dave did pop-over to the beach after his coffee and was lucky to watch a dory boat land on the beach, see a Grey Whale breach out of the water near the dory boat and give everyone aboard the small craft a little wave. How exciting for those lucky people. Dave reported back it wasn't too bad on the beach as it wasn't windy, so we both went down for a nice walk on the beach.

As you can see, there is an arch on the north side of Chief Kiwanda Haystack Rock. Trivia: there are three Haystack Rocks on the Oregon Coast. Kiwanda, at 340 feet, is the tallest. The most famous and most photographed haystack rock is just north, in Cannon Beach. This 235-foot monolith was in the Goonies and Kindergarten Cop movies, and the icon of one of Oregon's most popular beach towns (closest to Portland). The third rock is on the southern coast, near Bandon, and isn't even 100 feet tall. Poor thing.

As we reversed our route to walk back to our RV, we saw several dory boats returning to shore. The small fishing boats run themselves onto the beach (like they were surfboards) and are then winched onto boat trailers on shore. It is a very interesting procedure, so aren't you happy I captured it all for your entertainment and education?

The boats wait for a good wave to push them in. If they fail, someone must jump out and pull the boat ashore. We saw this happen today. Just a dude, in shorts. The water off Pacific City was 53° today. Ouch.

There was a Fish & Game agent at the loading area, logging and measuring every fish. Most of the fish today were lingcod and rockfish - with a few bass.

Please note: there was no one in the driver seat of that truck while the boat was being hoisted onto the trailer. Yikes! Obviously, this wasn't his first rodeo. We talked with several fishermen (they were all men) and I asked if they still had the dory races around Haystack Rock. There was a bit of head scratching and finally one of them said he remembered hearing about races - back in the day - when two-man teams would row dory boats out to - and around - the rock. Yes! That is what I remembered as a little girl... and told them my age and they all looked at Granny and probably wondered if I'd come to the beach that day to watch the dory races in a covered wagon. Pacific City still has their Dory Days celebration, but it no longer includes racing. What an interesting morning, and what an interesting historical boat.

It was raining as I filmed the men loading their boat - so we headed back to our campsite and warmed up with left-over pizza for lunch and enjoyed the parade of new campers coming in with their rigs. We ventured out a few times to stretch our legs and to get out of our Barbie RV, but it was a rare quiet day for us.

We have met so many Germans in Pacific City. We sat next to German's at the Pelican Brew Pub yesterday when I had the fish and chips. We met Germans this afternoon in our campground, and met another (our age) couple cooking sausages and potatoes on the beach on their campstove. Coincidence, or are there a lot of German tourists in Oregon in June?

I put a mini beef stew in the slow cooker this morning (assuming we would be out on our bicycles all day - not). I used 1/3 pound beef stew meat (from the butcher at New Seasons in Beaverton), one Yukon gold potato, two little carrots, one teeny onion and several of Gina's garlic cloves. The beef was dredged in flour, salt and pepper and everything was sauteed prior to entering the slow cooker. I added about half a can of beef stock and a few teaspoons of dried thyme. The campground bunnies enjoyed not only the end-bits of the carrots, but also devoured the peels. Gives a whole-nuther meaning to reduce/reuse/recycle.

This stew was really delicious and we finished it all because it was just a small amount. I have kept my 3.5 quart slow cooker in this RV (after down-sizing so many things) because it really is one of the smallest slow-cookers available with programmable features. A small bit of stew can be cooked, yet it can also cook an entire chicken. One of my fav things to cook in a slow cooker is an entire chicken - slathered in Mexican seasonings for tacos, or Asian, Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern, or Mediterranean seasonings for whatever you could want. Think of it as a Costco rotisserie chicken, made at home, with two minutes work?

Until my next update, I remain, your soggy correspondent.

Campground Information: Cape Kiwanda RV Park - This is a very old campground, with sewer connections in the grass and old-school electric posts. RV sites are paved, and the picnic tables and firepits are in grass. Many amenities, as they also have a hotel and the RV sites can use the indoor pool/hot tub. Shop, RV supplies, laundry, bath houses, walk to many restaurants and the beach is across the street. There are rabbits everywhere, so be aware if you bring your dog. We are paying about $119 per night for a drive-through site.

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