Newport, Oregon: Our vacation officially started this morning! Over a week to just enjoy the Oregon Coast, relax and get reacquainted after the Olympic Trials. Of course our day started with exercise!
Friendly Harrisburg High in Harrisburg, Oregon (Home of the Eagles) keeps the gate around their track unlocked so the community can use the facilities. Yes! Sometimes we find this is not always the practice these days. DT ran a few laps, but then headed over to a huge soccer field behind the football grandstands and ovalled around and around and around. I ran the straights on the track and walked the corners - around and around and around. Dave was only getting exercise. I was getting exercise and contributing to our vacation fund. I found a dime on the track this morning.By the 11 o'clock checkout required by the River Bend RV Resort, we were hitched-up and heading down the highway, through beautiful Oregon farmland, Mennonite communities with perfectly maintained white farm houses, and occasional views to the Willamette River. At Corvallis, we took a left and headed up over the coast range, leaving the 80° valley heat and rolled into our reserved campsite at the Port of Newport Marina RV Park, where we were greeted with a little fog, a lot of wind and 62°.
If you have been reading this website for any time at all, you may recall we love this park and try to visit at least once a year. Super location - miles of jogging trails, across the street from two aquariums and within walking distance of a Rogue Public House!
But first, we had something else on our agenda. Something completely different...
We drove a few miles north of Newport to see a boat dock. A cement boat dock. A cement boat dock that had washed-up on Agate Beach a few weeks ago. From Japan. It has been confirmed this dock is debris from the Japanese Tsunami. When the dock arrived on shore, it was covered with seaweed and all sorts of crusty critters and starfish-type animals that were scraped-off and then the entire dock was torched to remove any possibility of one of the hitchhikers becoming an invasive species along our coast. (The red link at the top of the paragraph has a photo of how the dock looked when it arrived in Oregon.)
I have to admit, this is not something I see every day. We parked at Agate Beach State Park and walked about a half-mile to the debris. It is not at all unusual to occasionally find a Japanese glass ball fishing float, or other Japanese "trash" on the Oregon Coast, but now all sorts of things are arriving along the Oregon and Washington shores and it is starting to be a problem. Though none of the flotsam has yet been discovered to be radioactive, it is still trash and needs to be removed - hauled away, pulled back out to sea (to sink) or blown-up.And we Oregonians are famous for not doing a very good job at blowing up stuff on our beaches:
I was in high school when this happened and Oregonians still talk about the blubber blunder.
The authorities have painted all sorts of NO TRESPASSING signs, but knuckleheads will be knuckleheads...
For dinner, we went to The Rogue World Headquarters. Or what DT refers to as "The Mother Ship".
You have no idea what it is like to be married to this man.
Rogue Nation is celebrating their new B&B in Independence, Oregon - strangely named "Chatoe Rogue". These Oregonians weren't happy growing their own hops. They started growing their own barley as well.Typical.
About a zillion beers on tap
We come here because The Rogue has great beer, great food and a lot of fun.
The guy in the (shall we say) striped-arm jacket is Scott. From Seattle, Scott travels a lot for his job and frequents local brew pubs. Smart man. The boys in the back (bright blue jacket) are riding their bikes from the Canadian border to Mexico during their summer college break. The Rogue is just that kinda place. You get to meet everyone.But, I mainly come to The Rogue for their halibut fish & chips.
Until my next update, I remain, your washed-up correspondent.RV PARK: Port of Newport Marina RV Park - Pull-through and back-in sites. 30/50 amp, cable, laundry, bathhouse and free wifi. No tents. At the marina. We are paying $39 per night with a Good Sam discount.