Newport
July 06, 2013 10:29 PM
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a month since my last post. We’ve been busy!
We arrived at Newport, OR, on the 10th and settled into a site at the Port of Newport Marina & RV Park. Newport is, in my opinion, the jewel of the Oregon coast. The main part of town is on the north side of the bay, with the marina and a few other things on the south side. The bridge across the bay is one of twenty-one majestic bridges designed by Conde McCullough in the 1920’s and 30’s. It’s a beautiful bridge in a beautiful setting.
As luck would have it, we arrived the day before the third annual Newport Celtic Festival and Highland Games. Clan Morrison wasn’t to be represented at the festival, so we unloaded our box of clan goodies and volunteered. We are “conveners” for Clan Morrison of America, which allows us to officially represent the clan at events such as this. We spent two very windy days at the fairgrounds wearing kilts, listening to bagpipes, sampling Scotch whisky (yes, the spelling is correct—no “e” in whisky if you’re referring to a Scottish variety), and meeting a lot of fine folks. Very tiring, but very enjoyable.
A few days later, the first of two sets of friends arrived. Doug Kirschke and I were Marine pilots who served together aboard the USS Independence many years ago. Doug and his wife Sue recently retired and are on the go non-stop, putting many thousands of miles on their airplane. They flew in to the Newport airport and I hauled them to the Newport Belle, a bed-and-breakfast boat anchored in the marina a few hundred feet from where our motorhome was parked. Very convenient.
Then, a few days later, Mike and Louana Green drove down from their home in Washington and moved in to the Belle with Doug and Sue. We spent several wonderful days catching up on the present and remembering our shared pasts. We also ate a lot of food and drank a lot of wine and visited many of the beautiful places up and down the coast. It was great to see them, and a great break for Ann and me to have someone other than one another to talk to! Thank you for the visit, our friends.
Shortly after our friends left, the RV park began to fill up with Fourth of July vacationers. Soon there wasn’t a single spot left in either of the sections of the park or in the overflow area. Among the arrivals was a couple, Gene and Vera, who we met at Humbug State Park when we were there in May/June. Small world.
The Fourth was as you’d expect: lots of families and friends partying, kids popping fireworks, and, after dark, a great fireworks display put on by the town of Newport. Ann and I ate hotdogs and drank beer and enjoyed the day. Happy Birthday, USA!
Now for the good part. You’ve probably figured out by now that I like craft beer. Among my favorite breweries is the Rogue Brewing Company, which happened to be within crawling distance of where we were parked. Could it get any better?!! Needless to say, I’ve had a few of their beers, along with way too much of their great spent-grain cheese bread, while here. My single tip is, if you like IPA, try Rogue’s Brutal. It’s wonderful.
But Rogue wasn’t the only brewery we visited. In the nearby tiny town of Toledo, we found the Twisted Snout Brewing Company, next door to Pigfeathers BBQ, home of the best BBQ in Oregon. “Beer, blues, and BBQ” is the southern boy’s dream. Unfortunately, they didn’t play the blues, but their beer and BBQ made up for it. If you ever pass through here, stop in for ribs and an “Oops!” Golden Ale.
We also visited Corvallis twice while here. It’s a nice little town with three (I think) breweries. I had visited all of them a couple of years ago when I passed through on a motorcycle trip, so we focused on Flat Tail Brewing, my favorite. Their Rough Cut IPA is one of the best, IMO.
We also drove up to Lincoln City and visited the Rusty Truck Brewing Company and the Lighthouse Pub, one of the McMenamin’s chain of brew pubs. We enjoyed good food and good beer at both places.
We’ve had a great time here but it ends tomorrow, when we head north to Cannon Beach. We love Newport and, were it not for the four months of constant wind and rain during the winter, might consider settling here. Unfortunately, having lived in Denver for so long and enjoying over 300 days of sunshine per year, we’d go stir-crazy here, so we’ll keep looking.
No post would be complete without a photo of Muffin the Wonder Dog (we call her that because we wonder what kind of dog she is). She’s once again proven herself to be a beach dog, enjoying it even in the rain. What a joyous creature.
Alan
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