Yurts and the Oregon Coast

Becky and Gordon were here for a week, and we had great fun with them. I love to cook, but there's nothing quite as enjoyable as coming home to a home-cooked, gourmet meal prepared entirely by someone else! Thanks, Gordon!

B&G spent the week hiking around the Gorge, hitting a few of the countless "hikes with waterfalls" in the area. When Thursday came, it was time for all four of us to take off for the coast! We made lodging reservations along the trip, so we had definite goals for each day.

We left Friday morning... well, okay, maybe it was afternoon. But you can't start a trip on an empty stomach after all. By mid-afternoon we made it to Cannon Beach, where we stopped at Clark's Restaurant & Bar for a snack, some free billiards, and a TV on which to watch our coveted Red Sox in the playoffs (which they won). A nice stroll on the beach followed, with some really interesting dynamics when a river (don't remember which one) feeding into the ocean collides with the surf. Water rushes up the river for several minutes, then out, like mini-tides. Cool. But our B&B reservations were in Depoe Bay, another 100 miles down the coast, so we continued on our journey. We stopped at Tillamook Cheese, but unfortunately we missed their business hours by about 20 minutes. No cheese or fudge for us. Corinne was very disappointed. We did manage to stop at another cheese maker, Blue Heron Cheese, where we picked up some supplies for a French-style picnic sometime later that weekend.


Lighthouse Deli - best dang seafood on the OR coast.

We reached our bed & breakfast in Depoe Bay by about 8:30pm; since we had made 9pm dinner reservations at a local seafood restaurant, Tidal Raves, we dropped off our bags and head out to the restaurant. It had been quite a while since we had eaten last, and it was getting late, and we were getting hungry. While waiting for our table at the restaurant, suddenly the restaurant went entirely dark. Looking outside, everyplace was dark. The entire town of Depoe Bay had lost power! We waited for about 15 minutes, hoping power would come back and devising an alternate dinner plan if it didn't. The restaurant decided fairly quickly that it was closing ("what if we only wanted dessert?" we pleaded), so after a few phone calls we determined that the next town south, Newport, still had power. So off we went, with the sole goal of finding food in Newport. We wandered for a while, but eventually ended up at Rogue Brewhouse. It's on these occasions that I wish I enjoyed beer; they had a very large selection of their own brews, including such interesting concoctions as Mocha Porter and Chipotle Ale. We mostly stuck with the food. (Power was out in Depoe Bay for about 2 hours, so it's a good thing we didn't try to wait it out.)


Becky & Corinne at Heceta Lighthouse (not pictured)

Our Saturday schedule included the Oregon Coast Aquarium, many viewpoint stops along the coast, stops at one or more of Oregon's eight historic lighthouses (we ended up stopping at Heceta and Umpqua), a fabulous lunch at the Lighthouse Deli (I'll be ordering some more of their beef jerky - best we've ever had!), reaching our resting point for the night in a yurt in Tugman State Park near Reedsport, 90 miles further south.

A yurt?


Our Yurt

Yurts are cool. Based on a structure built by the Mongolians, they're kinda like a cross between a large tent and a cabin. The best part is that they have beds! Many of the state parks in the PacNW have them as an alternative to traditional campsites; since they are enclosed, they can be used later into the fall/winter seasons when the weather isn't always the best. Very cool.

Sunday we had another 100 miles or so to go to reach Harris Beach State Park and our second yurt, stopping at the Oregon dunes and any place else that struck our fancy: walks on the beach (and in the water, at least for Gordon); a picnic lunch of apples, brie and grapes; and many more viewpoints. We attempted to rent dune buggies, but since we didn't have reservations and had a schedule to keep, they couldn't fit us in. Bummer.


Oregon Dunes. It was a 2 mile hike over the dunes to the ocean. We never did make it.


Gordon in the ocean at sunset

Sunday night was our campfire night - sausages, roasted peppers, s'mores, and roasted chocolate-bananas. I'm still trying to get that smokey odor out of my fleece. :)

Monday was the long travel day - we spent the morning getting to Crescent Bay in Northern California, but then it was time for us to say goodbye to B&G. They would continue for another few days until they reached San Francisco, while we had to return to work on Tuesday morning. After we departed at about 12:30pm, we started our long trek back, heading north through Eugene (where we stopped for lunch), then east through the mountains and all the way up to The Dalles. By the time we got home, it was after 9pm! All in all, a fun trip with good friends! Looking forward to the next time we see them!




- Mike (& Corinne)