Cabin Deluxe

Ahh, a weekend away at a friends cabin on the coast. What could be better than that? Well how about if it was uber cheap, and your friends agreed to take the dog as well. A break from the bert? How will we survive....

So we drove to Newport after work on Friday and arrived (albeit after one or ten wrong turns) at the quaint little cabin on the beach. Newport is so close to the coast that only one house separates route 101 from the ocean, and ours was one of those. A cozy wood stove, comfy futon and glass protected back deck were just what we needed.

After grabbing some bar food at the Rogue public house on the waterfront, we experimented with a few non-traditional beers (Chipotle, smoked, etc.) and headed back for a nice rest.

The next morning we laid around the house, made some breakfast, and headed south along 101 to see a few sights.

The first we came to was the Alsea bay interpretive center in Waldport. This place contained the history of the bridges connecting 101 from Astoria down to California. Fascinating to read and see the detail and inginuity that went into connecting route 101 up and down the coast. Read more about Condi (the engineer) here.

Then we headed down to Devil's Churn, a natural formation of carved-out rock that the ocean whips water into and creates a thundering splash. Because We had a delightful conversation with the local hot chocolate vendor that went something like....

Us: When's a good time to see Devil's Churn in full force?
Vendor: Well, the sea has been flat recently but it looks better today. Maybe in a little bit it'll be more active. Gotta watch those sneaker waves though. Gets unsuspecting folks wet every time.
Us: Ha ha ha, those suckers.

Check out footage (in messed up chipmunk voices) of our journey to the mouth of Devil's Churn here.

So yeah, suckers indeed. No matter, we headed back into town and had some wine at a local wine shop and then headed home to get dry and warm by the fire.

That night we ate dinner at an amazing seafood restaurant on the waterfront. Local Ocean has fresh catches daily, and even tells you how they are caught (hook & line, etc.). Full, but still craving some desert type substance, we headed over to the Rogue brewery just in time before it closed to have a chocolate stout and chat with a local moving to Portland. Note to readers, the brewery is way better than the public house, unless you still think max headroom is cool...


The next morning was beautiful and warm. Sad to be leaving, but excited for the nice day ahead, we headed south to see Heceta Head lighthouse along the coast. Well worth the trip. There weren't a lot of people there so we basically got a personal tour of the lighthouse (still in operation) and learned about its history. The park guides were incredibly friendly and answered all our questions. AND we found out you can stay in the B&B right on the path to the lighthouse. Ahem, parents?

We left Heceta head, hit a local sandwich place for some food, and drove north to Yaquina bay to do a hike on the beach from Yaquina bay lighthouse to Yaquina head lighthouse. Unfortunately, 3 miles on the beach was quite a distance and we ended up turning back about 2 miles into it. Ah well, maybe next time.

More trip pics can be found here.