From Pacific Shores, we moved to Woodland, Washington, a bit over twenty miles north of Portland, Oregon.  This is the Columbia Riverfront RV resort.  It is a nice park with excellent elbow room.

It offers good views of the Columbia River.  In addition to tour boats and barges, a lot of ocean-going vessels travel past on their way to the ports of Portland and Vancouver.  The sport fishing boats in a short hogline between the shore and the tank ship give some perspective on the size of some of the vessels that ply these waters.  This was one of the smaller ones that passed our park.  We were pleased to see a lot of grain ships heading upriver empty and return back downriver full; a sign that our farmers are doing well.

At this point, the river flows north.  Reflections from the river and the dramatic shapes of the hills to the west make sunsets here pretty spectacular.

These high, wispy clouds added another source of color as the sun sank below the horizon.

The real reason we were here, however, was to go to Dave and LJ's RV Interiors.  We had scheduled ourselves for a few upgrades to our coach's interior.  More on that and a few other improvements we made, later.

Pacific Shores

 Our last few days in Newport, we moved to Pacific Shores RV Resort, North of Newport.  This is a beautiful facility in a magnificent setting.  It is one of our favorite parks, but the ocean sites are very spendy, thus we don't stay long.

 There is a great view of Yaquina Head and her lighthouse.

 You don't even have to leave the coach to have a magnificent view. Ted has always been taken by the flag trees off the western slope of the park.  Their asymmetric growth is caused by salt spray that blasts the side toward the sea, particularly in winter.

One of my favorite George Carlin quotes is: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away."  How's this for taking your breath away?

The second night, a shallow marine layer bisected the sun as it set. 

As our last day in Newport came to a close, we watched the sun set and the Yaquina Head lighthouse begin it's evening vigil.



Yaquina Head

 Penny's favorite lighthouse is this one at Yaquina Head. Built in 1872, and at 93 feet is the tallest in Oregon. It marks the treacherous waters that surround it on three sides.  Gone is the lighthouse keeper's cottage.  It is now completely automated. 

In addition to the lighthouse, Yaquina Head is a rich and diverse natural area. The rocks that present the extreme navigation hazard in this area also provide an  excellent nesting ground for seabirds.  The top of this one is covered by common murres.  Puffins also call this place home during their nesting season.  Ted would have loved to sample the insect and nematode flora in the dung that the birds left on the rocks.  He saw at least five different species of flies as he took this photograph and is certain that was just the tip of the iceberg. 

Below, on an adjacent rock, harbor seals bask in what little sun there was today.  Harbor seals are smaller and less aggressive than their sea lion cousins.  They are the least vocal of all pinnapeds lacking the raucous barking of sea lions. 

Here is the lighthouse from atop cliffs to the north of Yaquina Head.

As evening sets, the lighthouse flashes its warning.  All lighthouses along the Pacific Coast have specific intervals at which they flash so that they can be easily identified from the sea.  The sequence at Yaquina Head is a flash followed two seconds later by a second flash.  After a delay of fourteen seconds, the sequence is repeated.

Pacific Beach

 On the way back from Tillamook we stopped by Pacific City.  It has a very nice beach, some interesting rock formations, and a few sea caves.

 We saw sandboarders coming down this dune at the north end of the beach.  To get an idea of the size of the dune, look at the people in the bottom left corner.

 Pacific City is, however, the self-proclaimed headquarters of the Pacific dory boat fleet. 

Here is the reason for the warning sign above. Dories from Pacific City are used in both sport and commercial fishing.  This boat made several passes before it started its run.

 As it approached the beach, the captain gunned the engine and grounded the boat.

Within a few minutes, the boat was winched up onto a trailer or a specialized truck bed and the beach was clear for the next boat to land.  This is repeated several times a day.  The dories are launched in the reverse of this procedure.  The truck or trailer backs rapidly into the waves and slams on the brakes launching the boat.



The Tillamook Cheese Factory 8-13-2013

This may have been Penny's highlight of this visit.  This one was spectacular and beautifully done.  Credit was given to several quilters on a plaque below this quilt.  Quilting is a big thing in this area.  Many barns have paintings of quilt pieces on them because there is a quilt trail through Tillamook County. 

 These tanks are the first stop for the incoming milk.

 We watched a lady check a computer screen and add rennet.  Then she got a can of something that she retrieved from what looked like a refrigerated cabinet and added it to one of the tanks.

 This tank is used to make small batches of hand crafted cheeses.

After leaving the tank, the curds are compressed and dried, then these 40+ pound blocks are sent to this machine which vacuum seals them.  They are then sent to the aging room for a minimum of 60 days.

After leaving the aging room, the blocks are sent to this machine which cuts them into five pound blocks.  The lady in the foreground weeds out the imperfect blocks.  We wonder what happens to the imperfect pieces. 

The five-pound blocks are then sent on their way to be wrapped, perhaps sliced, then on to the store.

The gift shop had a lot of fun items.  Ted's favorite was this display of paper made from recycled cow manure.  After all, when the cow digests grass of hay, it is only another manner of cellulose extraction.  Not too different from what a paper mill does.

We liked this T shirt.

Ted, the motorcyclist, liked this one.  Salmon runs and, of course the Tillamook Creamery are two of the things that make Tillamook County famous.

 

Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR 10 Aug 2013 weekend

 Our kids and grandson came to Newport to see us and go deep-sea fishing.  Tyler hadn't been to the aquarium, so we all went.  Sea Nettles.  Penny's favorite tank at the aquarium.

 Tyler is on his way to the outdoor displays.

 Tyler with harbor seals behind him.

 Flowers dot the outdoor displays.

 A puffin, up close and personal.  The birds mingle with visitors in the aviary.

The otters were a hoot, as always.  This one is eating a mussel.

Fishing in Newport, OR 11 Aug 2013

 Our son, daughter, and grandson came over for our traditional fishing trip; Tyler joining us for the first time.  Brent and Tyler pose with our day's catch. Tyler got the first keeper of the day, but we all contributed to the catch.  Most were rockfish, but there was also a lingcod, green lingcod, and yellowtail.

 Of course we all had to take an opportunity to pose with our catch.  Penny suffers from seasickness, so she stayed in the coach and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  She didn't get quite as much of it as she had anticipated, however, since we limited-out in three hours.

This lady filleted the fish for one dollar each.  The speed and accuracy with which she did it were amazing.  Just listening to her banter as she worked was worth the price of her services.  We weighed and counted our fillets.  Using the market price we had seen in the local stores we figured that we wound up with $410.00 worth of fillets.  This amounted to a tidy profit on our investment.

The time we spent with Tyler the night before and the time spent out on the ocean together was, however, priceless.  The fish tasted pretty good too.

The Rogue Brewery, Newport, OR 4 Aug 2013

In the spirit of Rogue Brewery, this posting is out of order.

 Steve, Ted, and Jenny leaving The Rogue Brewery, which is across the parking lot from our park.  Steve, Jenny, and Jenny's mother arrived in their coach in time for dinner in the restaurant on top of the brewery.

 Steve is on the path through the brewery that takes customers to the restaurant.  We were surprised when we had to wait for a table for 45 minutes on a Monday night.  The food, however, is excellent.

 

 More of what we saw as we walked through the brewery.  Windows on two sides of the restaurant look down on the marina and the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  We didn't get a window view. 

 To fully understand Rogue Brewery, you pretty much have to understand the Pacific Northwest. This brewery makes a very full-line of excellent craft brews, but I have to wonder how many other brewers would partner with Portland's Voodoo Doughnuts (mentioned in a previous post) to brew and sell ales such as this chocolate, peanut butter and banana ale, and its stablemate, maple bacon ale.  Other Rogue brews have such names as "Brutal Ale", "Dad's Little Helper" and Ted's favorite, "Dead Guy Ale". 

 You enter the brewery and the restaurant through this old vat which proclaims this to be the entrance into the "Rogue Cultural and Interpretive Center and Beerquarium". 

You can see here how the brewery refers to itself.

Across the parking lot is an aging house full of oak barrels,

which makes Rogue's new lines of gins, rums, vodkas and whiskeys served here.  Their flagship product is "Dead Guy Whiskey".   

Historic Newport Bay, OR 6 Aug 2013

This is the top-rated restaurant in Newport.  It is located in the historic part of Newport, on the bay.  Amazingly, we found a close parking place.  The wait to be seated was about 40 minutes, but the weather was glorious so we enjoyed watching the fishing boats enter and exit the harbor.  

There is seating inside and out.

 These crab are in the very appealing display case at the restaurant.  All the fish in the case are labeled with where they where, when, and, by what method, they were caught, and by whom.  The cod was caught by the F/V Fish & Chips.  An apt catch by a vessel so named.  Patrons can buy uncooked fish to take home.  Cans of tuna are packed down the street.  The large cans were not cheap at $7.95.  

We were going to explore the art galleries and gift shops in the historic district, but we couldn't find a place to park, so we went to Yaquina Head Lighthouse (Penny's favorite).  Our National Park pass got us all in at no cost.  The visitor center now has wonderful displays about the birds and sea-life of the area, as well as the history of the lighthouse.  There is access to fascinating tidepools on the beach below at low tide. Puffins often nest on a large rock just offshore. The lighthouse sits on Cape Foulweather.  Can't imagine how it got that name.  The wind was so strong, we gave up fighting it and returned to our coach for dinner.