Keeping Busy

 Good morning to all who are reading this. It’s Aug 1st and unfortunately we are still in the Portland area. Some positive news on the motorhome. They are finally working on it trying to determine where actually the noise from the engine is coming from, rather than speculating. They have finally removed the valve covers and now can visualize what is going on. That’s what I wanted them to do two weeks ago. They also have replaced the sway bar on the rear end of the motorhome, some progress being made.

In the mean time, we have been trying to stay busy. Ended up going down to Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, for three nights. Less than a two hour drive from our current location. It was nice to get away and to be at the coast. Found a cute little, pet friendly, rustic type inn, called Anchor Inn Resort, right on the 101 highway, more on the south end of town. Our room was interesting to say the least. You entered into the living room/kitchen, then you had to pass through the bathroom to get to the bedroom, a hallway bathroom, with doors on both sides. Kind of funky but it worked for us. They also had a nice little private cafe/restaurant where you can go and eat without having to leave the premises. We each had our own 10 inch pizza’s with a nice good sized cesar salad, which we shared. They also had two covered patios with gas fire pits, so that’s where we enjoyed our Italian dinner🤣

Prior to our dive to Lincoln City, I found and mapped out 5 covered bridges that we could go see. They were all down around the Salem area, so we didn’t have to venture to far off our trip to Lincoln City. Plus we got to see a lot of the backcountry that you normally do not get to see. A lot of Christmas’s tree farms and large wheat & corn farms. We even got stuck behind a large farming combine machine, just slowly lumbering down the road. That’s something we definitely don’t get to see or experience in the big city’s🤣

Last time we were in Lincoln City, Maryann went to a local glass blowing company, Lincoln City Glass Center, and made a pretty glass blue float. She wanted to do another glass float to complement the other piece. Since this was her second time doing this she felt less nervous, and you could tell because she was more confident in what she was doing. The whole process takes less than an hr to do. You pick out the colors and design pattern prior. You are assigned to an instructor/ professional glass works person, that guides you through the whole process. As for me, I was the photographer and videographer, the easy job!!!

We walked along a beach in Lincoln City, looking for pieces of sea glass and agates. Only found a couple pieces of each, not so good this time. We drove south and stopped at Depoe Bay. Always fun to watch the boats maneuver in and out of Depoe Bay Harbor. If you never have been there, the boats have to wait and time the waves coming and going in and out of the harbor, because the opening to the harbor entrance is very small. Think of it as they are like a surfer riding a wave, they do basically the same thing, they wait for the income or out going wave, then they gun it to stay with the wave.

I found this little road, that paralleled the 101, Otter Crest Loop Rd. It was a nice 4-5 mile drive, right above the coastline. Had a few nice small pullouts to get some wonderful views of the Oregon Coastline. We ended up at Otter Crest Viewpoint, with the Devils Punchbowl Arch, which surprisingly I have never been to before. They also had a few shops there. One being MO’s West Clam Chowder/Seafood restaurant. The Clam Chowder was delicious. Then right next door was the Flying Dutchman Winery & tasting room. Stopped in, had three tastings, sat outside in there very cute backyard sitting area, with nice views of the Oregon Coastline.

Then it was on to Newport, just a few miles down the coast from where we were at. Stopped to see, about the only lighthouse along the Oregon coast that we have not seen before, the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It’s in an Oregon State Park, but with Maryann’s National Park Pass we got in for free. The coolest thing, besides the Lighthouse, we got watch Two-Three whales feeding just below us. That was awesome to watch.

Once in Newport, made it to Fred Mayer. Needed a couple of things, the most important, Marionberry Pie, which they didn’t have, but I found a bakery just across the street, and they still had 3 left… SCORE!!!!!! 

On the way home we made a quick stop at Agate Beach, thinking cool lets find some Agates. Nope, no Agate’s but just miles of small sandy sand dunes. Not big dunes,  just hundreds of small rolling sand dunes as far as you could see. It took nearly 15 min just to get to the water and not ONE rock to be seen🤣

That night we ate our left over pizza, and ordered another salad. Finished our bottle of wine we opened earlier. I watch the Billy Joel Documentary. I get sucked into watching those, and it was good. You forget how many hit songs he actually has.

Yesterday we loaded up the car & Kitty, she is such a good traveler. Just sleeps in her carrier and rarely makes a peep. We picked up Maryann’s glass float, it came out really good. Stopped at another covered bridge then back to Ed & Judy’s house. I had taken the carburetor out of the motorhome generator prior to dropping it off at Ford. I took it apart and cleaned it and put it back together, thank you You Tube. Now I just need to put it back on the generator to see if it works. Fingers crossed!!!!

Thanks for reading, here are a few pics of our last few days.