Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy: The Online Diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother

Welcome to the online diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother (me) who is busy celebrating the positive portions of her everyday life ... along with her best friend husband (Cary). It is quite an eclectic diary and I try to do my best to incorporate a little bit of history into many of my posts. Your visit to our piece of American Pie is greatly appreciated. This chatty Kathy posts frequently, so coming back to visit often is highly encouraged.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

July 2009 Road Trip: North Santiam, Newport, Devil's Punch Bowl, Santiam Pass

Well, let's see. The day of the meeting was very long. We left La Pine at 6:00 a.m. and didn't get back and in our room until around 9:00 p.m. We stayed at the Mill Creek Inn again, of course. We were so tired, physically and emotionally. After the meeting, we went to Alessandro's Restaurant in Salem with Genoa, Jim Sharpe, and the two Mary's. On the way out of the parking lot, Cary spotted a homeless lady with a shopping cart full of her belongings, and we stopped and gave her a gift bag full of food, toiletries, etc. I should have given her my leftover Fillet Mignon too, but I didn't think about it until too late.

We got up in the morning to return home, ate at Denny's and went to Walmart for new clothes. We wanted to drive through Sweet Home to visit with some of Cary's old classmates from Fillmore. We hadn't brought their phone numbers with us, and they were not in directory assistance for some reason. So, we were almost to Albany and were just kind of wandering around in our minds, trying to figure out what to do. We finally decided to drive to Newport.

In Newport, we worked on deciding on a place to stay. We wanted a room on the beach with a balcony. Well, that turned out to be a pain. The first place we went to, we got a snobby younger woman who looked us up and down as if we were not the kind of clientele she wanted staying there. Plus, it was a total non-smoking property. She accusingly mentioned that if you tried to sneak in a smoke at their hotel, it would cost another $200. That was The Elizabethan Inn. It is getting to be like smoking is a crime. Like skateboarding used to be. That set the tone for me for the next couple of hours. I was so worn out, and I just got more and more irritated. The next place we tried was very nice, and the people were nice and they had balconies, but they said you had to smoke in the parking lot, and not off the balcony. We should have just stayed there, in hindsight, but we decided to keep looking. That was the Hallmark Resort.

We took a break ,and went for a cocktail and a bowl of clam chowder at a local's bar called Paul and Bonnie's Sandbar & Grill on Nye Beach. The bartender, Lin-Z,was really nice, and she suggested another hotel to try, but they didn't have balconies. Lin-Z asked us to come back for dinner. We ended up staying at the Shilo, where we stayed in January. The room we got was very shabby, not too clean, and, of course had no balcony. The windows did open in this room, but there were no screens. I guess so you could imagine it was a balcony. It made for better picture taking, but I kept thinking a seagull was going to fly into our room, and then had to mentally plan for how to address the situation if it should occur. Luckily, my mental preparations for such an emergency were not needed.

After checking in, I put on some of my new clothes and we went on a drive. We stopped for a photo op at Yaquina State Park, where the lighthouse is, and took pictures of the bay and the beach. The wind was blowing hard and the fog was rolling in. It was really pretty. Next, we went over to explore the Historic Bayfront (fisherman's wharf). We walked around for a long time and took a bunch of pictures. It wasn't so windy or cold over there.

We returned to our room and went back to The Sandbar & Grill for dinner. We had this sweet little, very young waitress named Jessie, who was apologizing for everything, just because she was nervous. The food was good and reasonably priced. After dinner we went back down to the lounge and met a nice couple named Darcee and Randy and talked about politics and menopause and how we met our spouses. They had a great story on how they met. I gave Darcee my email, and I hope she writes me. We would like to see them again some day.

We went back to our room at about 11:00 p.m. We got up early and packed up our car. I left a nice note to housekeeping suggesting that they deep clean the bathroom, remove the mildew, and wipe down the back of the bathroom door. I am sure that they really appreciated it. I was grateful to Cary the day before, for so wanting me to shut up about the stained bedspread that he asked a nice member of the housekeeping staff replace it with a cleaner one. She did. It worked, I was happier and did drop the subject. Though I still feel compelled to tell you about it now.

We ate breakfast at the Red Door Cafe and visited with the owner, Chris. I really like that place. Chris told us it was better to drive up to Lincoln City, go to Salem and return to La Pine the way we came. So, that is what we did. We stopped at Devil's Punchbowl State Park before we reached Lincoln City, and took some pictures. That place is gorgeous. If you get a chance, check it out.

On our way back home, we stopped at the North Santiam State Park, Day Use Area and walked around by the river. That was really a pretty picnic spot. It is the best place I have ever seen to have the Camp Host job, since nobody stays overnight.

We were low on gas, and figured out too late that the last stop for gas was Mill City. At about 10 miles further up the road there is a blue sign that says "No Gas for 52 Miles". It would of been nice if they told us that in Mill City, with a small change in the sign that said "62 miles". We didn't run out of gas, thank goodness. We stopped at a viewpoint on top of the pass and took pictures of Black Butte and Mt. Washington. We met some nice people from Norway and visited with them for a bit. Hi, if you are reading my blog! I hope you are having a great time.

We bought gas in Sisters at the small Shell station by the coffee stand, and then came home. We were so tired, and were so happy to be home. Thanks, Howard, for taking such good care of the dogs. Sorry we missed you, Mom, Nigel and Ethan.

Random photos of our trip: