Saturday, November 02, 2013

Honeymoon - Newport, OR - Day 5

Last day of our honeymoon. We both woke up very early and noticed that it was raining. Apparently Bozo had been up for a little while and couldn't get back to sleep. Then we opened the sliding glass door to hear the rain and the waves and she was out! lol How are we ever going to sleep at home again??

Up around 9am for breakfast, which wasn't too bad for a larger hotel. They had square egg patties that Bozo made into a little sandwich. The rest was the usual bread, cereal, yogurt, and oatmeal fare with a waffle maker to boot.

During our breakfast we also saw the news about the LAX shooting. We had seen bits and pieces here and there but chose not to listen further until today. We just didn't want to disturb our minds with the information. Our flight today was not impacted and it seems like only flights from home that may connect with LA are impacted. So, we were on schedule. Until there was a mechanical issue and we needed to change planes. But it was only about half an hour delay so that was okay.

Our drive from Newport to the Portland Airport was beautiful. It alternated from sunny to foggy to rainy and back again. We were going through forest much of the time and took a bit longer route through Salem to avoid getting on I-5 quite as quickly. We stopped at a Country Pride restaurant at a truck stop and had a good fried lunch. The server was awesome! Apparently we looked like we were in a hurry so she rushed us along. We weren't in as much of a hurry as we apparently looked. But it was good to have fast service! When we got off at the last exit before the airport for gas, it was raining and started to hail just slightly. I yelled, "NOOOO! We have to get under the gas station cover!" We hadn't gotten any extra insurance for the rental car. lol The last thing we needed was hail in our last 10 minutes with the car! No worries. The hail ended quickly.

No trouble returning the car and the shuttle from Alamo Car Rentals to the Portland International Airport departures was about half the time as it was to get to the car rental. That was a nice surprise! We had planned for at least 20 minutes since that's what it took to get there.

Nothing much different at the airport except TSA had black bands on their badges. There may have been more security but it wasn't overwhelming and getting through was just as fast. Though I have to acknowledge that we are both middle aged white women and have the privilege of not generally being the ones profiled. So others' experiences may have been different during this time particularly.

The flight was mostly uneventful. Just a bit of turbulence that made the flight attendants sit. I kept saying that as long as he was handling coffee, we were okay. Then he sat. Arrgh! Didn't last long though. Because of the plane switch, we missed our city bus and had to wait an extra 45 minutes. No big deal in general but the waiting time was beginning to add up and we were ready to just be home.

Finally home, all was intact… with the pungent smell of burlap still in the air! lol We made a quick trip to the post office and picked up a package…. a gift… from REI! Yes!

The Honeymoon was exactly as a Honeymoon should be! And now we settle back in to our lives!

Remember to move the clocks back an hour tonight!!

View from our room at the Elizabeth Street Inn

Friday, November 01, 2013

Honeymoon - Depoe Bay, OR - Day 4

Started the day in our usual fashion… breakfast with an ocean view. Then back up to our room to relax a little and make plans for the rest of our time in Oregon. Bozo found a great walk-in price for a hotel in Newport, OR, which is slightly closer to Portland International Airport, so we decided to head that direction. On our way out of town we stopped to take a few more photos of places we had been in Depoe Bay.

There is construction between Depoe Bay and Newport so it took us awhile to get here. It also made us change our plans because a couple of beaches we were considering were right where the construction and the long waits were happening.

We checked into the Elizabeth Street Inn with an awesome view of the ocean and then headed out to explore. We ended up at Nye Beach area and walked around looking at the little shops. We met a book seller at Books on Beach who recommended we check out the Sylvia Beach Hotel, which has all its rooms named after different authors with the appropriate decor to boot. It was great! No Karouac for me but there was Steinbeck. The best room was Agatha Christie with a wrap-a-round porch overlooking the ocean and a huge room.

We then followed the advice of the innkeeper at Channel House and headed to the Bay Blvd where we got a great view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge while enjoying seared tuna and grilled calamari at Local Ocean. Great atmosphere right across the street from the marina where they get much of their food and with garage doors that were open for some fresh, albeit fishy, air. We both realized that we'd not had grilled calamari before, only fried, and it was so so so good! It was served with poblano peppers so we also each got a little surprise burn in our first bite.

After dinner, a walk along the boulevard, and then a quick crossing of Yaquina Bay Bridge I finally got my Tillamook Ice Cream at Nye Beach Sweets. Not that I needed it or even that I really wanted it at that time. But if I was going to get Tillamook near Tillamook it had to be today. Creamy coconut with mudslide… yummy! Bozo got a children's sized mudslide. Wuss!

That's when the gluttony started. It continued when we folded to trying out the salmon chowder provided by the hotel as an appetizer. For us it was an evening snack I suppose. Then a few hours later they provided chocolate chip cookies and some coffee… decaf for us! I think there is something to our Honeymoon ending that is making us splurge in many ways. We're trying to make it last longer and we want to squeeze out every pleasure possible from our remaining time here.

We have tomorrow to make our way slowly from here to Portland and catch our plane at 5:30pm. It's nice not to have to rush!

Marina directly across the street from Local Ocean