Newport – Riveted

Sea Creatures on the Oregon Coast

Laura Domela — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 20:05:23 +0000

1. First we ate some sea creatures for lunch at the South Beach Fish Market:

We had razor clams, prawns, and halibut fish & chips.

2. Then, we headed over the Oregon Coast Aquarium to look at some sea creatures behind glass.

Behold, the giant octopus:

Sea nettles, and moon jellies:

Colorful anemones:

This one was about 10 inches across (or more):

I always wondered what sand dollars looked like when they were alive. They're purple, and fuzzy:

We were there for the 1pm feeding of the otters…always entertaining!

Backlit bat ray, taken from the tunnel in the "open waters" section of the "Passages of the Deep" exhibit:

Non-pictured sea creatures we also saw: puffins, sharks, sea lions, harbor seals, tons of starfish, halibut, a bunch of sea birds, and a really ugly but cool wolf eel (as he lunged for a fish!).

3. We stopped on our way home and picked up some sea creatures to eat for dinner. We got a couple pounds of clams that I plan to cook up with some garlic, white wine, and saffron, along with an arugula salad and that'll be that.

The sun is out and we're continuing the rest of our work day from camp:

A good day on the Oregon Coast!

Oregon Coast: Birthday Breakfast, Crab Dinner

Laura Domela — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:27:04 +0000

We headed up to Newport this morning and had a delicious breakfast at La Maison Cafe. We shared one order of Eggs Sardou (like a benedict, with poached eggs, bacon, artichoke hearts, and hollandaise atop home made english muffins) and one order of Crepes Chambord (crepes filled with artichoke hearts, thin-sliced ham, gruyere cheese, topped with an artichoke sauce. Everything was delicious (and totally low calorie, I'm sure). That's okay. We don't plan to be hungry again until dinner time.

We stopped here at South Beach Fish Market (as we usually do, just south of Newport) to get some fresh Oregon Dungeness crab for tonight's dinner, and some Oregon wild Chinook salmon for tomorrow night.

Cookin' crab out front:

Inside (it's usually really crowded at lunch time, but this was just after 10am):

Our truck was pretty dirty and we happened to see this car wash as we were passing through Waldport (at the Handy Haven combo RV Park and car wash). I don't think we've ever had a better automatic car wash. Well, it wasn't ALL automatic. The gentleman working there was fabulous and really gave a good scrubbing to our windshield and the grill to get the bugs off. I took this before I asked him if I could do a "real" portrait but he said he'd rather wait until we came back next time and he'd had a chance to shave and get a proper haircut. I thought he looked fabulous as is, but I told him I'd wait.

Seriously though, if you need your car or truck washed and you're passing through Waldport, give this place a shot.

Tonight we'll be cracking crab and sipping champagne (happy birthday to meeee!) and enjoying another gorgeous sunset here on the Oregon Coast. Life is great.

Portland — Newport — Florence

Laura Domela — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 01:16:39 +0000

This weekend we're in Florence for my Aunt Zelma's 100th birthday party. We left Portland and it was 102 degrees. We got to Newport and it was 59 degrees. It was sunny and gorgeous, but there was also this thick, fast-moving low bank of fog hugging the coast that was pretty cool to watch. In this bridge photo we're moving just out of it…at the top of the bridge we were above it. Hard to capture, but here's the shot:

We stopped in Newport and had some fish and chips at the South Beach Fish Market. Usually this is the place we get crab or crab sandwiches when we're camped nearby, but we decided to get some fish and chips instead this time.

We had halibut and prawns, and they were good. The fries were the weak link, for sure. They had a great horseradishy cocktail sauce for the prawns, and a basic tartar for the halibut. Okay, so…about the fish and chips thing. We've had some really good fish and chips, but I think we've figured out that "the best" fish and chips are usually the ones we're eating right now. Several places in a row, we thought "Hey, these might be the best, huh?" This time, though…nope. We were certain they were not the best. The fish and chips we had in Oak Harbor at Seabolt's Smoke House were better, and the fish and chips we had in Bandon at the Bandon Fish Market were better, and the fish and chips we had in Port Orford at Griff's on the Dock were better. So I think if the fish and chips are great, then the "best fish and chips you ever had" might be really hard to decide without a side-by-side taste test, and more often it seems like the best are just the ones you're having right now. But if they are just so-so, then you know right away. What do you think? What are your favorite fish and chips?

Also, what about all the "World Famous Clam Chowder"? We saw a billboard on the coast this time advertising "Nationally Famous Clam Chowder." Could this be a new honesty in clam chowder advertising happening here?