Waldport – Riveted

Whoa. Sunset.

Laura Domela — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 22:41:15 +0000

Alsea Bay, Oregon.

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!

Waldport and Alsea Bay, Oregon

Laura Domela — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 19:35:28 +0000

Today we're in Waldport, camped out on the Alsea Bay. Not too much to report today, since mainly we're just working. We took some time mid-day to walk around town a bit though. We walked over the Alsea Bay Bridge and back, through the main part of town, along the beach, and then back to the Airstream. Our walk was just over 4 miles, and I think we've got a pretty good idea of the area. Here are some snaps from the walk:

Lint Slough:

Screaming monkey driftwood:

The Alsea Bay Bridge:

Bridge detail:

Bramble:

Pattern below the bridge:

Okay this lot of sea lions was the QUIETEST, MOST STILL group of sea lions I've ever seen. Ever. They could have all been dead for all we knew. Seriously. I saw one move though, so they probably were just post-fish-gorge-napping here:

Back at our quiet camp working now for the rest of the day.

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.