Would you Relax Already?

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I find it completely outrageous that we have such a hard time relaxing! Perhaps a sign of go-go-go in our normal lives or that we have become totally addicted to fast everything - internet speed, restaurant service, entertainment, even sightseeing. Relax, already! Damn It! Relax!

We have now visited Crescent City, California and are in Winchester Bay, Oregon until tomorrow. Crescent City was beautiful. A beach-front community with easy access to the Redwood Forest. We took a leisurely drive through the beautiful old growth redwoods and stopped a couple of times to take photos. After that, we headed to the state park where the local lighthouse is found. Along the beach, we happened upon a fantastic tidal pool and I plucked a starfish from the sea! Totally cool!!

The lighthouse visit was beautiful - a blustery, windy experience with the solitude of a lone, white building. I peeked inside and saw a group of people, I imagine the lighthouse keeper among them, having a late lunch. My imagination ran wild thinking about living there in the lighthouse!

After that we dropped back by the hotel room and decided to head next door for happy hour and appetizers. We met a very nice bartender named Jill at the Northwoods Restaurant. Decent beers and a pretty nice bloody mary. Really loved the peel and eat shrimp that were a (free) part of the happy hour! We had a couple of drinks and worked our way through some lovely peel and eat shrimp for dinner.

We woke up the next morning and made our way further up the coast - finally crossing the Oregon state line. We stopped for breakfast at Mattie's Pancake House in Brookings, but neither of us actually had pancakes - eggs benedict and omelets rather - both of which were super yummy. The establishment was clearly family owned and the yound waitress gave us some helpful tips about where we were headed. I noticed her blue eye shadow and curiously that one of the chefs called her princess.

We continued on up the Oregon Coast and arrived in our next stop - Winchester Bay, Oregon. A tiny fishing and logging community, Winchester Bay is all of about ten blocks in total. Our motel room key is a actual key from Home Depot and our 'tour of the city' lasted all of about 15 minutes. I think both of us freaked out a bit at first - what about our internet access? What about activities? What the hell are we supposed to do out here? Only then did we realize that the answer is "relax!!" We toured the dunes and the local lighthouse here in Winchester and retired rather early last night.

We had a lazy day today, beginning with breakfast at Leona's Restaurant in Reedsport, Oregon. I so enjoyed this place, not necessarily because the breakfast was outstanding, but because the waitress was so lovely and friendly to us. She went above and beyond good service and recommended we tour a couple of the local beaches and state parks in Charleston and Coos Bay. Gorgeous, windswept stretches of sand beaches, jetties and bays. We visited small speciality shops filled with souvenirs and seafood markets with fresh tuna and raw oysters. One thing about oysters here: We keep looking for fresh oysters on the half shell but to no avail! The only ones available are in a big buckets, already shucked. So much for fresh seafood -- or so we thought.

We lucked out in Coos Bay at a local sushi restaurant....only to find out that they ship their seafood in from Portland. We still had a great stop with spicy tuna rolls and himachi sushi. The young waitress boasted how terrific her mom's kim chee was, so we sampled a small bowl along with sticky sushi rice. We ended the meal with ice cold watermelon. Beautiful family from South Korea who opened this restaurant about 20 years ago. A fellow patron overheard us mentioning that most seafood locally was breaded and deep fried - really a bummer! He mentioned a place where we are staying that specializes in grilled oysters! Hurray! and off we went. Unfortunately, the grilled seafood is only on the weekends...but the clerk suggested we try Fitzpatrick's Crabby Cafe. There, we had terrific cocktails, grilled oysters with a cajun dust, baby shrimp cocktail and raw oyster shooters made with Budweiser bear - how can you go wrong. Sitting to our immediate right at the bar was two guys and girl - both guys were local fisherman who were SO entertaining!! After dispelling the reality of "The Biggest Catch" television program and making a date to play Black Ops with Jim online, I realized we had finally had the real experience I had hoped for here! We also stopped for a cup of clam chowder and sourdough bread from the local joint across from our hotel.

Tomorrow we are off to Pacific City. We are happy to have access to a washer and dryer and will have the opportunity to cook as we are renting a house for two days! Can't wait!

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Comments

[Lynn J]

Great stories
I feel relaxed reading your blog--I don't know what is wrong with you guys! Sounds like a great trip--keep the blog entries coming!