Day 58 - (09/14) Newport, OR

We said goodbye to our Portland family and hit the road again at 9:15am.  It was overcast most of the day.  The sky cleared occasionally as we climbed to higher elevations near the coast.

We saw a lot of this before noon.

We stopped at the Blacktail Café in Cloverdale for lunch (see Day 38 on 8/25 for our first experience there).  This time was like stopping to see an old friend.  We talked with the owner’s mother and received some travel tips from another customer.  The server remembered us, the meal was delicious … and the service was still slow.  Try the pies if you ever stop here.  Carol had strawberry-rhubarb; Dick had apple.  We shared a single scoop of Tillamook vanilla ice cream (so it doesn’t count, right?).

We camped at South Beach State Park just south of Newport, OR.  It's right on the ocean and very nice.  Oregon has an outstanding park system and this is another example.

The camp site is large.  The path to the beach is right behind us.

This path is close and inviting.

A fog bank rolled in late in the afternoon.  Visibility quickly dropped to nil, but we continued to explore paths to the beach and jetty.  We saw little bits of the jetty and none of the beach.  Here's some of the journey.  

The path led us through this tunnel of trees.
(Notice: there is some light at the end of the tunnel)

Carol points the way at the jetty/beach path intersection.
(Notice: the fog is getting thicker.)

The path leads over the dunes and through the grass.
(There is an ocean over the hill, but we never see it.)

We saw a starfish on the jetty.

This is about all we saw of the Pacific Ocean.
(On a clear day we could see ...?)

After looking hard and seeing little, we decided to go to Newport for groceries.  Then we had dinner at The Chalet Pie Shop in Newport ... clam chowder and no pie (honest).


Carol was struggling with lingering flu symptoms, so we went to bed early.  Hopefully, we'll get a better view of our surroundings tomorrow.


Map Tracks
Start: Portland, Oregon
West on US-26 to OR-6
West on OR-6 to US-101 at Tillamook
South on US-101 to Newport, Oregon
End: 154 miles @ South Beach State Park - Newport, Oregon