Day 25 – Newport, Oregon

We slowed down the activity schedule today.  I’ve been fighting a cold for a few days and needed a rest…kind of.

While Kathy did some internet research at the hospitality center, I took a walk out to the observation deck at the beach.

It looked like a band of sea fog a little bit off shore but on the beach, it was sunny and cool.

Mid-morning we walked back out to the deck and watched the water activity.  I watched this guy through the telephoto lens for a bit to see how he was fishing.

It appeared he was maybe jigging.  He was holding a single rod.  The markers in the water beyond the boat are for crab traps.  We also saw some blows from a couple whales in the same area the boats were fishing.

There were a few people out surfing as well.  That’s a chilly sport in this spot.

We decided to take a trip into town to eat lunch at a seafood place on the bay that was recommended to us.  We’ve got bikes, let’s use those.  So we took our bikes for a walk.  The biggest obstacle on our route is this bridge.  Seems like everywhere we stop, the campground is either on a mountain or valley or there's some other obstacle to biking.

No problem.  It has a sidewalk.  Unfortunately, the sidewalk was almost wide enough to walk on and with traffic whizzing past a foot away, a little spooky.  I will say the view from the bridge was nice.  There’s a large marina here with every kind of boat from the commercial fishing boat to the Northwest style runabout.

People throw out crab traps from the fishing pier here.  That’s what the ropes are attached to.

After walking the bikes over the bridge then racing down the hill to the bay shore, we arrived at the wharf area that has fishing docks and various restaurants and tourist businesses.

We had a nice lunch at a restaurant on the pier.  I had the seafood saute with a shrimp/cabbage salad and a cup of the best clam chowder on the planet.  The saute had clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops the size of golf balls in a garlic butter sauce.

This boat returned about the time we finished our lunch.

They apparently had some success.  This guy was cleaning something that was probably about 24” long.  I’m not familiar with the ocean fish.

I recognize the Dipsy Divers on the rods that are used in the Great Lakes for trolling.  The boat didn’t look like it was rigged for any kind of trolling. 

So it was time to make the return trip to the state park and another bridge crossing.  I passed the Coast Guard station here.

They’re claiming to be the Coast Guard City USA.

I think Grand Haven, Michigan makes that same claim.  So which is it?

I crossed the bridge on the ocean side on the way back.  It’s a great view out the channel.

There’s a bit of an obstacle across half the channel width.

On the way out the jetty to the campground trail, I noticed the Coast Guard towing the Coast Guard.  They even need assistance now and then.

The campground bicycle path runs about a half mile through the beach dune area.

It turns into the tunnel of trees as it winds through the wooded area near the campground.

So it was a lackluster kind of day.  I guess they can’t all be action packed.

It’s another road day tomorrow as we move a little further down the Pacific coast.