Exploring was the scheduled activity today so after showers, fortified coffee and an egg, tater and bratwurst scramble we boarded our wonderful pickup truck and got going. Weirdly, we started out by going a couple miles north to the Rogue Brewery Pub and Restaurant where, after finding our way through the idiot confusing maze of the manufacturing area, we climbed our last set of steps where we found the pub.
They had about 30 varieties of beer on tap but we stayed pretty close to our porter preference with Peggy getting an oatmeal stout and I had them pull a caramel porter. Mine was quite tasty. We did not intend to eat at the brewery but their appetizer menu had something called fried curds which we tried. Fried curds, despite the repugnant sound, are beer batter fried and served with a jalapeno jelly which, combined with the curds, was fantastic. The waiter must have liked us because he took $2 off our bill for some unknown reason and the resulting total cost was less than $20.
We finally left the brewery and drove out along the south jetty of Yaquina Bay which is the name of the river as it passes Newport. It was clear and sunny today but quite windy so the jetty turned out to not be the place to get out of the truck. A bit later we got onto 101 south back down to Seal Rock for a different view of the ocean. We spotted some whale spouts and little boats getting tossed around in the rough ocean.
We decided to move along and went into the Beaver Creek Natural Area, a state refuge, for a spin on roads going east from 101 which are scarce around here due to the proximity of the coast range of mountains. Beaver Creek is an enormous estuary or slough area with loads of birds and at least one alpaca. We followed it away from 101 for a few miles but the roads turned to shit so we returned to the safety of out Barbarian Invader 5th wheel trailer for some much-needed napping and additional drinking. All around, it was a tough day and I hope to have many more.
Got a few pix you can see if you click here