A day at the beach – Newport, OR

We took a quick visit out to the Oregon coast recently, it’s been unpleasantly hot here in the high desert of Oregon plus it had been ages since we’d been out to the ocean.

It wasn’t a hard sell – I said “We should go to the coast soon” to which she opened her calendar and after a minute responded “I have Tuesday to Thursday free next week”

But where to go?

Most of the time when we go to the coast we stay to the north. Lincoln City is the big tourist town (and casino) or we have a family friend who makes us a super deal on their ‘beach house’ in Seaside if their family isn’t using it. Not ON the beach but AT the beach. 

Seaside is pretty walkable and there are several good restaurants to choose from right in the downtown area but we’ve stopped there for our last couple of trips.

Lincoln City really seems to be the peak of tourist activity and July is not a good time to go have a relaxing break.  Especially if you’re on a weekend as Seaside and Lincoln City are the two most popular destinations for PDX-Metro residents; both being within a pretty easy 2 hour drive even if you live on the east side

A short drive

For us here in central Oregon the drive time to Lincoln City and Newport are essentially equal; 3-½ hours (ish). We hadn’t been to Newport for quite a long-time so I booked a two night stay in a condo at The Embarcadero. We had stayed there once many years ago and it wasn’t a horrible experience (LOL, it was actually fine but we were there in the fall and the wind across the harbor made the balcony pretty much unusable)

We had a leisurely trip out since we couldn’t check in until 4; we had a late start and also took ‘the long route’ so we could stop at Spirit Mountain Casino for our lunch and stretch-the-legs break

Sadly, we did NOT win enough to pay for the trip but had a pretty respectable lunch in Jalapenos. I did not have high hopes for the $11 burrito based on our recent food truck experiences but, holy smokes, that thing was a monster.

She ordered the steak quesadilla and managed to eat about ¼ of it. We honestly could have ordered the quesadilla and a side of rice and beans to split between the 2 of us and been fine. 

A return to The Embarcadero Resort

The apartment at The Embarcadero was spare but functional, TV, couch, recliner, king bed. The kitchenette was a bit basic – microwave, coffee maker and some dinnerware. Plus a corkscrew and 2 forks. Literally, that was the extent of utensils.

I did suggest in my review that a couple of spoons would be a really nice touch for future guests. Especially since they did provide cereal/soup bowls. But, ‘Two forks and a corkscrew’ would be a good name for a power rock trio……

I like The Embarcadero for two main reasons – You have a great view of the harbor and bridge from most of the balconies and you can get there easily without having to deal with traffic in ‘old town’.

We have never explored most of the city of Newport, only the bayfront and the aquarium. 

Although we didn’t take advantage of any of the facilities this trip The Embarcadero does have an indoor pool, sauna, crab cooking facility and a nice little dock as well as a meeting room that can be reserved (rented? We didn’t check). I thought they also rented crab pots but don’t see that on the website

What do the tourists do?

We skipped the Oregon Coast Aquarium this time because we’ve done it a few times but if we had been traveling with the grands it would have been a must see. It’s a really interesting experience, especially if you have kids along. We also skipped the silliness of Ripley’s; I’m sure some people love it but it’s just not our jam.

We did spend an enjoyable and educational hour and half or so at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center.  There’s quite a story to the building itself and its history as a private home, a nightclub and now the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center.

The stairway in the main entry hall dates back to the old house that was here; upstairs right now is dedicated to a seaweed exhibit. Which was way more interesting than it sounds although I apparently took only a single picture <weird>

There are several display galleries and the center is mainly focused on the commercial fishing trade in the area. Display cases hold boat models and old equipment ranging from radios to fishing lures. I learned a few things about the local fishing industry and got a much better sense of the history. Much of the information is in printed format so younger kids may not get as much out of it

Don’t forget to look up; there are displays on the railings in the main gallery, too

Downstairs there is a theater with a self-selection screen to choose from any of 15 films. We only watched 2 of them as it was getting on to lunch-time and also its dimly lit with relatively comfy seating so I actually dozed off during the second one

Feed me !

A Twitter friend had suggested Local Ocean when I mentioned going to Newport. It’s on the end of the old bayfront, effectively next door to the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center (PMHC is on the hill above one of the dockworkers parking lots) 

Wow. Definitely have a meal here if you get a chance. It was a bit over our typical budget point; with the included 20% service charge it was $110 so that one meal was basically 25% of our entire monthly ‘going out for meals’ budget. Totally worth it to have to scale back for the rest of the month. Not even sorry.

We did small plates because decisions are hard and it all looked so good. We went in three phases since we didn’t have any frame of reference for serving sizes.

First up was Roasted Garlic Dungeness Crab Soup and a Dungeness Crab Cake.

The soup was outstanding and the crab cake….. Well, she’s been on a search for the ultimate crab cake for a very long-time and for 18 years now every one has been compared to an experience at Bellagio in Vegas. This one was judged to be next best and the only reason she could give was that the champ had ‘big ol’ chunks of crab’ (and was, honestly, probably 30% larger) and this one had small chunks. To be fair, this one was $11 in today’s money and the champ was $13.50 in 2005 dollars (approx $30 in today’s buying power).

We moved on to the Grilled Albacore Tuna Kebabs

and Weathervane Scallops as course number two.

Both of these are very nice but we made the mistake of working on the tuna first. I only say ‘mistake‘ because the tuna has a pretty bold flavor profile, so the scallops, being extremely mild, were a bit of a letdown. Totally our fault, not even sure what I was thinking.

Dessert was going to be a stretch but an effort we had to make. Specialty of the day was Oregon Cherry and Goat Cheese ice cream so we HAD to try that.

There was also an Avocado Chocolate Mousse Tart on the menu and I’m not one to pass on chocolate.

Although, ‘Avocado Chocolate’ seemed an odd way to go. I had visions of some kind of chocolate guacamole sort of thing. When it came out looking like any other chocolate mousse I confessed my initial thoughts and discovered that she was aware of avocado chocolate and it has to do with some magic involving replacing butter with avocado in the recipe. Huh. Now I know. I enjoyed the coffee as well. Very smooth and bold without being obnoxious

I was also impressed with our server’s patience. We were there for almost 2 hours, I saw several tables turn twice in the time we were there and I never got even the tiniest sense of being rushed. Even when she brought the check and I jokingly commented about getting out of her hair she was like “Oh, no worries at all. Would you like a refill on your coffee?” So, I tipped another 20% in cash to cover for the table that she would have served if we hadn’t stayed so long.

We’re at the coast, we should be at the beach

After lunch we headed a couple miles north to Agate Beach to walk some of it off and ‘be at the beach’. If you are northbound on 101 from Newport the left turn to Agate Beach is not super clear so keep a sharp eye out. We kind of know the area but still missed it and had to double back

The beach is sheltered from Highway 101 by a mini forest strip and there are a couple of hotels along this stretch as well. But we didn’t see any agates. And very few shells along the surfline, honestly. We did find a few caches further up away from the surf; probably kids gathering them and parents refusing to carry away two pounds of assorted shells. 

We were there about an hour after low tide so the water was coming in. Of all the options – and there are a lot of choices of beach areas – we chose Agate Beach because it is very pleasant and seldom crowded. Even though it was 3 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon I had still expected a larger crowd since July is the heart of the season.

Somewhat surprised to arrive and find the parking lot maybe ⅓ full at most. The other cool thing about Agate Beach is that there actually is a good-sized parking lot and a pedestrian tunnel to get across Oceanview Dr. There is limited parking AT the beach but I’ve never seen an empty spot so we don’t even bother to try and save the 100 yards of walking from the paved area

It’s a beautiful long stretch of beach so it’s great for walking, especially at low tide. There are views to Yaquina Head lighthouse to the northwest of the beach

We didn’t bother with dinner that night; we were both still loaded up from lunch so a handful of chips and a couple of donut holes was the evening meal

Well, that was fun

Thursday morning we checked out and headed home. I am a big breakfast guy and the same person who recommended Local Ocean had also recommended Chalet Restaurant & Bakery. I was suspicious as we had done breakfast there before and weren’t overly impressed but it had been several years. So, let’s take a chance, right? 

We could have done better. I mean, we could have done worse as well. Chalet is unchanged, perhaps unchanging. The decor and ambiance is exactly what it was in the 1980’s and I can’t help but feel that they have survived this long on two strengths – nostalgia and the pies. Based on everything else we experienced I have to assume the pie is unchanged and I do recall it being damn fine pie. There’s also a sort of sense of history – “My parents took me to Chalet for breakfast when I was a kid so I’m taking my kids to Chalet for breakfast because it’s the family tradition”

Don’t misconstrue, the food is fine but it’s no kind of ‘culinary experience’. You don’t go to Chalet to be wowed; you go to Chalet because you KNOW exactly what you’re getting yourself into. My only complaint about my omelet was that I’m just not sold on the ‘steamed omelet’ concept. The fillings were good and plenty of them. Nice mushrooms and lots of bacon and pepperjack cheese. The biscuit was kind of the high point, actually. They’re very good.

Sandra had a pancake breakfast and when I asked how the pancakes were she said “They’re fine. They’re pancakes”  The coffee was atrocious, though. I added double the sugar and milk I usually would and still had to pass on the free refill.

What’s next?

We’re taking a day trip to Crater Lake later this week; hoping for some good landscapes

We’ll probably get out to the coast at least once more before we jet off on our new nomad life so, stay tuned for that.