The Wayward Celt

For most people a spontaneous trip on the weekend may occur within hours of the idea… us? Well, sitting at dinner on Friday night we checked some internet sites as we began talking and researching a weekend trip out to the coast. Knowing that this was also 75% of the rest of Oregon’s plan, we figured a jaunt out on Saturday and back on Monday to a lesser frequented area would likely get us the best rate with the fewest people… and we were right!

We ended up at the Salishan Golf & Spa resort a few miles north of Depoe Bay and a few south of Lincoln City. With the full intent of ‘doing nothing’ on our agenda, the smaller towns didn’t matter much, as the resort’s restaurants offered just what we’d need between a Saturday mid day arrival and Monday midday departure. I have to say, the chef and service staff in the Steak House, the Attic Lounge, and the Clubhouse Grill were outstanding and the food was of impeccable quality. In all honesty, I was a bit surprised at the high quality, being a ‘resort’ destination I expected the typical banquet type kitchen fare and quality. Not so. The kitchen for the Steak house and Attic was putting out some standard dishes with decidedly non-standard exceptional quality. And with a 40 page wine list, how can you go wrong? 🙂

So, plus one for great food… and plus two for the other part of our plan: get out of a 90 degree weekend in-land. The coast is THE place to be when Portland just into the 90’s, and this past weekend it didn’t disappoint. Saturday treated us to a comfortable 71, then Sunday was bobbing around the mid 60’s, and Monday didn’t top 57 degrees by the time we left around 1pm. Ah, climate bliss. Which actually scores a third point for us as well: avoiding painting the hallway/guest bath/pantry/loft in 95 degrees. Avoidance achieved!

The only real down side to the whole trip was the unavoidable traffic to and from. What should have been an easy 2 hour drive stretched into 3 going out and 3.5 coming back. Of course I DID expect it, so it wasn’t too rough. Still traffic isn’t exactly fun, so it wasn’t a nice drive either.
And, because our whole intent was to do nothing this weekend, I didn’t get many photos of the area or sights. I’d had hoped to get some good shots of Depoe Bay entrenched in fog as it normally is, but by the time we got there Monday on our way home, the fog had already dissipated to just a gray pall. Not really the dramatic effect I’d been looking for. On the upside, however, we stumbled across another covered bridge sign on our way out to the coast, and made a point to swing by it on our way back. We can now cross off Drift Falls covered bridge from our list of covered bridges to see in Oregon…

In any case, I leave you with some shots from the weekend:

This past weekend my sister-in-law and mother-in-law arrived for a ten day vacation.  Saturday was spent relaxing around the house, but Sunday we decided to take a quick day trip up to Timberline Loge on Mount Hood for lunch and a trip up the mountain on the chairlift.

I don’t recall much of the chairlift as my eyes were closed for the larger part of the ride up, and even more so on the ride back down… still I was able ot get a few good pictures on the trip:

A whirlwind trip to Vancouver BC was in the cards for last weekend. Not having more than a vague idea of where we were staying we embarked on the 6 hour drive up with no itinerary and no commitments. I packed my camera, of course, as I knew there would be some great photo opportunities.

We tackled BC like we tackle Portland and any other city we visit: we ate and drank our way through with reckless abandon. Ok, maybe “through” is a bit of a misnomer, as we seemed to gravitate to the Gastown district for 3 of our 6 meals in the city. We dined at L’Abbatoir, Irish Heather, and Salty Tongue… and drank at Shebeen Whisk(e)y House (which had Compass Box’ first bottlings of the Oak Cross and Peat Monster, so naturally I had to imbibe in the Oak Cross). All places stellar in their own right, even if the latter three of the four share a common kitchen.

In between our dining excursions on Saturday we ran about the Vancouver Aquarium, and found our way to three lighthouses: Port Atkinson, Brockton Point, and Prospect Point. The latter two light houses are found on the sea wall of Stanley Park which is also home to the Aquarium.

Out of 461 photos I shot over the course of our trip between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, only 17 were really worth sharing. I’ll admit, however, that I am surprised there were even 17, as I was having lighting issues: either too little with too much motion, or far too much back-light from mid-afternoon sun. In either case, I hope you enjoy some of the following colour and light-corrected images I captured… as always, click the thumbnail to get to the larger attachment page, and again for an even larger version: