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Memorial Day on the Oregon coast
May. 24th, 2008 01:41 pmSo, after a week at home to relax after the end of school for the year, we've taken our annual trip to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. And this year? We actually have a nice day! Sunny! Warm! So warm, that one only needed a sweater on the beach--and it might get warm enough this afternoon to actually wear a swimsuit with nothing on top of it! It's been years since it's gotten that warm while we're here for the weekend.
We always come to the Nelscott area--it's one of those little towns that got incorporated into Lincoln City a while back, along Highway 101. The beach is beautiful and huge, and there are mostly condos and vacation homes instead of hotels along the beach, so the population density on the beach is fairly low. For those of you not familiar with Oregon, beaches are all public property, owned by the department of transportation. You can own the land right along to the beach, and not allow any access across your property, but the beach itself is open to everyone, and they're usually pretty good about regular public access points to the nice beaches. (The beach technically belongs to the department of Transportation, not Parks and Rec, for some odd reason.) ANyway, the other thing about the Oregon coast is that the water is incredibly cold--as in, even in the height of summer, your feet go completely numb after a few minutes of wading. Also, the ocean is powerful. You really have to respect it. Even on the calmest days, it's never going to be gentle. The Coast Guard makes all it's people do training rotations in Oregon, because if they can handle the Oregon coast, they can handle any US coastal waters anywhere.
By the way: the Dory Cove was a restaurant that always had the best chowder anywhere--and the rest of the food was awesome too. They never took reservations, and there was always a huge line to get in. It burned down a couple years ago, and the owners were retirement age so they just took the insurance money and didn't start it up again. BUT. The cook and the whole staff took the recipes and opened up their own restaurant with the same menu and recipes. It's called Captain Ron's, and it's here in Nelscott (Lincoln City) along Highway 101. Highly recommended. Check it out, if you're ever in the area.
The hard thing is that this is the first Memorial Day Weekend without Grandpa. We've always come over with Dad's parents and Aunt Jackie. Every year we came back to the same motel, until it was too hard for Grandpa--it wasn't very handicap accessible, so we switched to a new hotel, which was better. Except ... this year, he's not here. And that's hard.
We always come to the Nelscott area--it's one of those little towns that got incorporated into Lincoln City a while back, along Highway 101. The beach is beautiful and huge, and there are mostly condos and vacation homes instead of hotels along the beach, so the population density on the beach is fairly low. For those of you not familiar with Oregon, beaches are all public property, owned by the department of transportation. You can own the land right along to the beach, and not allow any access across your property, but the beach itself is open to everyone, and they're usually pretty good about regular public access points to the nice beaches. (The beach technically belongs to the department of Transportation, not Parks and Rec, for some odd reason.) ANyway, the other thing about the Oregon coast is that the water is incredibly cold--as in, even in the height of summer, your feet go completely numb after a few minutes of wading. Also, the ocean is powerful. You really have to respect it. Even on the calmest days, it's never going to be gentle. The Coast Guard makes all it's people do training rotations in Oregon, because if they can handle the Oregon coast, they can handle any US coastal waters anywhere.
By the way: the Dory Cove was a restaurant that always had the best chowder anywhere--and the rest of the food was awesome too. They never took reservations, and there was always a huge line to get in. It burned down a couple years ago, and the owners were retirement age so they just took the insurance money and didn't start it up again. BUT. The cook and the whole staff took the recipes and opened up their own restaurant with the same menu and recipes. It's called Captain Ron's, and it's here in Nelscott (Lincoln City) along Highway 101. Highly recommended. Check it out, if you're ever in the area.
The hard thing is that this is the first Memorial Day Weekend without Grandpa. We've always come over with Dad's parents and Aunt Jackie. Every year we came back to the same motel, until it was too hard for Grandpa--it wasn't very handicap accessible, so we switched to a new hotel, which was better. Except ... this year, he's not here. And that's hard.
