Gold Beach, Coos Bay, Sea Lion Caves, Newport, Oregon June 17-19, 2013

We stopped for lunch at Gold Coast, Oregon at a funny little Bistro that had really good food.

Marion and I had a lot of fun shopping in Coos Bay, Oregon. I guess we got so excited shopping I didn't take any photos! I'll include the websites, so you can see.
Then we ate early at a nice Italian Restaurant and  we were the first ones there. As guests continued to drift in, one said he likes to come here and he is a chef in another town! Not only was the food good, it had a gold seal approval by the visiting chef.

On our way north of Coos Bay are the Sea Lion Caves, a real tourist stop. To get to the caves it was down a steep cliff, so we just shopped. I got my pink jacket here and Marion a sea lion.

The final stop on this blog is Newport, OR for lunch. I really had to talk Marion into stopping here and I must say, her instincts were right. But I'll eat about anything and I enjoyed watching the people.

Barnacle Bistro with a round ceiling!

Bears, How Cute!

Looking from our seat.

We sat in the corner! LOL
On the other side of the bar.

Over the check out cashier.

Old man in drift wood. "Like"

I found a Convention Center Hotel that is on a river leading to the ocean. They had REAL donuts, the Krispie Kreme kind with all the frosting and goo for breakfast. YUM! Someone told us that sometimes whales come upstream as far as the hotel, but I sorta doubt that, too far from the ocean and too many people along the way. We watched anyway, just in case. No, no whales that we could see. LOL

Looking east.The building is the
other end of our hotel.

Looking west. I don't think the
whales would come under this bridge.

The back of our room where
we watched for whales anyway!

They had the coffee pot on
a plastic "shelf". I took it
off and put our flower on it.

Our first shopping was to look for Myrtlewood. The tree only grows on the Northern California and Southern Oregon coast. We had seen signs along the highway that the factory was in Coos Bay. We found their outlet shop and watched a film documentary about the tree and how they carved it. It's especially hard wood and grows straight and tall. The tree rings make beautiful bowls.

http://www.oregonconnection.com//tour.php

My Daddy's mother is named Myrtle Brown James, she died in 1912 when Daddy was only 5 years old on Christmas Day. All the kids got for Christmas that year was an apple. The youngest, Uncle Phil was only 6 months old and he went to stay with grandparents. The older kids raised the younger ones on the farm and they have many stories of making biscuits so hard they could be used for bullets. My grandfather was also a Baptist preacher and he wouldn't let the kids use slang or misspoken language. He also encouraged them to read and Daddy and Uncle Phil were the first ones in the family to go to college. Daddy went to the University of Arkansas for a degree in agriculture, which Granddaddy just couldn't understand why he went to the hills to learn how to farm. LOL. Anyway, I probably bought more than I should have thinking about Myrtle, my grandmother.

Then we went to the Cranberry Candy Shop! Oh, my, we had so much fun as for every kind of candy, we could have a sample. EVERY KIND!!!!! And they had lots of kinds. I even bought some cranberry tea and cranberry soap! This time the "name connection" is my friend Marion who is traveling with me! She knew about the Marionberry and had tasted them, so we HAD to have some to take with us. 

http://www.cranberrysweets.com/index.html

"The Marionberry (or Marion blackberry) is a blackberry cultivar that was developed in Oregon's Marion County in the 1950's. Now the most widely cultivated blackberry, it is renowned for its robust and complex flavor. Oregon's lush Willamette Valley produces both fabulous Marionberries and Red Raspberries."

Even though we had snacked our way through the Cranberry Shop, we made our way to "Little Italy" restaurant for dinner.

This happy chef met
us at the door!

Beautiful decorations
and table settings.

Yummy salad.

I shared my salmon, Marion shared her fish.

The next day we ate at Burger King which is most unusual but I slip and have a burger every once in awhile. The reason I mention it here, is that it was the first time I have used the "100 Kinds of Soda" machine. Marion had to lead me through all the button pushing! LOL

http://www.coca-colafreestyle.com/

So we headed north on June 19th and stopped just north of Florence, Oregon at the Sea Lion Caves. The website shows the real seals. It was just too far down to walk to see them.
http://www.sealioncaves.com/

Marion's sea lion!!!! So soft and cuddly.

Looking south along the coast.

Looking north. See the walkway
and stairs down to the water edge?
We did NOT go down.

On the photo to the left, the little
area that juts out into the sea?
This is close up of the lighthouse.

At one of the stops along the way was this house with the unusual chimneys.

They may not look unusual to you.
I think it's a good design
to keep the rain out.

Opening on the side, not the top.

Our stop for lunch in Newport, Oregon.

Newport Cafe.

Not many people when we first got
there, but when we left, it was full.