We woke up late to a rain (shoot! left some beach towels “drying” outside), feeling cozy and thankful for the fiberglass tent. Not wanting to head to a wet beach, we slowly packed ourselves up and headed down to Beverly Beach, close to Newport. It was still too overcast to enjoy the beach once we got there, so we drove a little further into town, with the hope the famous Oregon Coast Aquarium would be open. It wasn’t, but that just gave us a reason to visit the historic Bayfront, where the famous California sea lions can be heard long before they can be seen.
I spotted a shabby shack that just screamed “fish-n-chips to die for”, and we were able to snag an outside table. Maybe the fact that we had no trouble getting any table there was an indication that authentic fishing décor does not good food make. Kyla, bravely, wanted to try oyster stew. In hindsight, I should have prevented it, but we want to encourage the kids to try new things—but I don’t like oysters, and when she didn’t like it, I found myself eating her lunch, giving my fish tacos to Dwayne, so that Kyla could have Dwayne’s fish-n-chips. You know the endgame: Mama loses.
But it was a fun part of town. Between the fishing boats and seafood processing plants, industry mixed with ocean tchotchkes and salt water taffy. The aquarium, our first destination, was closed, as was the very inviting Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, but wandering the old town was a fun afternoon before we headed back toward tonight’s campsite.
Like yesterday, we packed up our dinner as quickly as we set up the trailer and headed to the beach. Dwayne did an extra walk to get us firewood, and the kids had their first beach bonfire. We actually found a spot outlined in driftwood benches that had a fire so recently that some coals still smoked under the sand. Which was particularly fortunate, because our campsite was a solid 10 minutes away…as were our matches. But between the previous coals and Dwayne’s smoldering good looks, he was able to start a blaze with his toothpick-sized kindling.
No magnet pulls a needle north more strongly than the ocean calls my children. Eventually, my cold, hungry, and happy children happily came back for hotdogs before returning to cliff climbing and hole digging. Dwayne kept building up the bonfire from half-burned driftwood, and we watched the sunset half-roasted ourselves. We saw teens go in surfing and come out cold to their family, so we invited them over to warm up at what was truly a vanity bonfire. Turns out, they are practically neighbors from back home, one town to the west of us. Fun coincidence.
Finally, it was fully dark and the beach almost empty. We gathered up our detritus and wearily, but satisfied with another adventure, made it back to our campsite and mostly fell into bed…taking a good part of the beach with us.
Needopedia 