Annual New Years Eve Trip to The Coast - 2002

I had to get some last minute business done in the morning, but at about 2:00 p.m., Mary and I left for the coast. We had rented a room at the Hallmark Hotel in Newport with a Jacuzzi, Fireplace and a view of the ocean. We drove down through Albany where we stopped for a sandwich, then out on Highway 34 to the coast. When we arrived in Newport, it was after 4:00 p.m. We registered at the hotel, took our "stuff" to the room and went out on the beach. There are a couple of ways down to the beach behind the hotel. The tide was out and there was a lot of wet sand between the hotel and the water. It was fairly pleasant, very little wind, about 52 degrees, and no rain. We walked a mile or so down the beach and then back. We then went next door for dinner at Georgie's.

We spent our New Year's Eve in the hotel room with the door open listening to the surf pounding below us and an occasional firework going off! Occasionally we would go out on the deck to watch the surf. The hotel had flood lights that faced out on the ocean. Such a beautiful site at night, seeing the waves come in with their rolling white caps. We opened out champagne just before midnight and toasted the new year in. We went to bed at about 12:30. OK, so we're just a couple of old fogies!

On New Years Day, we slept in until about 10:00 a.m. We got up, I made some coffee (for me . . . Mary doesn't drink coffee), we showered, packed up our "stuff" and loaded the car. Since it was so late, we decided to skip breakfast and went to Mo's. Every time Mary goes through Newport, she tells me she has to stop at Mo's for a bowl of their famous "Clam Chowder".

We checked out of the hotel and started driving north on Highway 101. We drove fairly slow and there was very little traffic. We stopped frequently to just look at the ocean. Before we got out of town, we had to make an emergency stop behind a car waiting for a pedestrian (no brake lights) and the car behind us managed to plow into us. Amazingly, there was no damage (that I could see) to our car . . . his had a broken headlight, parking light and there were some fluids leaking from under the hood. We exchanged information and we were soon under way again. We had to stop in Depoe Bay to look at the water flying up by the bridge. There was quite a storm and the wind was blowing hard by that time with gusts about 35 mph or so.

We drove slowly up the coast and instead of driving inland at Lincoln City, we decided to go north to Tillimook and back to Portland on Highway 6. The waves were huge as a new storm was pushing in, so we stopped several times to just watch the surf. We detoured into Pacific City to Bob Straub Park and walked out on the beach for a little bit.

It started to rain at that time, so we got back in the car to head on up to Tillimook. Instead of going back to Highway 101 from Pacific City, we took the Three Capes Loop. That road is a lot closer to the ocean.

At Tillamook, we headed inland on Highway 6, through Banks and home. It was a very pleasant two days. We hope to do it again next year and hope we can get the same room! By the way, we highly recommend that hotel.