Newport Seafood and Wine Festival

We ventured to the coast this last weekend for a romantic getaway. We stayed at the Anchor Pier Lodge in the Ocean's Edge room. The room was excellent, right on the bayfront (Yaquina Bay). They just have a few rooms and the place was just built 3 years ago. The place is very clean and they do not allow smoking. It was a package deal with a boat ride across the bay to the festival. The room had a guestbook which was full of glowing comments from people staying in the room on their anniversaries and honeymoons.

It's a working bay, so there's a bit of noise (boats, seagulls, sea lions). When we checked into the room, the lady pointed out sound control near the bathroom. We laughed when we figured out that 'sound control' consists of a small hook with bags of earplugs.

We didn't know what to expect from the festival itself. But I think we both agree that we'll give it a miss in years to come. Wall to wall people, not that much seafood, and not much fresh air. Even though food was obviously not the focus of the festival, we found some good local oysters, crab, bay shrimp, and sushi.

From the deck attached to our room, we watched a wonderful sunrise (wasn't too cloudy). Evenings after the festival were busy along the bayfront, but we managed to secure a reservation at the Saffron Salmon, a lovely and quiet local restaurant. Thanks for the recommendation Shannon, you were spot on! For appetizers, we had a crab salad, shoestring fries, and the best clam chowder either of us had ever had. For main courses, Misty had the risotto with shrimp (creamy risotto with butternut squash, dried cherries, sage, goat cheese and fried prosciutto), and I had a seafood soup (a spicy seafood stew with mussels, white prawns, white fish and dungeness crab in a stock with saffron, tomato, and root vegetables). We also couldn't resist the creme brulee for dessert.

Rather than stick with the masses, we walked along the boardwalk and tried our hands at some night photography with long exposure times.

Sunday morning breakfast at 'Arr Place was much better than Saturday's at the Whale Tail on the bayfront (avoid if you like food). 'Arr Place has the most friendly folks running the place and a salt and pepper shaker collection adorning the walls that they let people pick from and use. We used a cute set of lemon shakers.

We drove back Sunday, first by heading north and visiting the beach during low tide. Taking the scenic route, we ended up at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We even drove right by Camp Meriwether, where I visited as a young boy scout. The cheese factory is a fun place to visit, but there's not much work going on during the weekend. We bought some cheese, had a nice lunch (they make great cheeseburgers), and got some fantastic ice cream. The rest of the drive home through Portland was uneventful.

All in all, a wonderful weekend trip.