Oregon 2017 – Day 4

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

John Wise and Caroline Wise at Cannon Beach, Oregon

Let’s just call it a down day on which we sip coffee at the Sleepy Monk, eat, sit by the fireplace in our cabin, and walk along the beach when there are breaks in the rain. Later in the day, we drove down to Manzanita for dinner with Aubrey and Laura at the Blackbird Restaurant. I met Aubrey the year before at the Sleepy Monk, where he introduced himself after seeing my notebook with a ton of synth stickers plastered on it and told me of his recently acquired Black & Gold Shared System from MakeNoise.

Oregon 2017 – Day 3

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon

Down south in California, it is often cliffs, icicle plants, or wide-open beaches that greet you when you approach the ocean. Up north in Washington, it’s cliffs or forest between you and the ocean. Here in Oregon, it’s frequently sand dunes, cliffs, and lush swaying grasses that greet you. Tragically, back on the East Coast, it’s not uncommon for the Atlantic to be blocked with gaudy high rises, condos, and mansions that separate the visitor from gazing out upon the sea. In built-up areas where industry, be it a commercial enterprise, industrial tourism, or cities, has taken center stage next to the ocean, there is something abrasive when we are in its proximity, as when one approaches the ocean from a wild area, the entire sense of place of where we are going and what we are approaching takes a dramatic shift into the untamed and unknown.

Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon

Likewise, when we look inland and fail to see the trapping of civilization, there is a moment where our imagination suggests that the land ahead could go on forever into places that require discovery. Compare this to Daytona Beach, Florida, wherefrom the ocean you look and know an overcrowded ice cream shop with cranky tourists jostling for position in an attempt to justify the vacation through sweet indulgences because being somewhere is never good enough when it drags creatures of habit out of their routines. For those of us who enjoy travel as opposed to tourism, a scene such as this one above leaves nothing to be desired, except maybe more of the same quiet and unobstructed views that draw in our imaginations.

Caroline Wise at Pronto Pup in Rockaway Beach, Oregon

And just then reality crashes into the sublime with your wife going wild riding the wiener on a stick at The Original Pronto Pup in Rockaway Beach.

Ultimate Monster Burger at Newport Cafe in Newport, Oregon

While we could ride the wiener we couldn’t eat the wiener because they weren’t open yet, so we continued up the road because nothing satisfies quite like a FOUR POUND ULTIMATE MONSTER BURGER! I swore in my last blog post about this place that we’d try the 8-pound version next time it’s happening, even if I have to go and eat it all by myself.

Misty coastal Oregon

The Three Capes road through misty coastal forests on our way back up north to Cannon Beach. On sunny days, there are some great views up and down the coast from high above the ocean as you pass through.

Ardbeg Uiegadail Scotch at The Irish Table in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Caroline is about to indulge in a wee dram of Ardbeg Uiegadail Scotch at The Irish Table in Cannon Beach. Our friend, Willie from Scotland, later commented that this was in no way a “wee” dram but a rather large dram. Good food, drink, and scenery are all we need for a perfect getaway.

Oregon 2017 – Day 2

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

With the weather in our favor for this visit to Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, we were prepared to give this place the time it deserved. We were not in a rush to get anywhere else today, so we just might be here all day.

Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

Making our way deeper into the park.

Caroline Wise at Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

At some point, the trail split, and we headed down to the beach where Caroline found this trophy chunk of Styrofoam that we can now be confident won’t be a whale snack later this year. I don’t believe we have ever left a beach where Caroline doesn’t have a pocket full of trash. Sometimes, I think she’s busy with a myopic view of what’s in front of her feet as she looks for plastic and forgets to see the bigger picture. This probably has something to do with why she likes my photos so much, they allow her to see where she was.

Caroline Wise at Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

We have moved along to the upper trail with a great view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, though you may not know just how cool it was, seeing how I used my phone to take this photo. Someone sent a drone out there and shot this GREAT video! In the comments on the video is some history of being a lightkeeper on this desolate rock; read it here.

Caroline Wise at Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

The landscape is varied here at Ecola and is well worth the visit if the weather is on your side. On our first visit, the winds were howling, and the rain was shredding sideways.

Caroline Wise at Ecola State Park north of Cannon Beach, Oregon

We’ll need to make a third visit here so I can bring a proper camera, do justice to the finer details, and get the shots that might have worked with a better lens. It’s all still pretty beautiful and a great reminder of our time here.

Manhattan State Beach in Rockaway, Oregon

After lunch at a small cafe in Manzanita, we headed over to Manhattan Beach State Park in Rockaway Beach and took a long walk on a wide-open beach where we couldn’t see anyone else for miles.

Manhattan State Beach in Rockaway, Oregon

You walk along and think that you’ve pretty much seen it all, just beach and more beach, and then you run into something strange like these patterns and little sand islets. Just in front of me, you might be able to see that the water is greener; that’s because it is deeper right there, as though a pocket has been carved out of the beach.

Heading north back to Cannon Beach, Oregon

Getting later and hungry, it was time to return north for our reservation at the Wayfarer Restaurant.

A Manhattan at the Wayfarer Restaurant in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Facing the ocean is the Wayfarer Restaurant in Cannon Beach. Being on vacation and seeing they make them, Caroline opted to start with an Old Fashioned.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

After dinner, it was time for more walking; who could blame us when this was the scenery we were walking through?

Cannon Beach, Oregon

With the sunset, the temperature chills quickly, but the light lingers for a good long time. A full day and a perfect return to the Oregon coast for our first April visit.

Oregon 2017 – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Breakfast at Besaw's in Portland, Oregon

Left Phoenix on the last non-stop flight to Portland yesterday and stayed at the same mediocre motel we usually stay when coming into and leaving Oregon when arriving by plane. Breakfast was a return engagement at Besaw’s, where our first visit was memorable enough that it warranted our coming back.

Portland, Oregon

We were running late in Portland in part because we were not in a big hurry. We had some business to care for prior to getting out of town and heading for the coast. Unfortunately, we weren’t sacrificing so much time to be able to pay a visit to our favorite bookstore, Powell’s, maybe on our next visit.

Eurorack modules from Control Voltage in Portland, Oregon

When we were in Oregon just five months ago, I was dwelling long and hard about what Eurorack modules I should buy, and instead of being fully on vacation, I was half on my synthesizer back home, dreaming about what I could add to it when I finally got to Control Voltage in Portland. This time, it is getting pushed out of the way at the beginning of the trip, plus the shop is closed on Monday when we fly back to Phoenix.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

This is our home for the next four days. You might notice that we have typically been here in November, and you might also notice that we never stay in one place for four days. Due to my work taking the majority of my time in Phoenix and what it doesn’t eat, I give to my year-old synth habit. Caroline and I needed a quick getaway for some solid us time. With Cannon Beach growing on us during our previous visits, it seemed like a great spot to put down roots.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

We arrived during low tide; lucky us.

Caroline Wise at Cannon Beach, Oregon

The tide is so low that at most any other time, Caroline would be totally submerged trying to pose here.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Once again, we are enchanted with our good fortune to be at the sea. From our arrival at around 3:00 until dinner at 8:00 we walked and walked the length of the beach.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

With the shifting clouds and dramatically changing light, we are never bored of the views. Like November, here in late April, it’s like we have the place to ourselves.

John Wise and Caroline Wise at Cannon Beach, Oregon

Pardon the yellow tones that I couldn’t correct in this photo; I’ve been lazy of late with many of my photos and have used my phone for convenience. As I’m posting this, I’m realizing that I need to put an end to convenience and get back to serious business with quality images shot in RAW format. What is easy to see in this photo are the two happy people.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Ten minutes later, the view looked like this. I could have taken a thousand photos this afternoon.