We continued north up the Oregon coast in search of sour beer, salmonids, seafood, and cheese.  The stretch of coast from Newport to Astoria is simply awesome, and includes great stops like Netarts Bay,  Oceanside, Tillamook, Manzanita, and Cannon Beach, just to name a few.  The area is also home to several Oregon State Parks located right on the ocean, and it’s a great place to spend a few weeks camping with beautiful beaches only minutes from your campsite.  There’s a reason why they call it the “People’s Coast”.  And if you don’t know the story, the state of Oregon had the incredible foresight to pass the Oregon Beach Bill in 1967 that made the entire coast, up to 16 feet above mean low tide, available for the public’s recreational use.  And if you don’t think that means anything, just drive the coast from California north to Oregon and see for yourself.  It’s noticeable, and it’s meaningful.  The beaches are stunning, the sunsets are beautiful, and the access is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.  Who needs California, anyway?  Certainly not me.

Netarts Bay is a special place.   It’s fairly laid back, even by Oregon standards, and the area isn’t highly developed which lends to its charm.  The bay is teaming with oysters, and as you drive along the coast, there are a number of small roadside stands that sell them.  We opted to gobble down a half dozen raw oysters at the local seafood restaurant, Schooner Landing, and they were indeed delicious.  The bay is also home to the Jacobsen Salt Company, so we stopped by one morning to check out their operation.  Jacobsen withdraws water from the bay, turns the water into a brine, and then harvests the salt flakes by hand.  To support their manual labor, we purchased a 3-pack of basil, garlic, and rosemary salts, and they are indeed delicious.  We also were introduced to their mascot, Bucky, who lost his mom in a tragic accident out on the road.  The kind folks at Jacobsen took him in and have raised him since he was a little guy.  He begs for apples and loves to have his head scratched.  Very cool story…

The Tillamook Bay is  also a very cool area, although it’s developed much more extensively than Netarts, but in a very responsible way.  Tillamook is home to a few small breweries, and we managed to at least grab a beer at the Pelican Brewery location.  Unfortunately, the sour brewery, De Garde, was not open Mondays and Tuesdays so we didn’t get to try their highly-regarded beers.  We did the self-tour over at the Tillamook Creamery and had a blast sampling their cheeses and ice creams.  The Creamery is the hub of the town, and you should really make a point of visiting if you are ever in the area.  Apparently, the cows are so happy that they decide when they are going to be milked.  Yes, it’s a true story.  We stopped by the Naval Air Station to check out one of the few remaining blimp hangars, but it too was closed on Tuesday.  Apparently, beer and blimps do not mix.  Captain Sanden can change this, one beer at a time, and the world will be a better place.  Thanks for your service, Captain.

We spent a day driving around the very quaint and abutting towns of Oceanside, Manzanita, and Cannon Beach.  The towns get larger as you travel to the north and in the order listed above, but that doesn’t mean that Cannon Beach is large.  Each town has it’s own uniqueness and feel, and we enjoyed all three very much.  The area, in totality, reminded us of New England, right down to the architecture.  Note to self…this area should be explored much deeper, and it should be considered as a potential future home.  By the way, I’d like to thank Christine Glover, formerly with Smith, for turning me onto Manzanita.  You are spot-on, Christine (again).  This place has it going on for sure.

I managed to coerse MJ into allowing me to fish for a couple days, although it was at about this time that I began to realize I was too late for the salmon runs and too early for the winter steelhead runs.  This is getting old.  Regardless, it still beats working, so I managed to swing some flies in the Nestucca and Nehalem Rivers to work on perfecting my Snap-T.  These are small rivers by Oregon standards, but still very fishy nonetheless.  The water levels were low, and certainly not high enough to signal the winter steelhead that it was time.  All that said, I did manage to hook and play a very large salmon on the Nestucca.  All was going well until MJ reached for her camera, and you know what happened next.   The fish jumped out of the water and “pop”, she was gone.  Anyway, the “tug is the drug”, so I was content, at least for that point in time.  But wait a minute.  It’s the Salmon Superhighway and “everyone” catches fish on the Salmon Superhighway, don’t they?  Hang on, the rains, and the fish, are coming.  Be careful what you wish for, by the way.  The Pacific Northwest has a strong reptutation for its rain.

Next stop is Astoria, home of the Goonies and the Astoria Column.  Over and out.