#196 A Return for the Travel Blog

 A Book Recommendation

I recently read No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox (Flatiron Books, 2020) and I highly recommend the book. It is humorous, uplifting, engaging, easy to read, and enjoyable whether you have an association with Parkinson’s Disease or not, although if you do the book becomes more of everything. The book details many of the ways that Fox has dealt with a life changed by PD.

No Time Like the Future has been a great help to me in the nine months since being diagnosed with PD and starting treatment (meds). I’ve had to learn

— to take my meds consistently and on time,

— to live with dreams that are acted out during the night and Anne has learned to duck my wild punches and flailing,

— to learn to keep my mouth closed and to force myself to swallow to keep from drooling,

— to learn, since both PD and the meds cause constipation, that prunes are my friends, 

— that I can still play and enjoy golf, albeit at a different level, 

— to learn to practice furniture surfing, just to keep a handle on things, and 

— to accept the fact that as my PD progresses I will face many new challenges and to accept them with grace.

For more information: www.michaeljfox.org.

To those who have told me you missed not seeing the travel blog I apologize for the absence. There was a period of creative doldrums that I hope I am now getting over. The rest of this post is the real return of my Travel Blog.

Notes and Photos from Three Nights on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula

Finished with the Packing

At Bay City near Tillamook

Bee on Heather

North Point Lighthouse, Point Disappointment State Park, WA

Anne guards the ice cream from Scooper's in Long Beach.

A Contrast in Golf Clubs

On our recent trip to the Long Beach Peninsula on the Washington State coast, Anne and I (along with several thousand other end-of-summer vacationers) were blessed with a stretch of very pleasant weather. As the Willamette Valley was sweltering in ninety-plus heat, we enjoyed sunny weather with seventy degree temperatures with only light winds—perfect conditions for golf. Across the parking lot from our timeshare digs at the Surfside Worldmark Resort is Surfside golf Club, a 9-hole course we’ve played a couple of times before.

First Hole at Surfside

It’s been a hot, dry summer on the coast and the course was feeling the effects. Fairways were hard, baked out, and brown. But they played fast and were well cared for— we got plenty of run on good shots and sometimes too much run on bad shots. The rough was whispy and inconsistent, as you’d expect dry rough to be. Tee boxes and greens were in much better nick—I’d even call most of the greens excellent.

9th Hole at Surfside

Playing Surfside wasn’t like playing our manicured country club course, Arrowhead GC, but more like playing a Scottish links course at the height of summer. Fun golf on a beautiful day.

Contrast that golf with the next day’s play a few miles down the coast at Peninsula Golf Club in Long Beach. The first hole there was an indicator of the other eight holes. The first tee shot is over fifty yards of thick (some dry, some extremely wet) grass backed by a mucky, weed-choked creek. Beyond the creek was a dry grass and bare ground hillock. When we reached the green, part of it was green, but most of it was dirt patches. A couple of shots was enough to convince us that there was no way to tell which way your ball would bounce on the bumpy surface.

Peninsula Golf Club

Most of the course was in the same condition as the first hole—dry, wet (lose your ball in the tall wet grass), wild—the only constant was the course's inconsistency. We played our round in lovely weather and I even played well, but it wasn’t fun. The most interesting thing about the contrast of the two courses was something we found out later. The Surfside course has a much smaller grounds crew than the Peninsula course. 

Me on the 7th at Surfside

On the third day at the beach, as the weather turned cooler and damper, we went back to Surfside to play it again.

A Fortuitous Stop

After playing golf at Surfside on our first full day at the beach, we did a little exploring of the area. A surprise for us was the Cranberry Museum—a historical museum, gift shop, and 13 bogs of berries run as a project of Washington State University. 

Cranberries Beginning to Ripen

We got good information, some photos, and a taste of cranberry ice cream. The find of the day, though, was at the north end of Hwy 103 (the peninsula’s main road). There we stopped at the Oysterville Sea Farm, a retail outlet and cafe with great views of Willapa Bay across toward South Bend. 

The Long Beach Peninsula and Willapa Bay

I took a few pictures from outside the store/cafe and then we went in and shopped. As we paid for some soap and crackers (no, not to use together), the cook asked if we’d like some clam chowder…for free. Since it was the end of the day they were going to have to throw it out. Sure, we’ll help. He handed us two cups of rich, creamy, clam-filled delicious soup. 

View from Oysterville Sea Farm Patio

Anne again guarding the food--our free chowder/

I got some of my best pictures of the trip from the cafe patio and we learned that sometimes it pays to be late.

Great dinners of halibut and oysters at the Loose Kaboose in Long Beach.

The best sunset we got was on our first night.

NEXT: We'll hope for some good travels soon.

A Real Trip, Sort Of

Butteville, Oregon--We are on the road.

 

    This is a post about real travel, small though it may be. We got out of the house, drove our new car on a trip for the first time, visited with friends, went out to eat, played golf, and took a few photos. What joy! 

    This short trip to Seaside and environs on the north Oregon coast was the first time we had loaded our new Subaru Forester for an actual trip. 

The New Ride: A 2021 Subaru Forester Sport

Plenty of room, even though it’s slightly smaller than our other car, a Subaru Outback. The car was easy to drive and got relatively good mileage for a new car. We stopped in Newburg at the Coffee Cup to pick up a latte and scone for the road (a delicious habit of ours). 

Buying our coffee and scone at Coffee Cup in Newburg.

The scone is a large marionberry scone which reminds us of the type of scone we get in Scotland. Traffic on the backroad we take to the coast was fairly heavy for a mid-week September day and coast attractions were quite busy. I stopped a couple of times for photos, but for the most part just saw photo ops with no place to stop—a problem for almost all photographers. Our first planned stop was at Bear Creek Artichoke Farm north of Hebo and Beavercreek. 

Expensive, but delicious.

This is a good farm shop run by friendly staff and with a good variety of merchandise and food stuffs. We picked up a couple of fresh sweet and savory scones (raspberry, zucchini and parmesan) which would be lunch and tomorrow’s breakfast. 

    Twenty miles on we stopped to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory, one of the main attractions on the north Oregon coast. 

The visitor center was crowded, but people were masked and worked hard to keep socially distanced. The tasting bar was closed, but the retail shop was fully stocked, and free pre-packaged samples were given as you left the center. We stocked up on cheese curds and fudge, among other things. We next took our scones and cheese and had a picnic lunch Bay City County Park north of Garibaldi. 

The view from Bay City County Park.

The calm summery weather was a special treat. To top off our lunch we got lattes at a pleasant coffee shop, Manzanita News and Espresso. 

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

    

    Our two night stay was at Best Western Plus Seaside. Rooms were nice and clean with small kitchenettes, but expensive even for a resort area. 

View from our room at Best Western

Our friends, Gary and Carol Jo, were already checked in, so we dumped our stuff in our room and went to theirs for a visit and some pre-dinner snacks. We decided to go to Mo’s a few blocks away for dinner because they had available outside (protected) seating right on the promenade. 

Mo's has wonderful outside covered seating with great views.

Gary, Carol Jo, Anne and our food.

The guy and gal sitting behind us put on the evening's show.

My clam chowder came with a rainbow.

At dinner we felt some of the affects of the pandemic—Mo’s was significantly understaffed. Our dinners were delivered without regard to the fact that we were eating together—for instance, my garlic bread didn’t arrive until after I had finished my chowder. The saving grace of dinner was good company and a lovely sunset. 

    

Evening on Broadway in Seaside.

Late evening view of the Seaside promenade and beach.

The next day started with a breakfast of left overs (garlic bread and scones),fruit cups, and cheese curds. We wished we had known about the kitchenette ahead, but it wasn't listed clearly in the amenities of the room. Gary and Carol Jo had McDonalds and Starbucks take-away. 

Main activity for the day was a drive an hour and a quarter to a golf course in Oceanside (WA) to play nine holes. All the local courses were filled with tournaments. 

The Megler Bridge over the Columbia River from Astoria to Washington state is over four miles long.

The drive was pleasant and the course, Surfside GC, was friendly and funky. We finished golf just as the sea mist started rolling in. 

It was a fun activity for us all. Even the take-out lunch from Micky D’s shared in a car was enjoyable. We agreed to meet at 6:00 for dinner at Finn’s Fish House in the heart of Seaside. In the meantime, Anne and I got a little reading done at Starbucks and got a quick rest. Our dinner plans were perfect. 

Finn's Fish House

We only waited about fifteen minutes at Finn’s for a spot at one of their heated outside tables. Each us enjoyed our meals (my oysters were excellent) and the service was great—nice contrast to the previous dinner. In fact, we enjoyed dinner at Finn’s so much we met up again the next morning for breakfast there—nobody was disappointed. 

Hug Point State Park

    It wasn’t a big trip, but it was safe and away from home with friends. The affects of Covid were noticeable: many places had worker shortages, almost everyone wore masks, for the most part people keep reasonable distances from others. Business has adapted and most have survived. I look forward to more and bigger trips where everyone can travel safely.

Reflection from hotel windows onto the dunes.

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