Here's the address to the houses for the beach weekend:
851 Happy Camp Rd, Netarts, OR 97143
Here's directions directly from the Portland Airport.
Here's a direct link to the beach house on google maps. From there you can click on the 'To Here' link and get directions door to door from your location.
And for the ultra-lazy, here's and embedded map:
Later
Here's what we got cooking:
That's it! You'll notice there's no hard liquor. So if you are a mixed drink, hard alcohol junkie, feel free to bring you own bottle. I'm also not sure what we're doing yet for soda's - so make sure you bring your mixer. I know my friends and I will be purchasing some bottles of all sorts of local brew for sampling so you won't be alone. The above is just some stuff we love and wanted to make sure our friends and family could taste!
We had to try the Barbera from Remy Wine last night. This was our favorite from the wine tour we went on during Memorial Day Weekend.
Heidi calls it a 'big red'. My Neanderthal, beer drinking self just calls it real real good. It's like no other red wine I've tasted and it's damn good!
I think that's a picture of her on the wine bottle? She's a private wine maker that makes small batches. She also uses a glass cork. Better for the environment, not only available from Portugal (current cork bark), etc. And that's what Oregonians like.
Later!
Another weekend passes. Strange how you have all these plans to get things done and end up asking yourself on Sunday night, "What did I do this weekend?".
Friday Heidi and I got our marriage license. Afterwards we stopped at Lucky Lab. Good brew. Cheap and moderately good eats. Drinking beer and eating food on the dog friendly back patio of the old sheetmetal warehouse was cozy. Afterwards as Heidi met up with her friend Cassandra, I drove back to into work thinking I might be able to help finalize the release. Guess it was easier to help by phone. Just missing the announcement by 1/2 hour and no one there I drank a beer in an empty, partially sunlit office and then left.
Saturday brought meal planning and a trip to New Seasons. Hopefully we can stick with the plan. After a nap, it was mow the lawn, increase the size of the fire pit, and finish setting up the new WRT350N router. Interesting to see how the remote attached storage, FTP, and media streaming works out. It states, "And you can get to your files from anywhere in the world through the Internet", but I think that just means access via FTP. After dinner by the fire I saw an awesome streak of a meteor, from the Perseid meteor shower, including a vapor trail across the night sky. Weird that being only 5 minutes from downtown and you can still see stars. Best viewing is supposed to be tonight.
Today we were up early for the Bridge Pedal. It still amazes me that this city closes down expressways for bicycles; 20,000 of them. Both the 405 and I-5 bridges close so that we can ride over them. We did the 24 mile, 8 bridge. I'm hoping to do the 10 bridge next year. Perhaps on a tandem. Heidi did well without much training; riding downtown this time (finally!) and almost making it back home. She had to stop on the climb up Terwilliger whilst I quickly pedaled home to get the truck and come back and get her. Not bad though for 30 miles and probably around 2000 feet of climbing for someone who never rides.
After the bridge pedal we hung around the Bite of Oregon for a couple of hours. Picked up a couple of CD from two good bands and sipped down a couple beers.
So the question is, is it going to be a keg of Hefeweizen or Okto for the Beach Weekend?
Later.
We figure we'll be feeding about 25ish people Fri night, Sat morning. Around 60ish people during the afternoon/evening on Sat. And 25ish Sun morning.
Friday Night
With people coming at various times we figured we just pickup some ready to bake pizza's to toss in the oven. Might be nice to pickup some dough/sauce/toppings for homemade ones as an option.
Saturday Morning Breakfast
You'll have options. Option A: Yogurt, granola, fresh fruit. Option B: French Toast made with cinnamon swirl bread, bacon, and champagne and OJ for mimosa's. All ingredients organic and picked up from New Seasons our favorite local organic grocery store.
Saturday Afternoon/Evening
I wanted to do a pig roast but apparently they only know how to do them Hawaiian style out here. While that would be cool, I doubt the property owners would want us digging a large pit Fri night to cook a pig in.
However we did run across a great guy who moved here from Texas named Charles. We spotted him a few Saturdays in a parking lot where he had a Texas style BBQ setup. We stopped and had some beef brisket, corn on the cob and started talking. He does catering on weekends and if he's not doing that then he sets up in the parking lot for folks to drive by, stop in and order. He has a normal job during the week and does this on weekends.
So Saturday, Charles, will be cooking us up some great BBQ.
3 meats:
Sides
Dessert
Heidi's friend Lisa just opened a cupcake bakery in the trendy downtown area of Portland, the Pearl District, called Cupcake Jones. She'll be baking us 60 jumbo filled and 100 mini cupcakes. A whole variety, heavy on the downtown chocolate brown and carrot cake.
Sunday Morning
Most folks will be leaving this morning to head home. We figured there would be enough leftovers from Sat breakfast, cold pizza, and BBQ to have a breakfast at the houses. Either that or we could head into town.
Sunday Night & Mon Morning
More leftovers and fend for yourself. There will be only one house and I'm not sure who's staying Sunday night except me and Heidi! But you're more than welcome if you don't have to be to work on Monday.
Drinks
We will be picking up a case of Sparkling Wine and a case of Oregon Wine (maybe two or a mixture of red and white - although Pinot Noir is the big thing here). For beer, I'm thinking of getting a keg. Of what I'm not sure yet. Something from around here. The short list right now is something from Raccoon Lodge Blonde Bock or Seasonal, Widmer Hefeweizen, and Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR) Black Butte Porter or Seasonal. Although a keg only serves 200 beers, which I don't think will cover everyone. Not to mention the small party which will no doubt occur on Friday night. For that we'll have to BYOB and fill the rest out with bottles or your own personal favorite.
What else?
That should cover it. Of course, if you see something we are missing, feel free to bring it. You may also have snacks or whatever you want to bring. The kitchen is fully stocked with pots, pans, silverware, cooking utensils, etc. So bring what you like and we'll figure it out.
Later.
Part 1 - Eugene, Florence & Yachats
After a Friday night at the 20th Oregon Brewfest we got a late start getting to the beach on Saturday. We've been wanting to do some recon on the houses we're renting for the party in September. Another excuse to go was that Zach (Coin of the Realm) was playing at the Drift Inn again Saturday night in Yachats. We didn't get to the beach until 4 PM; a 2 hour drive to Eugene where we stopped and had lunch with Olivia, then a 1 hour drive from Eugene to Florence.
Florence has some great sand dunes. Need to check this out someday. They've got ATV and dune buggy rentals or you can even try sand boarding. After we checked into the B&B, we opted for walking over 1 large dune and laying on the beach which was surprisingly warm. Make that hot (seemed alot hotter than 74).
After that we headed to Drift Inn for some music and food. Ate way too much again here... again. Can't go wrong with the Marionberry cobbler al a mode.
We gorged again in the morning with the 5 course breakfast. Edwin K B&B. Great food. Decor a little girlyish (example: note the teddy bear below). Great storytelling from Marv. Interesting bathroom with no door. Nice showerhead and whirlpool.
The drive from Florence to Netarts is mostly highway 101. This is a national scenic route and I can't stop saying enough about how great the coast drive is. It gets even better when you drive off 101 and head towards Netarts.
We came across a deer in the middle of the road in Netarts Bay.
The 3 houses are right next to each other and right up on the beach. Here's the view of the houses from the beach.
Looks like there's going to be plenty of parking and the houses themselves are actually on pylons.
The houses are right at the mouth of Netarts Bay. Here's a look west to the Pacific Ocean.
And a little 360 degree video (the wind was strong that day)
A small 1/4 mile walk up the beach you can see Three Arch Rocks.
People were flying kites...
And boogie boarding
We came across multiple fire pits along the beach and I've yet to do this so I'm looking forward to a nice beach bonfire that weekend. You'll also find a stream coming straight out of the side of the mountain and onto the beach.
I think we're going to have a good time that weekend.
On our way home to Portland. The final leg of this journey, we stopped in Tillamook and picked up some smoked salmon and beef jerky at Debbie D's. You can stop here as well (or during the weekend since Tillamook is only 8 mi / 14 min away).
Later.
