The Labor Day weekend was upon us and we had to leave our beach-front RV park and head on down the coast to our new space at the Port of Newport Marina & RV Park. The city of Newport is all about seafood and we took advantage of our first opportunity for something to eat at Saffron Salmon. However, since it was just a little before 4:00pm and they didn’t open until 5 we decided to spend that hour across the street at Rogue Ales Public House, being that the Rogue brewery is located right here in Newport. The grilled Chinook salmon we both had at Saffron was very good – we just wish there had been more of it.

The first thing on our agenda the next morning was to drive back over the bridge with the motor home to Les Schwab Tire Center to get the two new tires we had ordered to replace the used tire that replaced our flat the week before. We also replaced it’s outside companion since it could have been damaged while supporting the entire weight of that axle end. Thirteen-hundred and eighty dollars later (yep, for two tires) we were back at our marina/RV park and ready to start the fun part of the day. We got a lot of good information about the area from Clay, our most excellent park host. He had come over the day we arrived and told us about the best places to eat, some of the must-see places along the coast and the best places to see whales. Instead of stopping at the bakery on our way to Depoe Bay, we came across the Newport Farmers Market where we picked up some yummy baked goods and a loaf of sourdough multi-grain bread. Karen used some of it to make french toast the next day which was quite good!

It was along the Otter Crest Loop scenic drive where Karen spotted the first of the many whales we would see this day. According to Clay, these gray whales live here year-round due to the abundant food supply. The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is the tallest one on the Oregon coast and we saw even more whales here.

The next day we drove south along the coast, through Yachats, where we found another farmers market, to Florence, where we had a grilled salmon lunch at a sidewalk table at the Bridgewater Restaurant. We saw more of the incredibly scenic coast, more whales, more Conde McCullough bridges and just a little bit of the great sand dunes south of Florence. We’re sure it is a very different place here during the winter storms and we’d like to come back and see that drama someday.