After leaving Ashland, the rainy, even stormy, weather continued. Actually, that's not quite right. The day we left Ashland, we had beautiful weather as we drove a little bit into California and enjoyed the Redwoods. It had been quite a long time since I'd visited, and I can honestly say that Ronald Reagan was wrong: you see one redwood; you have emphatically NOT seen them all. They were quite immense, impressive, and wonderful. Now I know what it's like to be an ant. Perhaps if I get my bleep together, I will put up some pictures. The problem with this is that redwoods are not impressive without context. Perhaps I will use M for this purpose.
After leaving the redwoods, we headed back into Oregon and up to the little town of Brookings. Brookings is in what they call The Banana Belt of the Oregon Coast. True to form, it was beautiful and sunny when we arrived. However, by the next morning, no bananas could save us, and the rain and fog moved in with a vengeance. By the time we'd driven up the 101 to our next stop in Newport, there was practically a tropical storm blowing in.
We arrived at The Silvia Beach Hotel in 40mph winds. This is the kind of wind you can lean into and it almost holds you up. Fortunately, the hotel made up for the less than lovely weather. At one point, the hotel was just a seedy rooming house set right on the beach. However, new owners decided to turn it into a literary-themed hotel, and the rest is history. Each room is carefully decorated "in the style of" a given author. We stayed in the Jane Austen room which is done all in tiny roses with white furniture and a huge squashy chair. The chair sits in front of the window with a view of the beach and the lighthouse, and it even has a beautiful little embroidered footstool. I think I could sit there for days.
Dinner was wonderful, served in the hotel at family-style tables, and we even enjoyed the getting-to-know-you game of two truths and one lie. Breakfast was also quite tasty and a great deal at $8. Other than the need for a new mattress in the Jane Austen room, I would enthusiastically recommend The Sylvia Beach Hotel for any bibliophile, or any person who just wants a very quiet vacation.
Leaving the stormy coast, we headed up to Portland via McMinnville, Dundee, and Tigard. We stopped at a few wineries (I'll let M tell about that) and enjoyed the pastoral scenery. By the time we got to Portland, it was time to check into our hotel. We've been going to the Fifth Avenue Suites for a few years now, but this time they'd changed name and decor to become Hotel Monaco. We still found it to be clean, very pleasant and a good value for the middle of down town. Checked in and squared away, we set out for a new chocolate place called Cacao. Oh the drinking chocolate! They sell tiny little demitasse cups which is the perfect amount because this stuff is rich and delicious beyond belief.
Finally, we visited Powell’s (the world's best bookstore!), had dinner at the hotel restaurant (that's a whole other story), tasted some wines at "our" favorite wine bar, and then had a lovely breakfast at Mother's. All in all, Portland was a great way to cap off our vacation. We were home by 4pm, and it was actually very nice to finally get here. One of the best things about vacation is the way it re-energizes your enthusiasm for your own house (at least it does that for me). Unfortunately, now that we're home it's official: Summer is now half way gone!
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