This trip was given to us by our daughters, Anna and Katie, for our 30th anniversary. We received it in February but failed to call soon enough to get a king-bed room on the weekend of our choice. We were able to upgrade to a queen-bed room with a private bath down the hall (we had our own key) so we were happy. Anna felt we should not have had to pay extra for a worse room. Matt and I don't spend that much time in the room so we were happy. Plus, as Matt put it, it's nice to not have to deal with bathroom noise while in the room!
We took our first picture outside the car after we loaded it. Our plan was to leave about 10 AM (well, knowing us, 9:30 but we knew we would not make it) but found ourselves on the way to the Post Office at 10:59. Matt said at least we are on our way before 11. We stopped for coffee to go at Starbuck's so we actually didn't reach the highway until 11:15. As I was driving, I saw many cars with pink-tinted windshields but could never call them out soon enough for Matt to see them. Matt pointed out a long string of rail cars (the kind that look like they hold container boxes) on the right side of I-5. They went on for miles and some had trees lying across them, and bushes growing close to them.
We stopped in Toledo for gas and a rest stop. In the mini-mart, I saw an insulated holder that looked like a 6 pack and a disposable grill - it lights with a match and is already loaded with charcoal. Hopefully, one waits for the fire to cool before throwing it out.
We had two route choices to get to Wheeler: one through Longview and one through Aberdeen. Since they both were close in time and we wanted to get there without "touring", we chose Longview for the trip down. That's where I got hungry but nothing looked very good after we left I-5. We entered Oregon over the Lewis and Clark bridge, which is a new route for us. We finally stopped in Clakskanie for lunch at Colvin's ("There's always something good cooking at Colvin's" according to their sign). We were so hungry we deviated from our diet, with me having a chicken tender sandwich with tater tots (yum) and Matt choosing a club sandwith with potato salad. The servigs were so generous we took about half with us for dinner. Matt bought a mug.
On the Oregon side, we passed a lot of open country, treees, cows, and shorn sheep. We also saw wet spots on the road in various, odd places. We could not explain how just one area of the highway was wet, with no runoff in sight. It was like a localized rainstorm hit just a small area of highway. Plus, while we were driving downhill, we saw many, many signs that said "Yield center lane to uphill traffic". We only saw a couple of double lanes on our side when we hit an uphill section. I wondered if that meant we would be driving uphill more than downhill when we came back.
When we reached Seaside, we recalled Katie having visited there when we saw the Pig 'N Pancake sign (we have a coffee cup with that written on it). We texted her for suggestions about possibly eating there. On to Nehalem and then Wheeler - population 350.
We passed the hotel but kept on driving since we are slaves to MapQuest. It took us up a hill to another closed motel so we returned to the main street (still a highway) and the hotel. The entrance is a foyer with an elevator, and the hotel itself is upstairs. We received a nice tour of the premises. Our room is on the opposite end from the dining area but across from a sitting area.
It came with champagne and delicious chocolates! It had an electric fireplace! It had a TV that looked like a computer monitor!
It came with bathrobes so we can walk the 12 steps to our private bathroom! We were not sure how the bathroom separate from the bedroom situation would work out but Matt said it's better to not have it in the room since we weren't disturbed by any sounds. Pity the people in the room next door to our bathroom, having to deal with theirs and ours!
When we saw the dining area, we were told an elk herd should be arriving soon, to graze across the inlet.
Breakfast is served 8:00 - 10:30 AM which suits our schedule.
We drove back to Seaside for dinner, on Katie's recommendation to eat at the Bigfoot Brew and Pub. We drove into the main part of town first to look for a possible ice cream parlor dessert site. Outside of the Bigfoot, we ran into this charming fellow:
There was also a carving of Bigfoot I didn't notice him until after dinner. Our meal was fantastic and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone going near Seaside. We were able to split a 14 oz. Prime Rib, share a dinner salad and bread, and have our own starch and vegetables for just $3 more than the original Prime Rib dinner price. I heard Matt make an unsolicited yummy sound while eating his portion of steak. We drove back to the possible-ice-cream street but decided we were too full to stop and ended up picking up some soda and going back to the hotel, to our welcome room #6.
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