Forever packing up

When my alarm went off this morning I heard some sort of fog horn off in the distance. It was pretty cool because it was still really dark and after having cruised the port area of Newport last night, I could sort of picture it down there, all fishing boat and lighthouse-y.

Yesterday started out as the first full sunshine day of my week here - most days I woke up to heavy... fog? Maybe just clouds and heavy mist. No rain really, just sort of beach mist, and then by afternoon it was sunny. But yesterday was awesome weather the whole day. I really kind of like it here.

Wednesday after work I drove south to Waldport and Yachats. I had been to Waldport - Shelley from Main's ex-husband has a house there that we stayed at a few years ago, and I was happy to recognize it as I cruised past. Yachats is about 26 miles south of Newport, and so I checked that out also, rather a quaint little burg. Very scenic the whole way down though, and it was kind of fun to see the areas I was actually closing this week.

Last night after work I was kind of ready to go back to the unit and read and get my stuff together, so on my way toward La Quinta, I decided to take a quick detour down toward the waterfront. Very cool. Crowded with tourists, but it was pretty cool down there. I have spent some time at the Newport Seafood and Wine festivals over the years, but it's always in February and let's face it, I was drunk most of the time. In the summer it's just really pretty. From there, I decided to loop up to the main part of town and get some dinner to take back to the room, but I ended up taking a wrong turn and wound up going east on Hwy 20, toward Toledo. A lot of people that work in the branch live there, it's about 7 miles east of Newport, so I figured I might as well check it out. That's not a bad little town either, lots of steep (I mean steep, like I was kinda scared to drive down them when I found myself trapped on one) streets and stuff. I spent very little time there, wound back around to the 20 again, and then went back toward town.

So it's nice to see some of this stuff, you know, Oregon is a big state and I don't know that much of it. But I love the beach and this was a fun little junket, glad I got the opportunity, and am very glad to know the folks here in the Newport branch.

So now I will go finish my hair, pack the rest of suitcase, throw on some clothes and check out. It's the weekend almost, and I could use a beer.