Newport and "Uncle Marfa"

When we left the Portland area we headed back to the Oregon coast and to the town of Newport. Newport is a true, working port with hundreds of fishing, crabbing, and shrimping boats lining the docks where the Yaquina River meets the Pacific Ocean.

Our week in Newport was split between two stays –the first of which was at the port itself, which was no more than a parking lot tucked into the South side of the port. We had a beautiful view of Newport’s crazy high Yaquina River bridge and felt lucky to arrive on a stunningly sunny day when we could actually see beyond the bridge to the ocean. We realized later, when the clouds rolled in every other day we were there, how rare it was to have nothing but sunshine. The port hosts many long-term rv-ers, fish stench and all, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quiet and calm, albeit windy, atmosphere of the port parking lot.

The main draw of the Newport stop was to visit with family. Alex’s uncle and aunt, Bill and Martha, live just south of Newport and we had planned to see them plus visit with Alex’s parents for a few days after they flew in. But a covid resurgence, with particularly bad numbers in Oregon in late August, led both Bill (working in Alaska) and Alex’s parents to rethink their travel plans (understandably) and cancel their trips. Thankfully Martha still welcomed us with open arms!

Our first stop was the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was conveniently walking distance from our parking lot campsite. It was adorable how instantly gaga the girls went over Martha. You would never guess that they had met her only a handful of times by the way they quickly reached for her hands and eagerly competed for her attention. The girls meandered through the exhibits as Martha expertly snuck in interesting facts; teaching us all about the difference between seals and sea lions, the habitats of sea birds, and the artist whose work was on display in the halls.

We then went to Martha’s house for lunch and a garden tour. We were all impressed with the size, beauty and bounty of Martha’s garden, not to mention the fact that you can hear the crashing of the ocean waves while atop her deck. The girls were thrilled to pick a few tomatoes from the greenhouse and dig out fresh carrots from the vegetable patch. Much to my surprise, all three of them munched on fresh pea shoots without flinching and asked questions about the different plants and trees. But most compelling was the hunt for wild unicorns that led us on a path through the property in search of Uncle Bill’s planted pink ribbons and glitter droppings. So fun! Taking full advantage of the gorgeous and relatively still day, we walked down to the beach with sand toys in tow. It was truly a beautiful day.

Ever since we first pulled into the port, the incessant barking of sea lions provided a nonstop background chorus, waking us up at night and convincing us that they were right around the corner. So despite an already full day, we left Martha’s that afternoon and pressed on in search of the noisy sea lions.

It turns out that their well-established hang out is across the bay in Newport’s historic bayfront. We had to check it out. Sure enough, despite sounding like they were our next-door neighbors, there were the sea lions, laying haphazardly in a pile on a handful of floating docks across the bay. Once we found them, we could have watched them for hours. They have such personalities! But the barking does get old after a while, so we moved on to a seafood restaurant and encouraged (made) the girls try something new. We found out that Willa loves clam chowder, Elsie is a fan of mussels, and Audrey is feisty, sneaky, and generally needs to be watched like a hawk or she will just not eat anything (not news).

After a couple of days in the port we moved to a more scenic spot at Seal Rock Cove RV park. Holy moly, what a view. If only we could have stayed here longer! It was private, lush with trees and greenery, and perched on a hillside with incredible views of giant rocks and the shining blue sea. Alex has become somewhat of an expert at maneuvering and parking the RV – lucky for us since this spot did not have the easiest approach.

We usually call each other on our phones while he’s backing up so I can help guide him and let him know when to stop. This time, we had no cell service whatsoever, so I was even less help than normal. Admittedly, other than warning him before he hits something, I am not much help in this department. I just can’t seem to figure out how far the RV will swing and how long it takes to straighten out. Again, luckily Alex has figured this all out. He can essentially do it on his own, which he did this time with relative ease.

We got to see Martha two more times – for dinner at her house and for a hike along the shore to the Heceta Head Lighthouse. The hike started out so foggy that we could barely see the rock formations that were 100 yards from shore. On our way back the fog cleared to reveal a picturesque view of the coastline.

We also stopped at devil’s churn, which is a unique rock culvert with steps that lead right down to its edges. We stood and watched the waves crash and boom between the giant lava rocks with unpredictable flow and force until we could no longer bear the cold, damp wind and retreated up the steps to warm up.

Audrey began to refer to Martha affectionately as “Uncle Marfa”, a combination of Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha. She was used to hearing “Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha” in combo and without Bill there, she just combined the two names. She was convinced that she had Martha’s name right and would not stand to be corrected. She cracks us up sometimes.

On our last day in Newport we went on a wildlife boat tour that promised whale watching and other wildlife viewing in the ocean and along the Yaquina River. It turned out to be one of those typical coastal Oregon days where the sun shone brightly east of the Yaquina Bay bridge, but the fog was dense and the wind blustery on the ocean side. In fact, the difference in weather was so drastic that our boat barely made it past the jetty and into the ocean waters before the captain decided it was too choppy and turned us around.

It was quite the thrilling five minutes on the open seas! Audrey started panic crying and I was certain she was going to throw up. Luckily a few minutes of rocking her close to me, with aid from the 12-foot waves, actually put her to sleep. Who would have thought? Willa and Elsie handled the ride like pros. They even ventured outside on the deck for a few minutes with Alex (before it got too crazy) to get a taste of the saltwater spray firsthand.

The rest of the tour was spent on the river, where there are no whales. Bummer. But the girls were star volunteers, first offering to help toss crab pots into the water and then pulling them back in a while later. They learned about safe ways to hold crabs and passed them around before exuberantly tossing them back in the water. We also spotted seals lying on a dock near the shore and learned about plankton by taking a sample from the river water. We had a nice time, but I left kicking myself (again) for not booking a whale watching tour when we were in the Puget Sound.

We had plans to go to Crater Lake in south central Oregon after saying goodbye to Martha and Newport. I was so excited to see Crater Lake and show the girls it’s amazingness. We had to pivot, however, because we have wised up on air quality and learned to track our future destinations ahead of time. At the time, Crater Lake was seeing very poor air quality from nearby fires, as was the one-night stop-over town where we had planned to stay to get there. At the same time, I learned that our stop for the next week had no hook-ups, which means no power or internet (what was I thinking?!), so we had to scrap about a week’s worth of plans and find an alternative (or two or three).

Enter Harvest Host! Much like our experience in Montana, when we messaged a Harvest Host owner last minute and scored a next-day stay, we found a small, family-run winery in little Winston, Oregon that opened their field for us. In exchange, we had to partake in a wine tasting when we arrived. No problem!

It turned out to be a super quaint, lovely property with vines beside us and hills beyond. The weather was once again warm and sunny and beautiful.

And now Alex here for a little RV-life interruption. Our refrigerator can run on either propane power or AC power. When we are hooked up to electricity at a campground, the fridge runs on regular AC power. And when we are travelling or boondocking, the fridge runs on propane. The fridge also has a button that can manually switch from AC to propane, but it also has an “auto” feature where it detects the available power and defaults to AC, which is more efficient when we are plugged in at a campground. Here is why this matters...

Someone’s little fingers switched off the automatic button and turned the fridge to AC sometime before we left Newport. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal. But when we disconnect from power to travel – and if the fridge is manually turned to AC – then it begins to draw power from the RV battery. We have a small solar system to recharge the battery, but that only works when there is sun, and even then, the fridge draws a huge amount of power. Long story short, when we got to the winery I noticed that the battery was almost completely dead and we had no sunlight left in the day to charge the battery. And importantly, the battery needs some power to be able to run important things like the jacks to stabilize and support the RV. So, in typical problem-solving fashion, we decided it was time to get a generator. I made it to the local Home Depot (luckily there was one close by) and picked one up just before it closed at 9pm (luckily they had one). We installed it that night with headlamps on, while the kids were asleep, and as we rocked out to the music of the wedding party next door. Annie’s still not 100% sure it was needed, but I am happy to finally have a generator as a back-up.

Men and their stuff. Seriously.