Oregon’s Magazine Oregon’s TRIP PLANNER: Interiors Go Woody Guthrie’s Winter Waterfall OREGON’S Gatsby-Style Missing Songs Hunting LIGHTHOUSES PG.106 January | February 2018 TOUGH MOTHER 2.0 ROMANTIC GETAWAYS | tough mother 2.0 HOTELS for 1859magazine.com ROMANCE 1859oregonmagazine.com $5.95 display until February 28, 2018 LIVE THINK EXPLORE OREGON food + drink WEEKEND WANDERINGS: NORTH COAST Ghostly shipwrecks, iconic movie settings, some new MacGregor’s Whiskey Bar in Manzanita, of the state’s richest history, and crispy beer- which features more than 150 types of scotch, battered and fried Pacific Ocean albacore— whiskey, bourbon and rum. Oregon’s North Coast is a true treasure chest of Time stands still in rustic Rockaway Beach, must-sees and must-eats. where locals and passersby alike pile into Offshore Grill and Coffee House for seafood EN ROUTE omelets and homemade biscuits and sausage It’s but a two-hour trek northwest to Astoria gravy before exploring Nehalem Bay State Park. from Portland, but to fuel your journey, stop After a morning of fishing and clamming in off in Hillsboro at Helvetia Tavern, a no-frills, Nehalem Bay, crack crab at the Jetty Fishery. cash-only local landmark that specializes in beer, Or, enjoy bubbles and freshly shucked local burgers and bucolic surroundings. A half hour bivalves at new Source Oyster and Wine Bar up Highway 26, brake for a bit of boutique wine in Garibaldi. sampling at Wines of Oregon, a tasting room In nearby Tillamook, join the happy herds run by a collective of Oregon wineries hailing at wildly popular Tillamook Creamery for from the Rogue Valley to the Columbia River a self-guided tour, plentiful cheese samples Gorge. And if you’ve never met a cinnamon and oversized scoops of Oregon marionberry roll you didn’t fall head over heels for, take a cheesecake ice cream piled high on chocolate- slight detour to Camp 18 Restaurant in Elsie, dipped cones. Just down the road, there’s a a log-cabin-themed pit stop that advertises its little something for everyone at Blue Heron signature sweet as “huge and delicious.” Creamery—kids will make a beeline for the petting zoo, while adults will veer toward the wine bar. Gather picnic provisions from the deli EAT + DRINK and head west, passing U-Pick oysters signs en Line up with the Astorians for fish ‘n chips route to Cape Meares, which offers some of the at charming boat-bound Bowpicker, give your most dramatic coastal views in the state. regards to the sea lions that lounge beneath a A haven for surfers, fishing enthusiasts and glass panel in the floor before bellying up to the John Valls beachcombers, Pacific City’s petite patch of bar at Buoy Beer, and make tough choices at sand a half hour southwest of Tillamook is just Frite & Scoop (get both the frites and scoops, the spot for a relaxing weekend of surf and obviously), before working it all off with a brisk suds—stop into friendly beachfront Pelican stroll along the Astoria Riverwalk. Taste your Brewing Company for a taster tray and hearty way through Pilot House Distilling’s lineup, pub grub like the smoked oyster bruschetta and then sober up with oyster chowder poutine and Tsunami Stout bacon jam-slathered Backyard grass-fed beef burgers at cozy Albatross. BBQ burger. After a big breakfast at cheery The A day of sand castle building, kite-flying and Grateful Bread bakery and café, charter a dory, biking along the historic Seaside prom works book a surfing or SUP lesson, climb the famous up an appetite, so make your way to Bell Buoy, Cape Kiwanda dune, or just sit on your hotel a no-nonsense fish market and restaurant balcony and savor the sea views. about a mile from downtown. Satisfy your every seafood whim with some of the coast’s best clam chowder and fresh Dungeness crab SLEEP WELL served with slaw and cheesy bread; if the Settle into your river-view room at the weather’s cooperating, eat at the back deck bar Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa with a bottle of overlooking the Necanicum River. Back in town, Fort George Brewery’s barrel-aged imperial carefully sample the selection before making stout and one of the front desk’s copies of your choice at Sea Star Gelato, where many of The Goonies, pausing occasionally to watch a the homemade gelatos and sorbets are crafted freight ship steam by. Watch the sunset from with local fruit, then settle into a seat near the your Haystack Rock-facing balcony at the cozy fire pit with a pint of Seaside Brewing Co.’s Stephanie Inn, then head downstairs for a Sneaker Wave IPA. complimentary port nightcap in the oceanfront The perennially popular coastal hamlet of library. If you’ve always been intrigued by the tiny Cannon Beach charms with shingled cottages, house movement, try your hand at living light for beachy boutiques, old-fashioned candy shops, a night at Sheltered Nook in Bay City. And come local seafood and local spirits. After linguini January, book a long weekend at the luxurious and clams and line-caught halibut at Harding Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa, featuring a full Trading Company, taste award-winning rums spa, “adventure coaches” in lieu of a traditional concierge, and the beautifully designed beach- Kathryn Elsesser Kathryn and short-lived seasonal spirits at Cannon Beach Distillery, or make tough decisions at facing Meridian Restaurant and Bar. JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE 33 trip planner FROM LEFT Grab a bite on the beach at Pacific City’s Pelican Brewing Co. Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, or “Terrible Tilly,” is built on a basalt rock more than a mile from land. Christian Heeb, courtesy of TravelOregon.com of courtesy Christian Heeb, Day CLAM CHOWDER • TERRIBLE TILLY Breathe the fresh ocean air in the morning on the to the charming 38-foot-tall lighthouse. Unlike EAT way to Newport, where two lighthouses are open to other lighthouses, visitors approach eye-level to Tony’s Crab Shack visitors year-round. Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is the the lens for a new perspective, then drop down to tonyscrabshack.com oldest building in Newport, constructed in 1871, the base. Edgewaters Restaurant and operated as a lighthouse until 1874. Today it Continue the journey to the final and edgewaters.net serves as a museum, where visitors explore what unforgettable stop, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. Yachats Brewing yachatsbrewing.com life was like more than a century ago. Tread with Nicknamed “Terrible Tilly,” the lighthouse was Mo’s care, though, as stories of the haunted lighthouse built on a basalt rock more than a mile from moschowder.com have circulated since the late 1890s. land, surrounded by crashing sea and exposed to Pelican Brewing Co. Tours of Yaquina Head Lighthouse take visitors the precarious weather. Its dangers were real—a pelicanbrewing.com back in time, as interpretative guides in period mason drowned in the ocean on the way to the Tillamook Cheese Factory tillamook.com costume walk guests over the original marble floors island to conduct survey work—and the expensive OREGON LIGHTHOUSES and up the 114 steps to the lens. The tallest light on construction took more than 500 days to complete. STAY the Oregon Coast, at 93 feet, was lit in 1873. Many The lighthouse is one of the most exposed Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa keepers kept the lighthouse wicks going with lard lighthouses in the United States, and housed four headlandslodge.com oil or kerosene until electricity came on the scene lighthouse keepers at one time with provisions Heceta Lighthouse B&B in the 1930s. lasting six months. The lighthouse was operational hecetalighthouse.com Overleaf Lodge & Spa Sign up for the tour at Yaquina Head Interpretive between 1881 and 1957, and can now be viewed overleaflodge.com Center and Interpretive Store, and carve out some safely from land. It is also a columbarium, acting as Many of the lighthouses are time to view the natural and historical exhibits in a resting place for ashes of loved ones in the midst located on state parks that offer camping options, so be sure to the building. See the lighthouse keepers’ logs that of the sea. check it overnight availability at meticulously documented weather and activity, The history of these exquisite and graceful oregonstateparks.org. learn the workings of the intricate lens, or watch Oregon lighthouses, each different and vital to PLAY an informational film. maritime survival, remains an integral part of Forget-Me-Knots Quilt Shop For lunch, drop by Mo’s for famous clam chowder coastal communities. Cameron La Follette, author forget-me-knots.net at its Lincoln City location, or stop for a beer and of articles about lighthouses for Oregon Historical Hikes along the Oregon Coast a bite at Pelican Brewing Co. in Pacific City. Cape Society’s Oregon Encyclopedia, reminds us the oregonstateparks.org Meares Lighthouse is near Tillamook, home of importance of preserving lighthouses. They served Sea Lion Caves sealioncaves.com the Tillamook Cheese Factory that provides free as beacons in a place of great danger, and need help cheese samples and a casual café menu that offers to stay alive. everything cheese. “They are highly valuable to the communities,” To get to Cape Meares Lighthouse, take a path La Follette said. “As part of history and beauty— for about a quarter-mile through moss-laden trees and they are extremely symbolic to everyone.” 110 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018.