Lincoln City with all the tourists

We have been in Oregon about a month and had not made it to the coast. Saturday we changed that. The closest point to us (by highway) is Lincoln City, so headed southwest. It is not our favorite spot, but being just over 50 miles you can do it in an hour. Besides, the gap in the Coastal Range that we traverse is not that high with little danger of snow in February. Going to Pacific City is about twenty miles further and requires going on a traditional two-lane, mountainous road to get there. Of course, once in Linc City you can drive 45 miles north on the infamous Highway 101 (Oregon version.) Since we didn't get going until 1:00 p.m. we chose the closest point.

We had to get out of the house. Aleene has been painting kitchen cupboards and I have been tackling the garage. You see, our goal is to have the place ready to receive our houshold goods when they arrive. She just commented that we better go or else we would just work. That is only bad because with the work comes the inherent soreness (hands, neck, back, legs) that all this physical labor precipitates.

We dropped the dog off at the kennel (we exchage baby sitting for dog sitting with Amy and Bren) bought a coffee at Dutch Bros. (one of the many drive throughs within blocks of our house, and yes, it is DUTCH Bros. with a windmill logo) and headed out.

We have been to Linc City many times and done the touresty things. There is an outlet mall which actually has busy stores and restaurants, several RV places and a casino named Chinook Winds. LC is packed in between the mountains and the ocean, so it is congested, but scenic. We did our obligitory rememeber this, remember that, thing, payed homage to the Pacific Ocean and then headed back vowing, at least tacitly, that we would only come back there if we were guiding a tour of the coast for friends and family who wanted a quick fix on the scenery.

Here it was, an overcast day (50 degrees) in February and you would have thought we were on US 40 between Naples and Ft. Meyers (not quite that bad, but close.) We ducked into a back road that had a couple of RV places listed to check them out with so-so results. Our goal is to find a place to park the MH for a week or two this summer and enjoy the ocean. Last year we camped in a place overlooking Chinook Winds and the ocean, but it is just one big concrete slab, so we were looking for a better place.

We didn't have the inclination to drive up to PC so we headed home. On the way we swung through Spirit Mountain (another casino) tucked in the middle of nowhere just east of the mountains. It is big for NA casinos...probably because it is within 60 miles of Portland and 40 miles of Salem. We went in.

What did we expect? Slots? gaming tables? restaurants? hotel? They were all there...teaming with people. Now we have been to two casinos before in our lives: Las Vegas (several there) and the Blue Chip the big boat tied up at Michigan City, IN. So our memory is cloudy and vague at best of what to expect about the people. But what we saw caught us off guard. They were out of place, to us at least. Let me just say that no one (including us) was dressed up. We might have been the median age, and the place was full of smoke.) The sound was the same, the machines were the same, but the crowd was different somehow. Perhaps it was the fact that we were there at 3:30 in the afternoon, not 10:00 at night. But we checked it out...did not lose a nickle (didn't play) and made a note that this might be a better trip for an evening dinner. It is just 30 miles from us. So, back to the house. Don't count on stopping at Sprit Mountain if you come to visit.

Milestones this week: garage 1/2 done (cleaning and sorting;) kitchen cupboards 1/3 done; contracted for the floor restoration; got the heat fixed; contracted for design work on the addition; spent $ on stocking the pantry shelves. But there is more, oh so much more to do.

We will have to be out of the place three or four days when the floors get done starting Wednesday, but that will be a great improvement.

The boys and their parents are coming for lunch after church...how Dutch is that? So I better get moving.