Gleneden Beach, OR
M. and I went on our vacation in October, 2004...our first time back to the West Coast in years. It was wonderful to get away alone, and not have any worries about anything what-so-ever. Seeing the Pacific was, for me, like "coming home". I love the ocean, sandy beaches and mountains, too. And we had it all here!
We flew into Portland and got our bags and went to pick up our rental, a Trailblazer, and set out for our destination...Gleneden Beach. It was early evening and we thought that if we got tired we would just stop someplace for the night, and then drive the rest of the way to the resort we were staying at to check in. We made it to the town located just before Gleneden, Lincoln City, and stopped for the night, getting something to eat at the restaurant next door, then going to sleep with the vague sound of ocean waves in the background.
We got up and had breakfast, then went exploring as it was too early to check into the resort. We wanted to explore Gleneden Beach, and to see what the homes looked like. We were driving into the town, which was really more like a village, and saw a metaphysical shop that we would come back to later, for gifts and things I wanted. *Smile*
We drove through the neighborhood and an older man who was sitting in front of his home flagged us down and asked if we were lost. We said no, just looking around and wondering how much things cost. We sat in our car while he leaned against the door chatting about he and his wife and how they had come to live there, (moved from Portland due to his wife's health), and how he missed being closer to his grandchildren. It started to sprinkle so he ended the conversation with a recommendation of where to go for lunch. We thought that if everyone was as friendly as this man, Gleneden would be a lovely place to live!
Eventually, it was time to go check in, so we made our way to the Salishan Lodge. It's on a golf course, and the rooms are all spread out over the complex, they have a lounge, restaurants and bar, a gift shop, etc. We had a ground floor room, a short walk from the main buildings, that was quite lovely, with Egyptian cotton linens, a fireplace, and a small porch facing the golf course. But we did not just stay there, we went exploring!
We went everywhere we could fit in time for! I wanted to go to Astoria, cause that's where the movie, "Kindergarten Cop" was filmed, but I did not see anything that looked like the movie. *Frown*
My favorite place, Florence, reminded me of Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, where I used to work many years ago. I just liked the ambience of the place, and the people were very nice. We went to different shops in Lincloln City and Gleneden, we stopped at one of the lighthouses, and at a scenic outlook that was way up in the mountains, with a view of the water below, and remarkably, you could still hear the sound of the surf. This made M. and I agree that to build a place in the mountains with a view of the ocean would work for us! Now if we could just win big at the Indian casino/resort we would be staying at for the last part of our trip in Lincoln City... *Smile*
We visited a glass-blowing shop in Gleneden, and watched the owner-artisan create a new piece for sale. This was their third shop, as the first one burned to the ground, and the second one was just too small. The shop was located on the same property as their home, and their pets and kids were free to roam the property, the kids coming in to help mom and dad with customers, even though they were still rather young. We bought just one piece, with swirls of yellow, orange and red color on a clear glass pitcher-style oil lamp about 4-5 inches tall.
We made sure that everything we bought while on our trip was well wrapped by the small shop that sent our things by UPS back home for us. Which is the smart way to go about it, when you do not want to take the chance that someone will remove it from your unlocked bags, or that they will be smashed when other suitcases are thrown on top of yours. We were very happy we did this when our box showed up a few days after we came home and all was well.
Just down Immonen Road from the glassblower's shop, we bought a new set of stoneware dishes from MossyCreek Pottery, which has a terrific selection of porcelain and stoneware by Northwest potters. The Wheelers are the owners, and Dan is an artist too, so his things are on display. They took very good care to help us order what we wanted from one of their best and busiest artisans, and since we were in no real hurry for our order to be filled, we said, no rush! Everything came in perfect condition several months later, after Christmas. (mossycreek@harborside.com) We received the dishes, and realized we had not gone shopping for something to put them in!
As luck would have it, months later, Dumfries Discount Furniture Store was going out of buisiness, the people who owned it were finally going to retire after fifty years in business. So we took our notice of the sale and went to see if we wanted anything there. We found the perfect pine dining room set, with china cabinet, so our new dishes, as well as our Rosenthal China from our years in Berlin, and various other pieces, finally had a home.
Our time at the Salishan Lodge quickly ended and we packed our things and moved to the Indian Lodge and Casino in Lincoln City, where we had another ground floor room, a lot less snooty than our last room, but this one had the ocean at our backdoor! And we did have a backdoor, which was really unusal, but it opened to a huge patio for all the guests, with the beach just down a set of steps. It was really cool listening to the surf every night and seeing it every day! The only thing that bugged me was that I could not add to my shell collection as I would have liked...the beaches were clean, no shells!
We spent some time at the casino, and I won a fairly nice pot on one particular slot machine! Not nearly as much as I'd have liked, of course, but what the heck! I was tickled! It was much, much more than I won in nickels on the Vegas trip several years ago! Ok, ok...I'll tell you....$180! Cool, eh? Seeing as that topped what M. won at Kino, I felt pretty good about it.
The great thing about casinos, is that the restaurants are always quite reasonable, so we ate there every night for dinner. We shopped at their gift shop too, and bought Christmas gifts.
Soon it was time to get back to the airport and return the rental, and get on the plane for home. We had a really nice time, and we were very happy to have gotten the opportunity to come back to the west coast again.
We flew into Portland and got our bags and went to pick up our rental, a Trailblazer, and set out for our destination...Gleneden Beach. It was early evening and we thought that if we got tired we would just stop someplace for the night, and then drive the rest of the way to the resort we were staying at to check in. We made it to the town located just before Gleneden, Lincoln City, and stopped for the night, getting something to eat at the restaurant next door, then going to sleep with the vague sound of ocean waves in the background.
We got up and had breakfast, then went exploring as it was too early to check into the resort. We wanted to explore Gleneden Beach, and to see what the homes looked like. We were driving into the town, which was really more like a village, and saw a metaphysical shop that we would come back to later, for gifts and things I wanted. *Smile*
We drove through the neighborhood and an older man who was sitting in front of his home flagged us down and asked if we were lost. We said no, just looking around and wondering how much things cost. We sat in our car while he leaned against the door chatting about he and his wife and how they had come to live there, (moved from Portland due to his wife's health), and how he missed being closer to his grandchildren. It started to sprinkle so he ended the conversation with a recommendation of where to go for lunch. We thought that if everyone was as friendly as this man, Gleneden would be a lovely place to live!
Eventually, it was time to go check in, so we made our way to the Salishan Lodge. It's on a golf course, and the rooms are all spread out over the complex, they have a lounge, restaurants and bar, a gift shop, etc. We had a ground floor room, a short walk from the main buildings, that was quite lovely, with Egyptian cotton linens, a fireplace, and a small porch facing the golf course. But we did not just stay there, we went exploring!
We went everywhere we could fit in time for! I wanted to go to Astoria, cause that's where the movie, "Kindergarten Cop" was filmed, but I did not see anything that looked like the movie. *Frown*
My favorite place, Florence, reminded me of Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, where I used to work many years ago. I just liked the ambience of the place, and the people were very nice. We went to different shops in Lincloln City and Gleneden, we stopped at one of the lighthouses, and at a scenic outlook that was way up in the mountains, with a view of the water below, and remarkably, you could still hear the sound of the surf. This made M. and I agree that to build a place in the mountains with a view of the ocean would work for us! Now if we could just win big at the Indian casino/resort we would be staying at for the last part of our trip in Lincoln City... *Smile*
We visited a glass-blowing shop in Gleneden, and watched the owner-artisan create a new piece for sale. This was their third shop, as the first one burned to the ground, and the second one was just too small. The shop was located on the same property as their home, and their pets and kids were free to roam the property, the kids coming in to help mom and dad with customers, even though they were still rather young. We bought just one piece, with swirls of yellow, orange and red color on a clear glass pitcher-style oil lamp about 4-5 inches tall.
We made sure that everything we bought while on our trip was well wrapped by the small shop that sent our things by UPS back home for us. Which is the smart way to go about it, when you do not want to take the chance that someone will remove it from your unlocked bags, or that they will be smashed when other suitcases are thrown on top of yours. We were very happy we did this when our box showed up a few days after we came home and all was well.
Just down Immonen Road from the glassblower's shop, we bought a new set of stoneware dishes from MossyCreek Pottery, which has a terrific selection of porcelain and stoneware by Northwest potters. The Wheelers are the owners, and Dan is an artist too, so his things are on display. They took very good care to help us order what we wanted from one of their best and busiest artisans, and since we were in no real hurry for our order to be filled, we said, no rush! Everything came in perfect condition several months later, after Christmas. (mossycreek@harborside.com) We received the dishes, and realized we had not gone shopping for something to put them in!
As luck would have it, months later, Dumfries Discount Furniture Store was going out of buisiness, the people who owned it were finally going to retire after fifty years in business. So we took our notice of the sale and went to see if we wanted anything there. We found the perfect pine dining room set, with china cabinet, so our new dishes, as well as our Rosenthal China from our years in Berlin, and various other pieces, finally had a home.
Our time at the Salishan Lodge quickly ended and we packed our things and moved to the Indian Lodge and Casino in Lincoln City, where we had another ground floor room, a lot less snooty than our last room, but this one had the ocean at our backdoor! And we did have a backdoor, which was really unusal, but it opened to a huge patio for all the guests, with the beach just down a set of steps. It was really cool listening to the surf every night and seeing it every day! The only thing that bugged me was that I could not add to my shell collection as I would have liked...the beaches were clean, no shells!
We spent some time at the casino, and I won a fairly nice pot on one particular slot machine! Not nearly as much as I'd have liked, of course, but what the heck! I was tickled! It was much, much more than I won in nickels on the Vegas trip several years ago! Ok, ok...I'll tell you....$180! Cool, eh? Seeing as that topped what M. won at Kino, I felt pretty good about it.
The great thing about casinos, is that the restaurants are always quite reasonable, so we ate there every night for dinner. We shopped at their gift shop too, and bought Christmas gifts.
Soon it was time to get back to the airport and return the rental, and get on the plane for home. We had a really nice time, and we were very happy to have gotten the opportunity to come back to the west coast again.
posted by Raevenne at 10/30/2004 12:00:00 AM
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