Day 22: Florence - Newport

At 6.30 am. it is raining, but not for long. We crawl out of the tent into nice morning fog. It is relatively windy but the tent and other stuff left outside last night seem not to dry. We pack and bike to the still sleeping town for breakfast. However, The Fishermen's Whorf is open 24h. Tomi has hot oats ($3.75) and Tei Blueberry Waffles drowned in whipped cream ($4.95). At 9:30 we are on the road again, heading north for the first time in three weeks.
The ride on Highway 101 starts in a light rain, but soon the sky clears up. The curvy and hilly road follows the coast. The scenery is beautiful. We stop often to take pictures, after all, this is supposed to be our reward ride day. We even walk down to the beach to wet our toes in the salty and bitter cold water.
Around 2pm. we arrive at Yachats and have lunch at Crab and Chowder House known for it's world famous Oregon Chowder - a claim made by every restaurant in this town. Tomi has a cup of chowder ($3) and green salad and Tei smoked salmon salad ($14). There is a family of four at the next table; parents in their fifties, and two kids in their late teens. They have finished their lunch and about twenty butter portions (those small individual packages of butter wrapped in foil) with their bread. When the family leaves, the mother stays behind and picks up the unfinished portions and puts them in her pocket.
After Yachats, the hills get steeper and the wind turns against us. At 6:30 we walk our bikes across the bridge to Newport. We find the motel by the highway. A first floor room with a garage at Motel Willer's costs $50. The garage is handy for drying the tent. We rode 83.2km in 6:10. The total riding distance is now 2122km. This is the end of our bike riding. From this on we will continue by car or by train.
At 7:30 we are ready to visit the old town at the waterfront. From a number of places we choose Whale's Tale. We start with Mirror Pond Pale Ale. For dinner Tomi has Captain's platter $22.95 and Tei Cod $17.95, salads are included. Knowing that we will continue at Rogue's later, we drink Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Food is not phenomenal.

And finally, the famous and long awaited for, Rogue Brewhouse of Newport, flagship of Oregon beer. In the first round we have Younger's special bitter and Russian Imperial stout; in the second round Imperial IPA and Old Crustacean. The restroom doors are marked "Hops" and "Barleys", it takes some time to figure out which is which. We finish with Dead Guy Ale and Chipotle Ale. In the dark and cold night we climb the steep hill from the harbor to the motel.

Day +1: Newport - Portland

No riding today, no alarm, so we sleep until 8 o'clock. We walk down to the waterfront and have breakfast at Little Bay Cafe: seafood scramble for Tomi ($8.25) and French Toast with hot marrionberries for Tei ($5.95). When back to the motel Tei takes care of laundry, and Tomi rides (no more riding?!) to the car rental place to pick up a minivan. Van is pretty much the smallest one they have into which we can fit our bikes in.
Just before noon we have packed everything and are ready to drive. We drive along the coastline and occasionally stop to enjoy scenery and local wines. At Lincoln city we visit McMenamins Lighthouse Brewpub for lunch: Tuna Sandwich ($9.60) for Tomi and clam chowder for Tei ($6.35). We also sample six of their beers ($5.50).
We stop for a coffee in McMinville. On our way out of town we find the Golden Valley Brewery. We enjoy their 10-beer sampler. It is Friday night and the place is ready for the weekly Martini hour together with Frank Sinatra. At 4:10pm. we start out last stretch to Portland.
It is an easy drive to Portland, but finding the way to the railway station turns out to be hard. After a couple of extra miles we finally are at the Union Station. We try to find information for the next day's train trip about packing the bikes and such. We also find the address of the hostel we are looking for. The hostel is full but they forward us to the Value Inn where we get a room for $55.

It is time for dinner. We take a long hike through the town to the Bridgeport Brewery, Portland's oldest brewery. We sample the beers with dinner; Tei eats ziti and Tomi a portobella mushroom sandwich. We finish with pints of cask-conditioned IPA and barleywine. On our way back to the motel we visit a small cellar bar for an Old Ale and Apricot Cream Ale. We check the local Rock Bottom and wrap up the day with decent pints of their cask IPA and ESB.

We skip the breakfast, it is late anyway. The motel receptionist informs us how to drive to the Union Station via gas station. It is easy when you know it. It takes an hour + $32 to pack the bikes and other stuff for the train, extra $9 to park the rental car for somebody to pick it up later.

The Vietnamese restaurant we found last night opens at 11am. and we are almost the first customers. Food is good. We spend some time at Arts at Pearl festival and in book and grocery stores. At 4pm. people at Rock Bottom are ready for the local football game and we are ready for train.

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