Tim and Tara on a Train: March 10

This morning we woke up around 7:30, which 10:30 East Cost time, and after collecting muffins and bagels from the hotel lobby took a walk along the beach. It was a little windy but not too cold. We walked through historic Nye beach then onto Highway 101 to find a laundromat and place to buy an ethernet cable to get Internet at our hotel, which did not have wireless as we thought. It's not the hotel's fault; we interpreted "free Internet" to mean wireless. I needed to upload some edited files that were due before we returned, and since we learned that there really isn't any wireless available on the Empire Builder train route or readily in the Newport area we needed to buy the cable. The Pencil Pusher local office supply store was not open so we walked on to Staples. Across the street was the laundromat we sought.

We walked back to hotel, showered, gathered our dirty clothes, and headed out to the laundromat. We both worked a bit while we washed clothes for our return trip (and to get the wine out of my jeans that I spilled on the train in Montana). With us at the laundromat was an older couple with matching decorative fleece jackets. I posted the picture on Facebook.

At about 1:30 we headed across the Yaquina Bay bridge to Rogue Brewery. We took the tour, did a tasting, ate the awesome cheese soup and Kobe bacon cheeseburger, and made even more friends. It was aloha Tuesday. This was Brewery on the Bay, and it was a brewery on the bay. It was right next to the marina. Since tours didn't start until 3:00, and we got to the bay around 2:00, we took a walk around the marina to see if any boats had dirty names. We did not find any. It was a pleasurable experience nonetheless.

Once we got back from Rogue we went back to the beach and watched the sunset on the ocean. We found a sweet, fat log and popped a squat for the God show. We also saw some big red starfish in a tidal pool. We took pictures.

So we're packed up and ready to catch the shuttle bus to Corvallis at 5:45 a.m. We'll get into Portland about 9:30ish. Then we have time to wander until 4:45, when our train leaves. Portland has a metropolitan lounge for sleeper car passengers so we will be utilizing it for sure. We may have wireless at the Portland train station, but I'm not going to rely on it, so if I don't update this blog daily it's not because I forgot about you.

We really liked the Oregon coast and Newport and are a little sad to leave. The temprement of the coast fits our nature well. I'm glad we know this.

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(Update March 28: Looking back, this was by far my favorite day. Only so many of our days are truly great days, and this was one of them. It even ended with pizza.)