West Coast Eclipse Adventure - Day 3 on the Oregon Coast

With a long day ahead of us, we were up (relatively) early, prepared a hearty breakfast of bacon & eggs in the yurt, said our fond farewells to our "Otter Space" BNB hosts - Peter, Joe, Wendy & crew...

...and set off for the Northern California County of Oregon.

We were only a few miles down the road in Klamath when we we were distracted by the Yurok Tribe Salmon Festival and again ran into Peter & Joe.

 Joe had a booth selling his hand crafted obsidian knives, and I could not resist. After enjoying a bit of the local culture,  tri-tips and venison stew...

... we were again on the road. Transcript of actual road dialog::

Rachel: "J - what was the name of the tribe in Klamath?" 

Jonah: "Yurok, mom." 

Rachel: "Well I think you rock too Jonah...  but what was the name ...."

But I digress. The media was filled with warnings about expected traffic nightmares as millions of Californians stampeded North into the hinterlands of Oregon to view the eclipse.

Here’s an update on the solar eclipse traffic nightmare in Oregon

"Could we really see 1,000,000 people coming to Oregon for the solar eclipse? It’s starting to look that way as Oregon is already experiencing a serious eclipse-related traffic jam. A narrow stretch U.S. Highway 26 had a line of 20 to 30 miles of nightmare traffic on Thursday for a single eclipse event, and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) spokesperson Dave Thompson recently told TIME magazine."

We did experience traffic along the coastal route, but due to road construction from slides and accidents. We found no eclipse "traffic nightmares" on our route.

Lots of slides along the way

...and occasional accident delays.

It was a long but pleasant drive and too brief an opportunity to be introduced to the beautiful Oregon coast.  Some pics along the way...

Dinner of Oregon oysters and goulash at the only Seafood / German fusion restaurant on the coast. 

The trip over the mountains inland took lees time than we expected. Arrived in Philomath around 9:00.  We are in the path of totality. Now all we need is clear skies.

Corvallis Cousin Quincidence

membrillo

I spent last weekend visiting family in the Northern California county of Oregon.  I'm not sure why this is the case, but I've got more cousins per capita in Oregon than anywhere outside of Chicagoland. On the maternal side of the family my Aunt Betty and Uncle Don migrated to the Corvallis area from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan via Wisconsin.

Uncle Don and many, many cousins.

This branch of the family favors micro-brews, home brews, and chair throwing barroom brawls.

The infamous Yooper home brews -  Big Shag Big Stout and Escanaba Pail Ale were made with the brewing expertise from these Corvallis cousins and supplied by cousin Joel's  Corvallis Brewing Supply:
 

Coincidentally, cousins from the paternal side of the family also migrated to Corvallis from Chicago via San Francisco and Santiago, Chile.  So I also had the opportunity to spend time with Aunt Gloria and cousins Rob and Paula.

Rob's a retired educator and for a second act, he and Paula have embarked on a gourmet entrepreneurial venture - a quince orchard and Quince Essentials:

They sent me home with a jar of their organic quince spread aka "Membrillo" and instructions on how to enjoy the South American delicacy. Their recommendation: serve it with manchego or white cheddar cheese on water crackers or crusty bread. Last night we enjoyed it on the side with Sigrid's split pea soup.

Really good. While enjoying the gourmet treat, I am thinking to myself - "I've had this before."  Then I remembered. Another cousin. Another retired educator. And to complete the circle - back to the U.P.  a couple of years ago:

Shag Lake - Fall 2009

And another good reason to blog. The blog has a better memory than me.

Is there no end to these cousins?

What does it mean to travel to the ends of the earth and find that one cannot cross the street without tripping over more cousins than one can count?

Old cousins and new cousins...

Cousins getting married. Cousins plying you with craft brews. Cousins picking you up and dropping you off and hauling your sorry ass all over the state. Cousins offering tours of their estate. Cousins singing and dancing. Cousins offering gourmet meals at their home and at fine dining establishments and enticing you with handcrafted brews, home grown quince jellies and homemade breads.

Now, I am not implying that the towns of Portland, Corvallis and Philomath, Oregon represent the ends of the earth. However, most agree that they are well within spitting distance. But I digress...

Not too long ago Cousin Rob posted this on his facebook page:

"I treated myself to my favorite breakfast (made by me): Omelette with feta cheese, spinach and greek olives with bacon along with a toasted sesame bagel and a large non-fat extra hot latte. Yummmmm."

In response I shamelessly demanded the same breakfast for my upcoming visit. Hence my next stop on the continuing Cousins at the Ends of the Earth Extravaganza Tour - Cousins Rob and Paula and Mariya and Athena and Mindon and a breakfast for the ages...



Yum indeed. More pics linked here.

Then - back to Corvallis, where cousin Rob hands me off to cousins Matt, Tina, and Kira.
We drive back through Albany to visit with Don and Betty and on to Jefferson for a brief repeat visit with cousin Brent. Finally back to Portland again. I check back in to the Grand Hyatt Mantarea where the resident chef cousins planked a copper river salmon on the grill, served with swiss chard and artisinal bread. Apparently all of my multitude of cousins are gourmands.




Double yum.

Sean and Katie Wedding Reception

In no particular order...