Finally, the weather was fine, and we were ready. Yesterday morning, after a bit of stomping around the house and expleting expletives about how late it was getting to be, we got ourselves down to the airplane and flew to the coast.
Gold Beach is about 75 minutes away by air, nearly due west of Klamath Falls. It takes 5 or 6 hours to get there by car, or longer, if the winding and unpaved roads through the Siskiyou Mountains are covered in snow. So, Gold Beach is pretty quiet in winter. Its airport is also right in town, which makes it a great place to fly into for the day.
We landed a little after noon, so the first stop was lunch at the Porthole cafe, located at the port, where the Rogue River flows out into the Pacific ocean and Highway 101 crosses its mouth. Then we walked out to the docks, where the seals and sea lions were sunning themselves. There was a bit of a squabble between a lone sea lion who seemed to be trying to join a gang of other fat fellows on the dock. I took some video of the indignant incumbents barking and shooing him away, but I haven’t yet figured out how to load video onto the blog, so I’ll have to settle for a still photo.
After more than an hour walking on the beach– and even a bit of sunning ourselves– we cut up onto the main street in town and walked toward Gold Beach books, one of my favorites in Oregon. Housed in a plain, unremarkable box of a building, it is owned by people who obviously know and love the book business. New and used books fill up the first floor and half of the second, and a surprising and very impressive rare books room takes up the other half of the upstairs. A coffee and pastry bar completes the picture.
We were about to head for the plane after leaving the bookstore, when Bo noticed some banners and signs about a block away, advertising a wine bar and bistro. We had never noticed this before, so we walked over to investigate. It was indeed a new restaurant. Even though the sign on the door said it was closed for spring break, music was playing inside and out, and a stout man wearing an apron was suddenly at the door inviting us in. We hesitated a bit– but the warm wood interior beckoned. A tiny space seating only about 14 people, Anna’s-by-the-Sea smelled like, well, the interior of a wooden box. The chef sat us down at the bar and gave me a glass of tempranillo (since Bo was flying, he stuck to his coffee) while we watched him cook smoked turkey breasts and mashed potatoes for a private party later that evening. I didn’t get a picture documenting this unexpected segment of our day, but I recommend that anyone going to Gold Beach eat at Anna’s. It’s a homey space with a good wine selection and a character who seems to enjoy cooking. I would say it’s run by a guy who likes to cook, but it became clear that his wife, Yanzi– the Anna of the restaurant’s name– might actually be the boss.
After this stop, we made our way back to the plane and had an uneventful trip back to Klamath Falls– with the sunset at our back, memories of the surf in our ears, and the smells of hardwood and smoked turkey in our noses.
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