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But you’ll also find the original Mo’s (622 SW Bay Blvd., 541/265-2979), a locally famous seafood restaurant. Though it’s still one of the state’s largest fishing ports, much of Newport’s bay front has been consumed by souvenir shops, a wax museum, a Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and other tourist traps. On the north side of the US-101 bridge over Yaquina Bay, turn onto Hurbert Street and head for the bayfront, where boatyards and fish-packing plants service a working harbor. Walk through a tunnel of sealife at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The aquarium includes an aquatic aviary, where tufted puffins and other shorebirds cavort in a simulated rockbound coastal habitat, and over 40,000 square feet of similarly ecofriendly exhibits, many of them outdoors. Oysters, crabs, and clams, along with sea otters, sea lions, sharks, and seabirds, are the stars of the show at the large and modern Oregon Coast Aquarium (541/867-3474, daily, $23 adults), south of Newport across the Yaquina Bay Bridge.
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9,989) became popular in the 1860s on the strength of sweet-tasting Yaquina Bay oysters, which were in demand from San Francisco to New York City and are still available at local restaurants. NewportĪnother old fishing community turned tourist nexus, Newport (pop. Water swirls into the Devil’s Punchbowl rock formation. Other than its famous clam chowder, the claim to fame of this branch of Newport’s Mo’s remains a visit from Bruce Springsteen on June 11, 1987.
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In the parking area you’ll find a small lunch café. With fine old bridges and numerous vistas, it’s a great drive or bicycle route.įarther south, midway between Depoe Bay and Newport, the aptly named Devils Punchbowl gives a ringside seat on a frothy confrontation between rock and tide. The Otter Crest Loop has frequently been closed by slides and reconstruction efforts, but you can reach it from many access roads. Cape Foulweather & the Devil’s Punchbowlīetween Depoe Bay and Newport, the roadside scenery along US-101 and the parallel “old road,” now signed as the Otter Crest Loop, is dominated by miles of broad beaches and sandstone bluffs, including the 500-foot headland of Cape Foulweather, named by Captain James Cook and offering a 360-degree coastal panorama.
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Gracie’s Sea Hag Restaurant & Lounge restaurant (541/765-2734), on US-101 in downtown Depoe Bay, is a time-tested breakfast place-run by the same people for more than 40 years. In his book Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon wrote “Depoe Bay used to be a picturesque fishing village now it was just picturesque.” While it’s true that most of the commercial fishing is long gone, you can still park your car along the highway and walk out on the bridge to watch sportfishing boats move through the narrow channel in and out of what the Guinness Book of Records rates as the world’s smallest navigable natural harbor. Generally, Tuesdays are a dead day everywhere, so shoot for a Tuesday at the opening time of 9:00 am.Depoe Bay has an appeal, but so much of its natural beauty is obscured from the highway by gift shops or intruded upon by traffic that you’ve got to know where to look. Working moms and dads looking to extend their weekends typically take vacation days on Fridays or Mondays, so those are two days to avoid. During the summer months, daycares and summer camps bring loads of children too, but the kid traffic isn’t nearly as heavy, making it easier for families to enjoy their visit. With so many kids packed inside, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to access each display. During the school year, field trips create an ongoing surge at the aquarium. For those of us who are early birds and like to arrive at opening time, here are a few things to keep in mind. The aquarium’s website advises planning your visit after 2 pm on weekdays or before 11 am or after 2 pm on weekends. Luckily, there is a lot across the street with reasonable rates, but it’s small and fills up quickly on busy days. Welcome to Kentucky.”Ĭall ahead for more specific instructions on accessing the parking garage. Within a 15-minute period, your even-toned GPS lady will mark your geographical impairment with these announcements: “Welcome to Kentucky. If your GPS isn’t equipped to say, “The garage is right here, you moron!” then a trip around the block will put you on the bridge to Ohio. Good luck! Newport Aquarium advises visitors to park in a parking garage that is seemingly invisible to the naked eye.