Dave Knows: Elko

When we last talked we had just left Portland in search of sandier pastures:

The route took us west through Tillamook then north on highway 101 to beautiful Rockaway Beach, OR.

Rockaway Beach is a small, quiet town, but my family has been going there every year for at least 25 years?  We stay in the same cabin every time, because it’s cheap and right on the beach.  Sounds great, right?

well, here’s 12-year-old ElkoSteve describing Rockaway (In Whiny Kid Voice):

This place is boooooooooooring! There’s no TV, it’s cold and rainy all the time!  The beds suck and there’s no dishwasher! Mom and Dad park the van and we have to WALK everywhere!  I’m scared of that bottle opener!  There’s only one arcade in the town and the games suck!  All we can do to pass the time is read and play cards.  Waaaaaah!

35-year-old ElkoSteve is much more comfortable here, but wow, do the beds still suck.  This is the view from the large window on the backside of the house:

Not bad for $50 a night, right?  Here’s the bottle opener young ElkoSteve was afraid of:

Freaky!  We were only there for one night, but we still had a lot of fun.

The dogs ran around on the beach like lunatics, pausing only for necessary activities:

It was a positively beautiful day, which is uncommon for the Oregon coast in May.

It turns out that there was a Kite Festival going on, with lots of kites (naturally) and food and craft vendors.  Rockaway Beach was hoppin’!

We left Rockaway on Sunday.  On the way back, we stopped in Tillamook for, what else, CHEESE!

I love Tillamook Cheese.  I’ve tried many other kinds, but Tillamook’s Medium Cheddar is, by far, the best.  We bought way too much of it, and I bought a little squishy loaf too.  First, unsquished:

Now SQUISH IT!

I can feel my stress level decreasing already.

We made it back home in time for my brother’s engagement party.  DaveKnows and Mile73 are so cute together!  While we were there, Ollie was accused of licking half the frosting off the cake.  Come on, does this look like the face of a cake-licker?

He’s so cute!  I think Ed licked the cake.  Yeah, it was Ed.

The kids went back to Elko with grandma on Monday, so the wife and I could pretty much do whatever we wanted.  Which meant girlie drinks, soccer, and pinball, of course!!!

That girlie drink is from dinner with Dave and Heather at The 5th Quadrant, the soccer game is, of course, the Portland Timbers against Montreal, and the pinball is none other than the Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade!  Possibly the best place to play pinball on the west coast!  I rocked that Demolition Man machine.

This post is getting very long, but there’s still a few things to talk about.  Almost there!

We absolutely had to visit Voodoo Doughnut after hearing about it on various Food Network shows over the last couple years.

Behold, the Bacon Maple Bar:

It was everything I hoped it would be.  Very very yummy.  If you look closely, you can also see the donut with Cap’n Crunch all over it (Captain My Captain) and the purple one is called the “Grape Ape”

For our final night in Portland, we met David and Heather as well as the wife’s friends Gary and Sara for dinner at some food carts in SE Portland.  The first one is called Potato Champion and we had some of the best poutine we’ve ever had!  The fries were outstanding and the gravy had an interesting tang to it, with lots of onions.  It was served steaming hot as you can tell:

Dave, put your iPhone down, there’s poutine to eat!!

For dessert we walked about 20 yards over to the Whiffies cart.

They are fried pies, similar to the Cornish Pasties sold at BJ Bull in Elko.  Whiffies are deep fried, though, which gives them a nice crispy, bubbly crust.  We tried the Barbecue Pork (fantastic!) the Strawberry-Rhubarb (phenomenal!) and the Chocolate-Peanut Butter (Freakin sweet!).  A fine ending to a long, happy trip.  We got to see lots of our friends and family that we’ve missed for years.  If we didn’t catch you this time, we’ll see you in August for the DaveKnows/Mile73 wedding!

Oh yeah, one last picture.  It snowed off and on while driving back to Elko, here’s a shot from the cascades.  See everyone next time!