The Crazy Norwegian's and a Stormy Drive

Update: July 18, 2015. I visited The Crazy Norwegian's  yesterday for the first time since this original post was written, since I've been living on the east coast in the interim. It pains me to say this, but I was thoroughly disappointed in the fish & chips, after lusting after them from afar for all these years. The batter was thin, not very dark, rather tasteless, not crisp and fell off the fish. Totally different from my previous experiences here. An anomoly? I don't have a clue. The place was packed with a waiting line by 5pm nevertheless, and I expect much of the menu is still delicious. But  personally, I wouldn't recommend the fish & chips any longer. Sadly!

Some of the best fish & chips I've ever had are to be found at a funky little place in Port Orford called The Crazy Norwegian's.   Since I plan to be moving from Oregon soon, I've been itching to get up there for one last feast before I leave.  I also wanted to go with the friend who led me to this place, and we've been waiting for a sunny day, in the hopes of getting some decent photos off the coast on the drive north.  We've had sunny days, but this time of  year, in the off season, the restaurant is only open Thursday through Sunday and apparently, the sunny days haven't coincided with those days. It's been hard to coordinate.

No sunny weather today, either, despite a promising forecast.  Gray, dreary, super windy. But, I wasn't disappointed once I arrived at the destination.  Tender cod, crisp breading, tangy cole slaw, and an atmosphere that's hard to describe.  You'll just need to see it for yourself.  They have lots more on the menu, but I personally have never made it past the fish & chips.

Yes, a gray and dreary day all around, but the inside was cheery and the food wonderful.

We dawdled a good bit driving north -- not the best day for photography, but we couldn't help ourselves.  These birds -- seagulls and pelicans -- were massed by the hundreds on these piers in Gold Beach and flying in swarms above.

Not pretty critters, but interesting.  Neither of us had ever noticed the red and yellow on these guys before, nor so many of them clustered together in one spot.

We also stopped at Pistol River, just south of Gold Beach, to watch the huge waves that were crashing into all the rocks.  I can't blame these black and white photos on some nefarious activity of my camera.  There was simply no color out there.  Dreary, dreary, dreary.  The wind was so strong, I could barely stay balanced well enough to get these photos with the telephoto.  If the resolution isn't all that great when enlarged, that's the reason why.

These three are all the same rock with wave after wave crashing onto it.  There were lots of waves and lots of rocks, but this one seemed to be putting on the best show consistently.

Since I tend to be a lazy photographer and let the camera run on automatic, I can't set the shutter speed and thus don't get that lovely, crisp water-stopping effect, but still, I like the movement.

Port Orford

One of my neighbors called early this morning to see if I was up to a trip to Port Orford for the day, and of course I was. We had quite an adventure and I saw many things that were new to me. The day was clear and sunny, but very windy and a little cool -- lovely, nonetheless.

I'd driven through Port Orford often, and stopped often at its beautiful beach, but hadn't seen the rest of the town. Because there is no protected marina here, the sizable fishing fleet lives on land, with the boats hoisted in and out of the water on a daily basis by two very large cranes. Since this was Sunday, the boats were all at home. I've never seen anything quite like this.

There is a state park in town on the site of what was a Coast Guard lookout tower, way out on a high bluff. Trails cross the area and the views are superb in all directions. We spotted these lazy sea lions way below where we stood. After we'd walked around here for awhile, the tide was reaching its low for the day so we headed back to the rocky beach in town to see what sea life we could find. We found plenty!

This looks more like tropical waters to me, but it's not..

There were countless starfish of all sizes and colors clinging to rocks amidst the closed anemones, or basking on the sand. The big guy in the middle is a great big sea star -- kind of creepy, but beautiful in its own way. Note the mussels in the photo on the lower left -- Port Orford is known for its mussels, and since I have a shellfish license I was tempted to take some home for dinner.

If you've been reading this for any length of time, you know my fascination with patterns and reflections on wet sand. I thought this one was particularly pretty.

After we'd tired of the beach we still weren't ready to return home, so we drove further north to visit the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. This sits about 6 miles off the highway and I'd never driven out to it, so this was lovely. The road out was lined with cranberry bogs and wildflowers in fields -- foxglove, daisies, wild azalea, lupine, yellow daisies by the hundreds. The wind out on this bluff was strong -- it was hard to stand still enough to take a photo.

To take this one I had to lean against the car for support, still couldn't stay very still. You might not want to try enlarging this one, but it's a pretty view and gives some sense of the location. After this, windblown and chilled, we headed back to Port Orford for some suds and some of the best fish & chips I've ever had, at a funky, crowded place called the Crazy Norwegian. I think a nap is next on my agenda!