We took our traditional timer photo before leaving our yurt at South Beach State Park. This was a great location, nicely situated for all sorts of vacation fun.
On our way home, we stopped at a lookout, and a fellow traveler pointed out a seal hanging out by himself.
So we got to see one more seal.
As we were driving over the Yaquina Bay Bridge, I noticed a very long dock. What might it be? It turned out to be the Newport Municipal Crabbing Dock and it provided us a long walk out into the bay, plus a close up view of crabbing.
There were also seagulls lying in wait for any crabbing spoils they could grab. They perched along the railing, and as we walked along the dock they flew off in succession, reminding me of a Broadway chorus line.
As you can see it was cold and windy, but it was also a fun find on our trip.
We had an open window of about an hour with no rain forecast, so we rented fat-tire bikes at Bike Newport and had a very fun ride on the beach.
The riding was great because all the sand was very wet from the torrential rain the day before. It was my first time riding a fat tire bike, and I had a blast.
It was also significantly harder than riding on paved streets. I got very sweaty.
From there, we went to check out the sea lions, who were living their best sea lion life on the Newport docks. You can see them for yourself on the livecam.
They were incredibly fun to watch.
So much so that we ate at the Clearwater Restaurants so that we could continue watching them.
I got fish and chips, my favorite thing to get at the beach. Both fish and chips were delightfully hot and seasoned and I felt I had made a good choice.
After lunch, we stopped by the exterior of Ripley’s Believe it or Not so Matt could get a picture with the Hulk.
From there, we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where it wasn’t very cold, but it was raining. I made the unfortunate choice to not wear my rain jacket. It’s a mostly outside aquarium.
We did, however, time it perfectly, fun-wise. We first watched the birds get fed, then continued on to the seals and sea lions’ feeding, and then finished up with the sea otters’ feeding.
I have no pictures, but I had a great time.
While most people said, “You will have amazing weather!” when I told them about our trip to South Beach State Park outside of Newport, Oregon, planned for late September, it poured rain all the way from Portland to South Beach.
We stopped at the park near the Pronto Pup in Rockaway Beach to do a short walk (in the rain) to see a big tree.
Along the way, we encountered some upper elementary students who wove a tall tale of a creepy monster they encountered. They were amusing, though their tale telling could use some work.
The tree was big, as advertised.
Here’s a Matt-person for scale.
Thankfully, it had rained itself out by the time we got to our yurt, so we didn’t have to unload while the rain continued.
We took a walk to the beach, and then settled in with an Exit escape room game. This time, it was the Catacombs of Horror.
The game was a challenge, as usual. We took 189 minutes and needed ten help cards. That gave us a score of five (out of ten) in the assessment.
We thought our favorite riddle was the last one, and the last one was the trickiest. Our score sheet answers the question “The player who solved the trickiest riddle was…” and we answered “The help card.”
Exit games have been a fun addition to our vacations.
This first batch was from my subpar Let’s Go Lincoln City Scavenger Hunt. There were a lot of tasks that began “Take a picture of your team…..” As my team was me, this was not a super fun way to spend my time.
Something with texture.
Tidepools.
I think I was “being a devil” because I was at Devil’s Lake Campground.
My room had gorgeous woodwork.
The lamps were nice too.
I read about the Connie Hansen Garden Conservatory, and it turned out to be just down the street from where I was staying, so I stopped by on my way out of town.
Apparently Ms. Hansen love growing irises, and made her very large yard into an amazing garden. When she died, other gardeners created a foundation and the garden continues today.
I really liked this meadow-type section.
On my way out of town, I opted to grab a salad and cottage cheese for breakfast so I could watch the sea while I ate. Plus, it wasn’t going to take as long as ordering breakfast.
Overall, I had a good time on my weekend getaway.
Matt left town for GenCon, so I took the car and visited Lincoln City. I stayed at the Whistling Winds Motel, which had quaint accommodations. And it also had an Oregon Coast staple: glassed in walls to keep that whistling wind away from you as you huddle by the fire.
I went shopping at the outlet mall, and did a Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunt (which was not very good. Riddle Routes doesn’t have a route for Lincoln City, but if they did, it would be worth your time).
I also visited an artisan fair and took myself out to lunch.
Unfortunately, walking in the sun and the wind along with the salmon salad I ordered was not a great combo with this otherwise tasty cocktail. I had to buy some goldfish crackers at the convenience store across the street so that I could sober up and drive back to my motel.
The beach was quite pretty.
I did some good people watching.
I found Lincoln City to not be the most walkable place to stay on the coast. Plus, there are so many houses blocking views to the beach, it’s hard to even see the ocean or find your way to the sand.
Still, a fun weekend away.
It ombre-ed into orange not red, and no lion was present, but I enjoyed this feature of my room.
When I was growing up the Red Lion Downtowner was fancy, so it was interesting to stay there in 2025. It isn’t so fancy, instead turning down at the heel. For instance when I walked in to register, there was a homeless person sleeping in the lobby. That may have had something to do with it being cheaper than staying at an Airbnb or Verbo rental.
In an echo of the Vegas visit, I went to my assigned room only to find that the do-not-disturb sign was on the door. I waylaid a housekeeper who assured me someone probably forgot to take it off, and opened the door for me. She quickly shut it, as we both realized that someone was already in that room. I headed down to the front desk for a new room assignment while she apologized to the dude in the room who was confused why someone was opening his door.
Other than that, it was a quiet and clean room.
Our room at the Linq was on the same floor as the spa and gym, which was near the elevators. That meant that every time we took the elevator we looked at this Windows start screen and marveled at how wrong the time was.
My timestamp on this picture is 8:25.
We went to wait for the shuttle bus to the airport, and eventually it found us. Turns out the signage at the hotel directed us to the wrong location. I’ve learned that when I’m getting off a shuttle bus, I should ask where that shuttle bus will be picking me up for the return trip.
One of our shuttle bus companions spied my CPAP carry case and excitedly held his up. “It changed my life!” he said. I smiled and said, “Medical devices don’t count as carry-ons!” I’ve not found the CPAP to be life changing, but I’m glad he did.
I really liked the signage at the Las Vegas airport, though apparently not enough to take a picture. Each gate is clearly marked with the departing flight destination and pictures of landmarks from that town. Ours had the Portland sign, among other things.
We did a ton of things in Las Vegas, though didn’t gamble at all, and learned a lot about that weird down in the desert. Matt even came home with money; someone left a voucher with five cents on it, and he cashed it in before we left.
We ate breakfast at Mandalay Bay, mostly so we could ride the tram to get to Mandalay Bay.
Our Las Vegas vehicle count: plane, shuttle bus, hop-on hop-off bus, cab, Uber, monorail, tram, feet. We missed the Duce bus and the rentable bikes. They were in the downtown area, and we only experience that area via the tour bus.
We had some pool time and then rested, and then went to the Horseshoe to play black light minigolf at Twilight Zone mini golf.
Here we looking like Cheshire cats. We had a lot of time to contemplate the murals on the wall depicting scenes from the Twilight Zone and realized neither of us had seen the original series.
It was a slow course. The people in front of us took a long time, so we played every hole twice until the people behind us caught up. They were not playing correctly; each player would hit their ball until they sunk it, and then the next one would go. So then we felt the pressure to hurry through, though the people in front of us didn’t.
As per usual, my score was off the charts, and Matt missed Astronomic Ace by only one point.
We decided to check out the original Twilight Zone series when we get back to Portland.
After that, we ate in the food court at the Horseshoe, which had the same food as at the Luxor, and went to the Flamingo to see Piff the Magic Dragon, a magician Matt discovered through Penn and Teller’s Fool Us, probably not in this episode, but you get the idea. Our seats were all the way in the back (although I pointed out to Matt that every theater we had been in had good seats, even in the back), but when we arrived, the usher asked if we wanted to sit in the front row. We did! See how close we were.
Piff was his curmudgeonly self, and we enjoyed Mr Piffles and Jade Simone, the over-the-top showgirl who brings their combined enthusiasm levels to average. My favorite trick involved an Apple Watch and eventually a jar of peanut butter. Matt enjoyed a trick with a fortune cookie and a fortune that was both unreadable and ~~magic~~ readable. Matt likes how Piff the Magic Dragon makes objects disappear and then turn up in unusual places.
One last picture, and it was time to head back to the hotel. But first we got some fun dessert. Alas, not pictured.
But first! One more picture of us in front of Circus Circus.
We used the cab stand at the Wynn to transport us to fabulous Area 15, which had this great entrance filled with a version of the fabulous Las Vegas sign, along with other cool sculptures and interactive things.
Fun fact I learned from the bus tour: the woman who designed the fabulous Las Vegas sign intentionally did not copywrite it, which is why you see so many variations throughout the city.
Here was a big robot that had messages in code. I also like that Eiffel Tower–like mirror thing in the background.
We wandered around Area 15 waiting for our Meow Wolf Omega Mart timed entry. This was my first Meow Wolf visit, and I enjoyed it so much, I might just plan other vacations to Meow Wolf locations. I took no pictures. But essentially, Omega Mart is this weird little grocery story where you look at (and buy) all sorts of odd items (like maybe you want to take home a stuffed tattooed chicken?) but also, you can buy a card for an additional $3.00 which lets you *boop!* on scanners around the store and train to be an Omega Mart employee. Things get weird from there, and the store isn’t all it seems. It was unique and fun and arty and interactive and a very good time.
We did a bit more wandering around Area 15 (that green glowing sticker was our reward for solving all the Omega Mart thing) and then took an Uber over to the Luxor, where our Blue Man Group tickets awaited.
We ate dinner at the food court and took some pre-show photos.
I lived in Boston in the late 90s when Blue Man Group advertised regularly on television. I never went but had built it up in my mind as something akin to Stomp. And it kind of was, the making rhythm noises with odd objects way. But it was also so much more.
Tons of weird funny things, very good at getting the audience on board, and a rollicking good time. I’m so glad I got to experience it. As the lights came up, and I was covered in streamers and blinking from the flashing lights, all I could say was, “Wow. That was a lot.”
Our hop-on hop-off bus and tickets to the Blue Man Group were thanks to our Go City passes. We probably would have done well with the 3- or 4-choice packages. They had a lot of good choices.
