NwVacationSpots.com
Featuring Quality Vacation Rental Homes around the Northwest
Plus Favorite Northwest Destinations
Featuring Quality Vacation Rental Homes around the Northwest
Plus Favorite Northwest Destinations
| NYE BEACH, NEWPORT OREGON November 30th, 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun dances on the surf and warms me as I sit on a charmingly decorated concrete bench overlooking the outlet of Nye Creek onto the flat sands of Nye Beach. There is a light breeze from the southwest, bringing with it a briny, clean fragrance. Half a dozen people stroll along the wide expanse of beach, walking dogs and looking for seashells. They have discovered one of Oregon’s best kept secrets – Nye Beach in the winter. One hundred years ago, Nye Beach was connected to the Newport Bay front by a boardwalk. Folks from the Willamette Valley rode the train to Toledo, embarked on the ferry to the Newport dock, and walked up and over the hill to the resort area of Nye Beach. In its heyday, Nye Beach sported a natatorium, movie theater, numerous restaurants, stores, and dozens of tiny cedar cottages to house visitors. The Sylvia Beach Hotel, on the waterfront in Nye Beach, is the most famous edifice still remaining from those glory days. Growing up in the Willamette Valley, I remember childhood trips to the coast in the summer. Filled with intense anticipation, all seven of us piled into the family station wagon and drove the winding, shady road west. We vied to see who could spot the ocean first. Alas, being prone to motion sickness, it was rarely I who was the first to shout, “I see the ocean!!” There is a photo of us, lined up on the sand, wind wildly blowing strands of hair loose from our hooded sweatshirts. Wind, sand, chicken cooked in foil over a driftwood fire, sand castles, sunburns, seashells. There is another black and white photo from the mid-1950s on the cover of an Oregon State tourist brochure of my brothers and sisters looking at a Japanese glass fishing float. In those days, they were still a fairly common find on the beach after storms. Good times, fabulous memories. Many years later, in Newport for a lark on a spring day, my husband and I were intrigued by an overgrown driveway, a grand but neglected foursquare house, and a “For Sale” sign. Boldly walking up the driveway, we peeked through salt grimed windows, glimpsed a stairwell of intricate balusters and round newel posts and promptly fell in love. A few weeks later, we were proud owners of a 1910 Nye Beach area home in need of a complete renovation. For nearly three years, we worked on the house in all kinds of weather. Lightning struck during a fabulously dramatic storm in August, and left a zigzaggy charred stripe in the parking strip. (Where the lightning struck the sidewalk, the sand in the concrete turned to black glass!) Spring brought blustery rain showers and rainbows. Summer was as I remembered it – a delightful mix of bright sunshine, winds to challenge the most skillful kite flyers, and fog rolling over the headlands. Autumn brought crisp wind, hail, misty rain, and tranquil sunshine – often all on the same day! It was during that first winter of working on the house that I discovered what Newport natives have always known: the central Oregon coast is fabulous in the winter. The windless, sunny days of winter were a complete surprise. I had imagined gray skies glowering over gray seas and endless rain. And there are days like that, certainly. But in between the dramatic squalls, when rain is blown sideways and clouds boil toward the coastline to collide with the Coast Range, are magical days of calm warmth. The air is soft and fragrant. The clarity of the atmosphere is remarkable, with visibility miles out to sea, and miles up and down the coast. People walk around in their shirt sleeves, and can’t help but smile. November 30th, sitting on that bench, it felt good to be alive and good to be in Nye Beach in the sunshine. by Janet Cornelius http://www.NyeBeachVacationRentals.com |
 | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
