Oregon Coast, Benettis' in Coos Bay, Oregon Coast Aquarium

Dear Friend,
Hi ! If you decide to drive the coast of northern California and Oregon, make sure and be in Coos Bay, Oregon at lunch or supper time. There is a little restaurant on Broadway across from the water in Coos Bay that is one of the best Italian restaurants we've eaten in - in the USA. They probably make many excellent dishes but there was a soup, a house specialty, that was just wonderful. We've eaten in Italian restaurants from San Francisco to Boston and this was one of the best. Just order the soup that everyone else is having. The name of the restaurant was Benetti's and their website is at the bottom of this page. My husband loves to try small, family owned and run restaurants when we are traveling. Sometimes they are real winners as this one was.
We spent the fourth night of our driving trip in Coos Bay because that is where we were when we got tired of being in that car. I didn't realize that there was a large port between San Francisco and Seattle, but Coos Bay is a very active, deep water port. There is a boardwalk (no shops) along the water that we strolled after dinner.
I had always heard of the rocky and beautiful Oregon coast. But for me the coast of California was the prettiest. If I had to shorten this trip, California would be the portion I would take. We saw wild life in Oregon like the sea otter floating on his back in the picture at the top of the page that I took at the Oregon Aquarium. (That's in Newport, Oregon - link at the bottom of the page.) But on the whole, the coast of California was more dramatic and there were fewer touristy enterprises on the California coast. In California we visited a sawmill near the Redwood forests and enjoyed the natural beauty. In Oregon I enjoyed the Aquarium - the birds there were my favorite part - the puffins and the Courmorants. Of course the best coastal vacation if you have the time is do just what we did - start in San Francisco and drive to Seattle. It's somewhere around 1400 miles, but when done over 5 or 6 days with lots of stops to walk in a forest or visit an aquarium or to eat a delightful meal, well, it's a real pleasure.
We finally got a foggy day - up by Astoria, Oregon. It was only foggy two days but we loved them. More on that later.
.
This series of letters - that's how I think of this blog - is something that I am enjoying immensely. It's very time consuming but I'm rekindling memories and enjoying my photographs. I hope it's interesting to you and maybe brings back some memories of a good time you'd not thought about for a while.

Take care,

MaggieGladYouCame

This link is to Benettis' Italian Restaurant in Coos Bay, Oregon.

http://www.benettis.com/

This link is to the Oregon Coast Aquarium

http://www.aquarium.org/