The brewery has been in business more than twelve years and makes ten different "flavors" including Spruce Ale. Using spruce buds or needles as a hops substitute was popular in colonial times and Siletz Brewery originally tried it as a seasonal offering. Now it's available year round. I thanked Randy for his time, picked up some Spruce Ale and Paddle Me IPA to go, and headed back toward US-26. That's when the trouble started.

That road to Otter Rock was there but just barely. Within a few yards it was blocked with dirt and brush. Closed and abandoned some time back it seemed and I later saw that DeLorme shows it as a dashed line; An "unimproved local road". I moved on toward a mapped 101 connection about two miles further north. By now I had driven nearly a dozen miles since leaving OR-229 and I was feeling pretty stupid. I was also feeling pretty nervous as the consequences of slipping off the road or having a flat tire were obviously quite dire and the chances of meeting Bigfoot seemed to increase by the minute. Two miles later, one of my worst fears came true. A gate -- this one secured with two big Master padlocks -- stood within yards of cars passing on US-101. I carefully backed up several yards then even more carefully turned around at a wide spot in the road. I retraced my path and enjoyed immense relief when I regained pavement. I reached the "tar & chip" project just as a line of cars was being allowed through and I, after wasting more than an hour driving Oregon logging trails, happily joined them.

I picked the 8:00 slot in hopes of seeing the sunset but it was not to be. Clouds covered the horizon. I did, however, get a wedding rehearsal and a bubble blower. I understand that weddings on the Adobe's seaside grass are fairly frequent. The one being walked through tonight would happen for real on Friday. My waitress told me she would be working the reception. The last picture is really crappy, I know, but it's the best I've got of the bubbles. The bubble guy used a big flexible ring which he swung through the air to create one to three foot bubbles. In addition to the blur, the photo's imperfections include some window reflections of stuff (e.g., my waitress) inside the restaurant but the two bird shaped squiggles and the two straight lines below them are reflections of lights on the surface of bubbles.