Oktoberfest, Year 2

Its Oktoberfest!

The Pacific City Association (PCA) would like to invite you to our 2^nd annual Oktoberfest: Root • Beer • Float. This is a Black Beer and Root Beer Festival, held Saturday, September19th in Pacific City, Oregon. The title is a play on words, as we will have root beer, black beer and the floats are for glass floats. The trophy for the people’s choice is a large glass float and we will raffle off traditional and modern art glass floats to voters at the Festival. This event promotes Pacific City. Money raised is used to buy advertising and marketing materials to promote the businesses of the PCA. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to local charity, Tillamook County Habitat for Humanity.

Our first year hosting this event, we kept it small, five root beers and nine black beers were available for tasting. This year we are able to expand the Black Beer Garden and our only rule: If it’s clear, it ain’t beer!

A souvenir mug, with tickets, is purchased and the tickets are used for 4 oz tastes and 12 oz pours of the Black Beer and Root Beer. We will also be selling event t-shirts.

The Root Beer Kindergarten is a kid friendly part of the celebration. Kids of all ages can test their taster at the Root Beer Tasting Contest, where they try to identify a national brand root beer. The prize for the winner of each heat is a handful of root beer barrel candy.

We will be having live German music and dancing with the High Fives Band from The Dalles, Oregon and Accordionist Lauri Neumann-Grable from Hillsboro, Oregon.

We will be serving German food. Bratwurst and Sauerkraut is the staple of any Oktoberfest.

It all takes place on Pacific Avenue, just West of the 4-way stop in downtown Pacific City, Oregon.

Please contact me at The Craftsman B&B. 503-965-4574 or at innkeeper@craftsmanbb.com

Laura made a cake!

Laura made a cake yesterday to celebrate Mike's parents birthdays and arriving at The Craftsman B&B. They are visiting for Thanksgiving, 11 days total.

So back to the cake. She saw it on the cover of Sunset magazine last fall and wanted to make it ever scence. She thought it would be too rich for dessert for Thanksgiving, so any fall celebration would work, just when could she do it? She finally found the chance to make it and pulled it off wonderfully!

The Spice cake with Toffee Crunch recipie is here.

It took a few days.  Day one, she made the toffee.  She left out the espresso as Mike hates the flavor of coffee, and the smell, yeah I know, he runs a B&B and doesn't like coffee.  Day two was cake day.  Three cakes and after they cooled, Mike sliced each in half to get the six layers.  Day three was frosting and assembly.  Oh yeah, they also started eating it.  Day four, they ate some more of it.

Our guests took pictures of it on there way out to dinner, so we cut them slices when they returned.  Pretty darn good is what I heard.  I didn't get any but that's OK, I like a cookie stuffed in my Kong, I need a project and that's a tasty one for me.  Mike, the baker of the family was impressed, so try it yourself, a perfect Fall cake.

Salmon are running

We have had the first storm of the season in Pacific City during the last couple of days.  Big deal, right?  Well it is a big deal.  The first big flow of fresh water into the ocean triggers the brains of the salmon who are ready to spawn.  That means Pacific City will be full of fisherman trying to get the catch of the day.

Fishing for salmon in the Pacific Ocean was closed this year in Oregon and California.  The bays and rivers are open, so this is the first chance to catch Steelhead and Fall Chinook.  Come stay with me and you can walk a few blocks to the Nestucca river and bay so you can toss in a line.  Or get a guide.  Last week the bay was busy, this week it will be packed.

Fishing with your buddies is one thing.  We suggest you bring your significant other and stay with us, here at The Craftsman B&B.  We don't have lace or dollies, so you don't have to worry about anything to frilly.  We even have a fish cleaning sink.  The non-fisher person can explore the restaurants, shops and galleries in town or head out on the Three Capes Scenic Drive.

So it's simple really, you get to fish and make your partner happy with a nice relaxing stay in a B&B.  Can it get any easier?  I don't think so.  Click here.

Next Week looks good

Yesterday we had our first taste of Fall.  A small storm blew through pretty quickly.  The coast range is low near Pacific City, about 500 feet.  This allows the storms coming on shore to escape.  They don't linger around to long like in the Willamette Valley and even Tillamook.  The Coast range near Tillamook is close to 1,200 feet so clouds get trapped and need do dump moisture before moving on.  The wind can be more harsh here in Pacific City, but that just means we are closer to seeing the Sun again.

So the system is almost out of here.  The forecast for the weekend and next week look really good.  If you missed your Summer, it's not too late.  We are fully booked for Saturday, but the best weather should be Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Book online here.

The Salmon are also running strong.  Hike to the mouth of the Nestucca River and watch the fisherman and seals battle it out for the biggest catch of the day.

The leaves are just starting to turn, leaf peepers would love hiking in the mixed forests around the area should be scenic.  Most of the trails are still dry, but I suggest an additional pair of shoes, muddy spots are the norm in rain forest hikes like the popular Cape Lookout Trail.  The trails on Cascade Head are mostly grass land.  The wild flowers are pretty much done but the views are just as spectacular as always.

Beach walks are good no matter the weather.  Sand everywhere.

For you storm watchers, keep reading this blog, when conditions for huge waves present, I'll let you know.  I like to look for swells above 15 feet.  The forecasters on TV will usually mention these conditions too.

Come visit me here at The Craftsman B&B.  Take advantage of Mother Nature's dose of nice weather at the start of Fall.