Home of the Easter Lilly

Fairly nice day today but it's cold. Brookings is considered the gateway to the Oregon Coast. It is also the center for commercial flower growing. Lily bulb farms, in a twelve mile area between Brookings and the town of Smith River California, produce 100% of the lily bulbs grown in North America. Unfortunately they aren't blooming this time of year.

We ran a few errands and stopped at a "Dutch Bros" Coffee stand. These are little drive up coffee shops. "Dutch Bros" is like the Starbucks of Oregon (only much better, my opinion). We had a coffee drink called the "Annihilator". It was coffee with macadamia nut flavor - yum!

First stop is the new Oregon Visitor Center. we picked up a lot of good brochures that will help us plan our activities along the coast. We found a clock shop and I was able to replace the battery in my watch for $5!

Heading up Rte 101 N we turned onto Carpenterville Rd which wound it's way through the lush coastal forest to our destination, Brandy Peak Distillery. This family-owned "micro-distillery" is one of but a handful of such distilleries in the U.S.. We were greeted at the door by Max a friendly blonde lab who escorted us to the front door. The Nowlin family uses only the best pears, blackberries, and grapes available. The fruits are carefully fermented and slowly distilled in wood fired pot stills to capture all the natural flavors and aromas. No colorings or flavorings are added. This produces 100% pure spirits that are smooth and aromatic. It was an interesting tour. After a tour of the distilling area we were ready to try the product. We tried several and learned you really need to develop a taste for pure brandy... very harsh. We did like the Blackberry Liquor.

With a bottle of Blackberry Liquor in our back pocket, we drove to Harris Beach State Park. This park has everything that makes a great Pacific Northwestern beach. The phenominal rocky coastline is dotted by monolithic sea stacks and framed by gorgeous fir, pine, and spruce trees. The view are dramatic and we looked for whales with our new binnoclars (can't find the ones we packed away last winter....). Didn't see any. Off shore is Bird Island. This is the largest island off the Oregon coast and is a National Wildlife Sanctuary providing a breeding site for rare birds including the tufted puffin. After walking the path along the cliff above the beach we decided to head out.

It's getting cloudy, windy, and raw. We can see the rain heading our way. Later we went to the Smugglers Italian Bistro. Eggplant Parmesean was our choice and it was really good - we brought half of it home.

Even though the weather wasn't the best today we enjoyed seeing the sights.

Pictures: Harris Beach State Park (2), Bird Island at Harris Beach State Park