Picky, Picky!!

Although I often use Internet review sites to preview eating houses, RV parks and other places of interest, I am finding them less reliable as time passes.  Many reviews rate important factors and give the establishments high scores only to downgrade the total rating for uncontrollable issues or elements not entirely relevant to the overall review.

That was certainly the case with reviews for Spinner's Seafood, Steak and Chop House in Gold Beach, Oregon.  We joined a small group of friends for a dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of the folks in our party and enjoyed an evening of fine food, excellent service and very good surroundings.

Although most reviews fittingly rated the restaurant highly with fine food and great service, many noted that the claimed ocean view was hindered by a nearer scene of a trailer park.  Now, since I live in a trailer, I can't say that I find most trailer park views offensive or distasteful.  Many are mostly functional, some are downright beautiful, and only a few are mind blowing trash pits.

The trailer park that was located between the restaurant and the Pacific Ocean view was of the functional variety, but was not visible from our table unless one rose from his or her chair to seek out the obstructing trailers.  The excellent food was entirely too enticing for that to happen.

My prime rib selection was cooked to perfection, tender, tasty and absolutely knocked my socks off.  A large slice of triple chocolate cake for dessert levitated me from the chair...priceless!

Picky people rating this restaurant, however, managed to reduce the overall score by one or two stars due to the mostly invisible trailers.  Tell me about the food folks!!  I don't even care if the restaurant overlooks an oil refinery if the stuff coming from the kitchen is over the top outstanding.

I recently saw an RV park review for one of the parks in Port Orford...not the one we are visiting however.  The  writer gave the establishment kudos only to state that they were bored to tears after only a four day visit and would never return.  The reviewer knocked two points off the overall score apparently for Port Orford's lack of off Broadway shows, theater complexes, a large number of fine dining establishments and a vibrant night life.  It's too bad that the reviewer could't appreciate the quiet atmosphere, quant little quirky town and spectacular views all around.  Fine...don't come back!

Putting aside the rant, we have had a very good couple of weeks in this boring little place.  Good long time friends and newbie full time RV'ers Steven and Linda paid us a visit.  We exchanged a couple of excellent BBQ meals, spent some quality time talking travel and Steven joined me with his DJI Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter for a couple of flying practice sessions.

Yesterday was another fishing day on the nearby Coquille River.  The fish weren't biting, however, and we were left with alternate dinner plans.  A good rain storm is sorely needed to draw Chinook salmon into the river system.  One such storm may be on the way for the middle of next week.

We have found another breakfast house in the area after dropping a couple of restaurants off our Sunday morning schedule for various offenses...mostly lousy service, nasty food and more dirt and grime than we find comfortable for such establishments.  The Greasy Spoon in Langlois is our newest breakfast venue.  Despite the name, the place is clean, the staff (often just one person) is efficient and the food is very good...and plentiful.

The Greasy Spoon in Langlois doesn't look like much, but is really a good place for breakfast.













Now that summer winds are calming a little, I have found more occasions to put my new DJI Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter to use.  While waiting for a 2-axis gimbal to arrive from its manufacturer in Toronto, I have mostly been taking still photos.

Steven took this photo of me flying my DJI quadcopter at nearby Humbug Mtn State Park














The quad camera is a fine 14 megapixel device that records video and still photographs to a 32 gigabyte micro SD card for download to my iMac computer for additional processing.  A couple of recent photos follow:

A panorama of Port Orford's dolly dock and beach

              The spectacular view from Port Orford












The weather had been spectacular here on the south coast of Oregon with daily high temperatures in the upper 60's to low 70's and over night low temperatures in the low 50's.  A high of 83 degrees surprised us a couple of days ago as did the low of 39.7 degrees this morning.  This is the coldest morning of the summer and a sign that the seasons are changing.



Morning on the Coquille River















We have more interesting activities planned in the near future and will be back soon......................