MSNBC is my "home page" and when I saw they had a link to a whole page of letters to Frommer's newsletter about my home state of Oregon I had to go take a peak. I shake my head and had to laugh out loud at some of the comments non-Oregonians made there about the Oregon coast. It's a combination of sadness and laughter that they are so naive and say such silly things. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing the quote goes when you put yourself forth publicly on a subject you know very little about.
The site for the whole text is at http://www.msnbc.com/news/894883.asp but the most glaringly funny/sad/unknowing comments were those such as the person who says Mo's
(the low priced chain restaurant) is a great find and "I almost didn't tell you about this gem of a place, because I don’t want too many people to know about it." ROTFL!!!
Unbelievable to Oregonians..what a statement!
The other outrageous comment was a person who wrote about the Adobe..that run down motel in Yachats staffed by the surliest desk clerks in the state (and the most unknowledgeable). Yes, Yachats is a very nice area but that has got to be the worst place to stay of dozens of motels and B&Bs there. I shouldn't run all these letters down though, as there are some good comments that are useful and of interest by other Oregonians. I sure wish people who didn't know much about a subject (and a one time 2 day visit doesn't make one an expert on a place) wouldn't foster there unformed opinions on a mass audience who blindly follow in their extremely misleading footsteps.

I revisited the Oregon coast last summer after a 25 year absence (had there once in the late 70's) and found it more commercialized in many areas but still possessed of such rugged and mystical beauty that I can't wait to return.

I read those letters and this one gave me the best laugh of all...

"Beware a speed trap. On Hwy. 28 west of Sandy is a long downhill grade where the forces of gravity pull you faster than the 55 MPH speed limit. The Oregon Troopers like to sit at the bottom of the hill and then pull over tourists driving obvious rental cars for an extra $109 in income from the unsuspecting visitor. I wrote to their Governor about this but have not received a response."

The laws of gravity? Perhaps the governor can prompt the legislature to change that particular law ? {

I SPENT 2 DAYS ON THE OREGON COAST AT LINCOLN CITY AND NESKOWIN 2 YEARS AGO, OUR RESORT WAS EXCLUSIVE AND NOT ADVERTISED. I HAD BREAKFAST ON THE DECK OVERLOOKING THE PACIFIC AND WALKED THE BEACHES AT LOW TIDE. I AGREE THAT NON-OREGONIANS CANNOT KNOW THE WHOLE STORY BUT WE GIVE OUR EXPERIENCES, NOT ALWAYS FACTS. THIS IS OBVIOUS IF YOUR DRIVE DOWN THE OREGON COAST BETWEEN LINCOLN CITY AND NEWPORT. SOME SHREWD LAND DEVELOPER CONVINCED MANY WEALTHY PEOPLE THAT BUILDING MULTI MILLION DOLLAR HOMES ON A SAND BAR WAS THE OREGON COAST EXPERIENCE. THESE HOUSES ARE NOW SINKING INTO THE PACIFIC. DON'T TELL ME THEY AREN'T THERE I SAW THEM. SEEMS TO ME THEY ARE OR WERE IN DEPOE BAY? COMMENTS PLEASE?

CALL ME NAIVE IF YOU WILL BUT WHAT IN THE WORLD IS....ROTFL?

Hi, Nurse - ROTFL means "rolling on the floor laughing." Another thing you should be aware of is that if you type your whole message in capital letters, people regard it as "shouting" and they don't like it very much.

Thanks for the info about the caps, contacts were out, glasses on and reading was difficult for me. I sometimes use caps for emphasis, not shouting. So LOL means lots of luck, lots of love? and IMHO, I was told meant I'm in honor of. True?

ArkansasNurse,
LOL = Lots of Luck
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

Sluggo is pulling your leg. LOL means "laughing out loud," which makes more sense since you'll see it in reply to funny posts.

Actually, in e-mails, LOL generally means Laughing Out Loud.

Back on topic, Arkansasnurse, I'm guessing the houses you're refering to are those on the spit at Salishan. If they are sinking into the Pacific, none of us Oregonians are aware of it. A guy I work with owns one.

I appreciate the info on the codes I like laughing out loud will probably use that one often. beachbum: that is what I was told by a local while on a whale watching cruise. We tried to go out there but the road was closed. I'm in honor of anyone wealthy enough or carefree enough to build a house basically in the Pacific. I plan to research this out and find out for sure. Thanks ya'll.

Yes there are some houses that were/are falling into the ocean. Due to Oregon's access laws (open access beaches) nothing could be done to the bank to shore it up. In fact I believe there was a former senator's house that was slipping but he said he wasn't going to fight to save them because he didn't want to use his 'power' in inappropriate ways. (yipeee!) It has been a few years and it has been a while since I have heard an update but I assume they are still slipping. These were not cheap homes either!

Of course that gets into the people that fight so hard to get the land (sand bar) approved for housing then gripe and complain "Why didn't you tell us it wasn't safe!" I think I'll leave that there for now - it is Friday and I'm mellow.

" In Oceanside, Ore., El-Nino-strengthened winter storms ate away bluffs until the cliff edge was 5 feet from a luxury townhouse development called The Capes. Evergreen trees fell downhill from backyards. Twenty homes were judged too dangerous to occupy. In February, despite pleas from homeowners, Gov. John Kitzhaber refused to allow a rock wall to be built on the beach to stop erosion of the sandy 170-foot bluff."

OK, I was lied to, DUH, I guess he was trying to make our cruise fun, while we threw up over the side and saw NO whales. I can rent one of the houses for $250 per night, (future trip?) now I hate I missed it all. please acept my apologies and Mr America, I proved your point, did I not?

RECANT. While I was searching, Sarah posted. I may have had my location wrong. I cannot understand why the Gov. wouldn't want to protect the cliffs? The lighthouse I grew up near was commissioned by George Washington and they have fought to keep erosion from kicking it into the Atlantic for years. See Montauk Point Lighthouse.

To protect the cliffs it would have been necessary to bend/break the strict public access laws in Oregon. I THINK it was because the huge boulders they would have used would have limited access, my educated guess.

As a tax payer I was glad I didn't have to pay to help save houses that shouldn't have been built there in the first place - historic places yes.

It's always interesting to see responses to threads that are more discussion pieces that just straight info and to see where they go. Just checked back on this one and found some interesting comments and the side issue of the notorious sliding houses of Oceanside at The Capes development.The troubled Capes Development sat atop a large sand dune on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, between Netarts and Oceanside. In February 1998 the dune on which the Capes development was built began to erode. The erosion reactivated an old landslide. As a result, some homeowners had to be evacuated as the sand beneath their townhouses slid away. Gov. John Kitzhaber said he won't help the owners of some luxury homes that could fall into the ocean authorizing emergency action to build a rock barrier. Kitzhaber said he wasn't willing to bend Oregon's strict beach-protection laws.
The Capes Homeowners sued the developers for damages, as well as the realtor, contractor, architect, civil engineer and geotechnical engineer.
You can see a photo of the houses and cliff edge at http://www.lcd.state.or.us/coast/ima...capesbluff.jpg but it's not a very big photo. It's quite dramatic to see from walking the beach between Netarts and Oceanside though and looking up. Talk about building coastal houses in silly locations though I think even *more* foolish are those who have house *in* the sand dunes near Pacific City.....when we walked by several had sand pilled up 1/2 on some dies of the house! And more than a few had small tractors with snowplow like attachments in their driveway....seems like they had to dig themselves out on a regular basis! It was like that old Japanese film "Woman in the Dunes"! ROTFL.

Typo..that's some SIDES of their houses,
although they might die if they don't keep plowing that sand away weekly. Instead of mowing the lawn they keep rebuilding loose sand piles on the edges of their properties. It's the Myth Of Sisyphus on the coast.

Hey, we have houses with the exact same problem here on the other coast, on Cape Cod, which is basically a huge sandbar itself. Historic lighthouses have been moved back so they don't tumble into the ocean. Occasionally, entire islands disappear, or are created when spits of land are separated by new ocean passages.

One owner was furious when the "big slide" began. His real estate agent had assued him that only a "storm of the century" would bring the house down, so he bought insurance and figured he had a century. But it turned out to be 5 years.