Where to find the best view on the Oregon Coast ...

                       The actual view from the window at Toby's Crab Shack.

THE absolute best, No. 1, superior view on the Oregon Coast, available for public lodging is at Rainbow Rock, 3 miles north of Brookings.
I stayed here for 5 days in August of 2015. Having traveled on vacations along the Oregon Coast some 24 times in the past 32 years, I've seen the majority of what's out there -- and the place called Toby's Crab Shack is light years ahead of the rest.
Case in point: My 19-year-old son has always turned the TV on and plopped down on a chair whenever we've stayed anywhere else. 

                 The 2 indoor window seats at Toby's Crab Shack. There's a deck too.

However, at Toby's Crab Shack, he went to the window and sat down and starred. He never ate at the dinner table -- he took his food to the deck or the window chairs.
Now I have not idea why the name Toby's Crab Shack was given to this place. It should be called "The Room with THE view."
You will NEVER want to close the blinds at this place -- just keep the view always open.

Toby's Crab Shack is in the building on the left, second floor, far left (or north end) in these two photographs with a 180-degree clear view of the Pacific Ocean and rocky headlands galore.


Besides the spectacular view, the place has access to a private trail to a remote beach north of Brookings. It also has elaborate accommodations for 4 people (2 bedrooms) and is very affordable when you consider how much plain motels cost along the Oregon Coast.
Now, I'm not paid, affiliated or compensated in any way with or by Toby's Crab Shack. I just think it is a great place to stay and it has redefined my formula for lodging along the Oregon Coast.
The ONLY improvement I'd make in the place is to have a good spotting scope available by the window.
I will return to this place in the future. It is a gem.
Toby's is part of the large complex of condos at Rainbow Rock. It has a locked car gate and is its own private community. It is a very quiet, serene and well kept place.

-If you'd like to look at Toby's Crab Shack as a rental, go to VRBO.com and search for: 

Oceanfront Condo in Brookings at Rainbow Rock

(NOTE: However, children are not allowed at Toby's Crab Shack. Yet, there is another condo for rent by the same company at the south end of Rainbow Rock that caters to families with young children.)

         What the beach below Toby's Crab Shack is like ... My family members were often the only people there, even on a warm summer day.

The Contradiction that is a Job Interview

                                                A typical job interview.                 -Photo from Wikipedia Commons.

   I'VE seen this happen time and time again over the decades ----- People landing jobs simply because they do well at job interviews.

All too many employers seem confused and seem to the think that just because someone does well at a job interview process, then they are the best one to hire for a job.

Hello! Unless you are hiring someone to actually do job interviews, that's the fallacy of all too many job interviews today.

I've never been that good at job interviews and in the past some of my references have had to ask my future employer -- "Do you want someone who can do the job you are hiring for well, or do you want someone who is good at sitting through job interviews?"

The two aren't always the same.

Some people have outgoing personalities and seem to always do well at job interviews, even if they aren't the best candidate for the job in actual fact.

So, I doubt employers are going to change their thinking and so prospective employees need to "play the game" well and get better schooled at how to pull off a great job interview.  Sadly, being able to do so is more important than just about anything else you can do in landing a job.

-Also, I've wondered if having the talent of being able to "suck up to," or brown-nose people is another factor of why some people get jobs when they are not qualified, or the best qualified.
EXAMPLE" In the past 6 years this woman I know has landed 2 jobs that she was not really that qualified for. Her greatest talent? Being able to suck up to anyone .....

-AND, while I'm talking job interviews --- anyone with excessive or obvious tattoos should note the downside in this: I was talking to a big company executive a while ago. Tattoos came up. He flat out said that if two candidates for job hiring were evenly matched and one had visible tattoos, it is no brainier which person he is going to hire. I doubt he is alone in that opinion.

Thermal action ever changing Yellowstone, even its roadways

                                                    Fire Hole Falls on Oct. 7, 2014.


YELLOWSTONE National Park is ever changing, as a gigantic ancient, super volcano, that's not dead yet.

Even the park's paved roads are not immune to geothermal effects: Recent example from an official Yellowstone National Park Service (NPS) news release (and yet apparently NOT reported by news organizations): the Firehole Falls Road. 

Back in July of 2014, extreme heat from surrounding thermal areas caused thick oil to bubble to the surface, damaging the blacktop roadway and creating unsafe driving conditions on the popular, scenic, one-way road, located off the Grand Loop Road, just south of Madison Junction in the park’s Lower Geyser Basin.

So, although the one-way (southbound) road did eventually reopen, the Park Service apparently took most of the parking away at the swimming hole area with log fence barriers, just to be safe. Proves, once again, even nature's treasures are fragile.

When I traveled this road in October of 2012, there was parking for a dozen or so cars right by the swimming hole at Fire Hole. Now, October of 2014, there is essentially none, without blocking the road.

The only parking is 400 yards or so to the south or the north of the Fire Hole "pool," so you have to walk.

(Of course, you could block the road, as I almost ran into a woman who unsafely and un-smartley left her car on the narrow, winding Fire Hole road -- and her door open -- to go meander around, as if she was the only one driving the road!!!)

There is only one other official swimming area in Yellowstone: Boiling River. You used to be able to swim there throughout the summer, but never in recent years.

Now Boiling River isn't open for swimming until mid to late summer, when water is lower on the Gardiner River. Even then, it is a half-mile walk from a parking area to the "hole."
Hot and cold water mix here and it is warm, spa-like water there (as I have been there.)

By the way, the NPS claims the Fire Hole Falls swimming area has no direct thermal input to the river there -- that it is just swimming pool temperature water, heated gradually from elsewhere along the river.

-I'm also amazed how little of Yellowstone's weather or thermal effect incidents go unreported by the media.

EXAMPLE: Mid-June of 2010. An overnight ice storm closes the loop road from Tower Falls to Canyon. The road is closed from morning one day, until late afternoon and required an hour-plus detour.
Also, the NPS doesn't tell (or can't readily communicate with) the ranger at the Mammoth/north entrance to the park about the closure. You only found out about this closure by driving to Tower Falls, as I did, and seeing the barriers on the roadway.

                                               Tower Falls.

This also illustrates, communication wise, how poorly Yellowstone Park could handle a true disaster. The park is huge, rustic and apparently lacks a good communication system.

80 mph speed limit on I-84 is Insane at night

    

  I recently drove I-84 southbound at night and found the posted 80 mph speed limit to be simply insane.

There are deer and elk crossing warning signs posted all along the Snowville area, where 80 mph speed limits rule.
In the day, that might be fine, but at dark, that's a disaster waiting to happen -- especially when you factor in a lot of curves and mountain grades.
I think 65 or 70 mph at night is more reasonable for that stretch of road, until it meets I-15.
-The same is true for I-15 north  Malad, Idaho. In those mountains, an 80 mph speed limit at night is unwise too.

 _AND, in a sad update, a man died in a crash with a deer after dark, on this freeway, near the Idaho border, in September of 2026.

University of Utah designs, builds and donates house to Navajo mother

       Steve Arave, one of the University of Utah graduate students,  in front of the finished project.

EVERY year for about 10 now, the University of Utah, with help of architecture graduate students, has designed, constructed and donated a new house to a Navajo in need, in the Bluff, Utah area.
The latest home was given to a wheelchair-bound woman on April 27, 2014. 
These projects are part of "Design Build Bluff."
Located on a windy hill southwest of Bluff, the unique looking home overlooks Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, Bear's Ears and virtually every other local geographical feature with its commanding view.
With only about $25,000 "seed money," the students built a 900-square-foot, one-level house in less than four months.
The woman will live there with her son.

                                        Inside the house.

                                            The happy new home owner.
   

Worth at least $60,000, the cost difference came with the donated labor and many donated materials.
The home is located at the end of about a 3-mile-long dirt road, with the only neighbors some miles away being the woman's relatives on the Navajo land.
The U. of U. does this homebuilding in the spring. The University of Colorado does a similar building project every fall in the Bluff area.
Graduate students live at a "campus," an old farm house and grounds on the northeast side of Bluff, during the construction.
I tried to woo a number of media outlets in Salt Lake City to do a story on this worthy annual effort, but failed.
The presentation of the home was simply heart-warming and proves good things do happen in the world.

                                       Monument Valley, as seen from the home's front yard.

                              The backside of the house and yard.

                The crowd at the dedication/presentation of the new home, southwest of Bluff, Utah.

Think twice before you own two or more large dogs!

Anyone who owns or wants to own two (or more) large dogs should reconsider that decision.
A highly publicized Oct. 7, 2013 attack by two pit bulls on a Layton, Utah woman and her dog near my own house prove having two large canines to be a significant, potential danger.
I have one large dog and he's a handful.
But the widespread trend now is to own two or more dogs and that is a troubling fad.
Here's why:
I've lived in my same house for 30 years. For 26 years, I ran and walked about the neighborhood with only one loose dog problem.
Then it is late 2009 and two loose dogs attack me and I'm bitten once on the leg.
After that attack, the flood gates opened. I have since encountered three more sets of loose double dogs, spared from attacks only by the pepper spray and stick I religiously carry now.
The younger generation seems to think that they have to have two dogs -- one won't do.
Trouble is, some of these owners don't have proper fences to contain their dogs and never take them out for walks.
In essence, they don't properly care for the animals.

                     Pepper spray, like this, is a wise item for walkers/runners to always carry.

And, some like the owners of the two dogs that caused that Oct. 7, 2013 attack in Layton, they don't even have their dogs licensed or vaccinated.
(Anyone in Layton City with three or more dogs isn't going to license them, since two dogs is the maximum legal limit in ownership.)
I also partially blame the animal adoption groups, like No More Homeless Pets and the Humane Society of Utah, for this troubling trend.
They are TOO good at getting people to adopt not one, but two dogs -- when some pet owners couldn't even properly care and contain one canine, let alone two.
(Yes, I've seen these adoption groups routinely strongly encourage potential adopters to take two dogs, so the one dog won't be lonely.)
These adoption groups brag about their success, but they are helping to create a surge in dog ownership, with its accompanying problems.
When you own two large dogs, you have a huge potential liability because the chances are, if they get loose, they will act like a pack and are far more likely to attack someone.
I've seen the difference first hand. If I meet a solo loose dog, he usually isn't all that aggressive -- just territorial at the most.
But two loose dogs together is another story. They usually do act more aggressive and want to team up on you.
So, people can claim to me that their dogs are calm and would never attack anyone, but get them loose and in a dog "pack" mentality and it could happen!
I've met several dozen solo loose dogs in recent years, plus the four sets of double dogs and I've seen the difference in behavior.
Now, regarding pit bulls and similar breeds:
If my Aussie bites someone, the bite is a .22 caliber type. Any dog can bite.
However, pit bulls have more of a .44 or even .357 caliber bite.
They are simply more deadly in potential and need to be treated as such. If you own pit bulls, you need to pay more attention to keeping them confined properly.
(In the United Kingdom, pit bull owners have to keep such dogs' face muzzled in public, or they face jail time and loss of the animal.)
The owners of the dogs which caused the Layton attack didn't miss their dogs until many hours later. The attack happened at 5:45 a.m. It was afternoon when the owners contacted Davis County Animal Control and reported their missing animals, still oblivious to any attack they had already caused.
By then, these owners were on record and when they heard about the attacks, they came forward again. They have offered to pay for all medical and vet bills (likely in the thousands of dollars) and their two dogs were put to sleep.
However, I remain unconvinced that these owners would have come forward IF they had heard about the attacks first.
After all, they could be sued big time for their negligence.
I would have been surely tempted to make an example of these irresponsible owners. To not have their dogs vaccinated, licensed and loose for many hours before they missed them is simply inexcusable.
But, at the least these irresponsible owners are likely to get misdemeanor criminal charges for not having their dogs licensed, vaccinated and for them running loose.
I've been warning people in my neighborhood for 4 years about the high potential for such and attack and sadly it happened.
That woman could have been killed had not a car came by with two people who helped her. (One of the dogs had knocked her to the ground at that point.)

               The rod from a broken umbrella makes a good retractable walking stick.


I have to carry pepper spray and retractable stick with me at all times when I walk or run about the neighborhood.
The stem from and old umbrella makes a suitable, retractable walking stick. It fits inside one layer of my clothes, by the side of my hip. I can even jog with it there.
Pepper sprays usually have a belt clip on them.
(However, be warned! Trying to use pepper spray in a crisis situation at night, in the dark, or if it is windy, is tricky. I know, I've tried it. It is hard to hit your target and it could hit your own face.)
-It is not a matter of if I will encounter more  loose dogs, just a matter of when.
So far, in the past 3 weeks alone, I have encountered 7 loose dogs in the area, running about freely.
I love dogs. I've always had one around. But it is these irresponsible dog owners who I could do without.
--In a related note, if you own two or more large dogs and they are outside on your lawn a lot, they will likely ruin it and it will become a mud/dirt area only.

Lagoon's Pioneer Village may Be History one day ...

Pioneer Village has been a mainstay at Lagoon since 1976.
However, the Village is also Lagoon Park's most costly maintenance nightmare. Plus, the rising generations do not seem to care about this historical treasure.
In fact, Pioneer Village resembles more of a ghost town these days, because of a lack of patrons.
There used to be fabulous old west gun battle shows in the Village and now they are long since gone, due to a lack of interest.
The only thing Pioneer Village is good for to most Lagoon goers these days is to be a travel path to the Log Flume and Rattlesnake Rapids rides.
Once the oldest of Lagoon's owners, Peter Freed, is gone, I would bet that's when Pioneer Village will be in serious danger of being closed, sold and moved away.
(Peter Freed turned 94 in 2015.)
The rest of the Freed family doesn't appear to share Peter's fascination with history and the Village.
So, enjoy Pioneer Village while you can.
Even though Lagoon is America's largest family-owned amusement parks these days, the Village may not survive the next generation ...
My prediction is it will be closed and gone by 2022 ...
Pioneer Village was relocated from Salt Lake County in the mid-1970s.
Whether the nearby Lagoon Zoo and Wild Kingdom Train would remain is unclear.

-NOTE that some things in Pioneer Village are on loan from various places. Also, some components/displays in Pioneer Village are too Utah, or LDS Church oriented to end up outside Utah. These items would likely be handled separately, from the general old west items on the village.