When I was little we used to go to Depoe Bay every month to visit my Grandparents. They lived in a little house just above downtown before they moved to a trailer park just down the road in Otis. They died, as people sometimes do, and their ashes were poured out over the sea right there in Depoe Bay. As were the ashes of my great uncle and my great aunt and half a dozen other cousins and half-cousins. This was back before the condo boom of the late nineties and early oughts, so if anyone else from that side of the family dies they're going to have to get the permission of the good people at WorldMark before joining the rest of my dearly departed.
My fifth favorite movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, was partially filmed here. I tried scallops here for the first and last time here, at Gracie's Sea Hag. A seagull pooped on my head in this town during a busy summer day right in front of the Chowder Bowl when I was 17, so I no longer feed seagulls. The bookstore just south of the bridge used to have boxes upon boxes of vintage Playboy magazines from the 1970s, and they probably still do but I'm too afraid to go in there because one of the bookstore cat that totally dislikes me. Maybe that cat is dead now. Maybe its ashes are over at the WorldMark.
I called Mayor White from the Newport City Hall. The receptionist said she'd pass my request along so I figured his autograph would have to wait until the next time. Sure enough, he called me from his mobile phone 20 minutes later and offered to meet me at the Newport Fred Meyer Starbucks since he happened to be in town. He was easy to spot because, well, how many African-American ex-Marines are you going to see hanging out in the fake Starbucks in a Fred Meyer in Newport? Like, zero? It's zero unless you're meeting the Mayor of Depoe Bay. I figure he recognized me right away too because, well, how many dudes walk through a fake Starbucks in a Fred Meyer with a gigantic map of Oregon?
Mayor White and I hit it off swimmingly, I think. We talked about the recent downturn of Oregon's economy, which was a bummer (Sea Hag isn't going anywhere, don't worry). But then he told me about the Depoe Bay White House which I cannot do justice in retelling here because it's a story that you'll have to hear directly from him. He was just a cool guy, the kind of guy you'd want to restore an old car with or something. Or, I don't know, hunt geese with. Maybe build a pergola. Something along those lines. I know this is pretty early on, but he's definitely my favorite Mayor so far.
Oh yeah. Apparently there's a Mayor's conference of some sort happening this Wednesday in Salem. Before we said our goodbyes Mayor White said that if I showed up he'd introduce me to the other attending mayors. If I can get off work--and learn how to iron a shirt--I am so there.
Five down. 237 to go.
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