My sweetie planned a "mystery weekend" - I didn't get to know in advance where we were going or what we were doing – that as it turns out, was phenomenal. I don't normally do well with surprises, but it was like he was totally tuned into me, everything he thought up super ultra deluxe.

He gave me card holding little hand-written "clues" to the places we were going, including the Flying Dutchman winery (mmm. wine) , hiking up Neahkahnie Mountain and staying at the Ocean House Bed & Breakfast in Newport.

So this is my recent review of the Ocean House Bed and Breakfast as posted on TripAdvisor.com. I was rough on them in my review, only because there are certain things that I feel they should change in order to be more useful to their guests. But knowing what I know now (meaning I can plan around their uselessness), I would stay there again. It is very lovely. And kudos to my sweetie to finding a romantic spot for us to stay.

Nice, but high maintenance...

First, don't follow the directions on their website. They're wrong and reference landmarks that no longer exist. After we arrived, the owner apologized and admitted that she FULLY KNEW that the directions on the web were difficult, if not impossible, to follow. Um... how about mentioning that when someone makes a reservation? or better yet...how about fixing the web site?

It was nice that they had the wine glasses/corkscrew in the room, but they had no access to silverware or plates (real or plastic) because they close off and lock their kitchen. The owner said something about health department regulations, but I have never been to a bed & breakfast that fully restricted access to the kitchen. We ended up using our fingers to eat the food we brought with us.

Breakfast was well organized and pleasant, but our breakfast had a Mexican theme, so most of the food (even the cornbread!) had red and green peppers, which we're not fond of, so we ended up picking through breakfast and then going back to the room to eat some of the leftover food we had from the night before (again with our fingers).

I had made the same comment (as a previous reviewer) - that I was scared to touch anything - to my partner after we arrived. I'd accidentally spilled a bit of water on the carpet in our room and I'd joked about the "alarms" going off.

I must admit the grounds were very lovely, there was easy access to the beach and the accommodations were quaint and comfortable. I can't say that I had a terrible time, but I wish there had been a better balance of comfort and usefulness.