ON THE ROAD – OREGON

Just north of Coos Bay, Oregon, (North Bend), we turned off Highway 101 and the place we wanted to go was closed so we kept driving for about a mile and saw this big driveway on the left which turned out to be Clausen’s Oysters.  We turned the truck and camping trailer around in their parking lot, parked and went in to their deli and discovered a small restaurant in an adjacent room.

You can look through the glass windows and see the operation of bagging and shucking oysters. They ship thousands of pounds (46,000) on a weekly basis mostly to California and shuck as many as 10,000.  Three guys shucking, a total of 25 employees to work a 600 acre oyster farm.

They dig the oysters out of the mud flats at low tide and then bring them in to the shed to be separated and packed into bags for shipping.  Only a small percentage are shucked to be sold locally or distributed.  With two tides daily, the work continues apace according to the schedule of the tides and the workers.

The lunch menu was limited but delicious and it was hard to choose among the various oyster dishes from raw oysters on the half shell to barbecued oysters, to fried oysters and oyster chowder.  They also make a parmesan butter which is especially for barbecued oysters.

When we continued on to our destination which was Winchester Bay RV Resort and I opened up my computer, I found their web site and here it is for your enjoyment:  https://www.clausenoysters.com/