Hey @epsteindidnt
When you get into the swing of Rails development, you will, if you are like me, find that what you describe as " spew(ing) stuff in Terminal endlessly" becomes one of your best friends.
For example, I’m currently developing a Rails application for a client where we are transforming all their legacy business logic (from many decades ago) to Rails. I actually bought a new monitor just so I can see the "stuff in Terminal endlessly" (your words), because that information is shiny gold to a developer.
In addition to the amazing Rails server log, providing intricate details of what is going on, there is also another “developer’s best friend”, the Rails console!
When I write code for Rails, I basically write the draft in VSC and then I copy-and-paste snippets into the Rails console to make sure everything works as expected.
When debugging, I write Ruby print(like) statements (p, puts) into the code and observe what happens in the “endless stream of gold rails server log information” on the screen. Almost all my errors are fixed in this way! Like I said, I recently bought a new standalone curved gaming monitor just to see the Rails server log info you are annoyed with 
It sounds to me, reading your posts, that you are a bit like me at the beginning of this year, migrating to a Rails application without prior Rails development experience. In the beginning, I also felt annoyed about Rails (maybe more than) a bit; and now 9 months later, I develop exclusively in Rails everyday for clients (my limit is 1/2 time client work since I’m semi-retired) and have stopped all prior PHP dev work. Honest, I have a new found passion for Rails (and Ruby), very much. Better late than never, as the saying goes!
Regrading Apache2, Apache does not provide the intricate details of what is going in behind the scenes in an application like Rails does. I run Apache2 as a reverse proxy in front of all my Rails applications and to be frank, I cannot remember the last time I looked at an Apache log file; because I do all the debugging using the Rails server log you are currently annoyed with
In closing, I honestly hope a different perspective from a prior “migrate a forum to Rails person” helps in some small way. For me, being compelled to get off LAMP web apps and on to Rails web apps, was one of the best “tech things” that happened to me (personally) in 2020.
Happy Holidays!