Road trip! Coastal Oregon suggestions?

[shipm_8]

With the Bay Area Swap and Show 2010 on the calendar, Jessie and I decided to turn this into an opportunity to do a bit of exploration north of the Golden Gate Bridge and on the way to visiting her 100 year old grandmother in Vancouver, Washington. Grandma can't wait to go on a ride on Tip Top, and we can't wait to take her out for pie. She loves pie.

San Diego to San Francisco we got covered; we'll do our usual combination of PCH—Highway 1—101 with a romantic interlude on the way to San Francisco. After the show, we'll head north, on a disorganized combination of 1 and 101.

Where we need a bit of help and hope you can chime in is the Oregon coastal leg of the trip. Any suggestions for a two day road segment between the California state line and Vancouver WA?

We tasked the junior member of our crew to do some research, but he ate the chart instead of coming up with ideas, so we are now in your hands.

William

[02again]

tillamook oregon, there's a cool aircraft museum in an old WWII Airship hanger. just off 101

[tyjoja]

I live in albany, or, about 50 miles east of the central oregon coast. Just keep coming up the coast on hwy 101. Lots of beach, towns, bay fronts, casino's, lighthouses, and shops. Lots of hotels along the way, as well as places to eat. Just mosey along and have fun. Should be a great trip, and you can easily make it from the border to vancouver in 2 days no problem. Good luck, bob.

[JHG762002]

Assuming you are going to be on I-5 north you may want to turn left at Eugene and take hwy 126 (a nice drive in itself once you get to the coastal range.) to Florence and then take a right at 101. Keep heading north to Seaside. After Seaside you can follow the Columbia river to Portland which puts you right there in Vancouver. It may or may not be a two day drive depending on traffic and your right foot. When I lived in Eugene I would often make a day of driving from Florence to Newport and then back home. Most of it is scenic (post card vistas) and there are plenty of touristy coastal stops, plenty of open beaches for the pup, and hotels. If you find yourself pressed for time you can cut back over to I-5 at several of the larger towns. I almost always headed north, south of Florence was not as interesting.

A few places worth checking out'

http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_124.php

http://sealioncaves.com/home/

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/siuslaw/recreation/tripplanning/capeperpetua/

http://www.wildlifehotspots.com/strawberryhillwayside.html

http://www.oregoncoasttravel.net/1331/oregon_coast/Devil%27s-Churn-.htm

[TobyB]

101 is pretty, but the RV's take a lot of the fun out of it.

If you want real driving roads, go inland a bit. The logging

roads got paved and turned into 2 lanes, but they're very fun indeed.

Not fast, though, and watch out for moss. I'm actually serious about that-

you can completely lose grip on a bad patch of it!!!

I don't have numbers in my head- the voices chased them out-

but look at the maps- anything that's 2 lanes will be good. Usually.

t

[shipm_8]

Thank you for the recommendations and for the great links...so much to explore!

William

[JFT]

If you have two days, I'd avoid I-5 as much as possible and stay on the Oregon coastal route. Good driver's roads, gorgeous scenery. Long stretches with not much civilization. You won't regret it.

[gracer]

Stay on the coast! Go all the way to the Astoria bridge and turn inland on the Washington side. Join I5 2 Longview and drive south to vancouver. If you are here for a thursday night come over to Portland for a get together withb the locals. G

[shipm_8]

Thanks. We will probably be in Vancouver/Portland Thursday night...where do you meet? Our first long trip with the pup, so we are looking forward to learning to juggle the logistics with the social engagements, but at the very least we'd like to swing by and meet you.

[jwcurry]

If you see a 1969 chamonix 1600 rocketing Northward along the Oregon coast, also....on their way back from the Bay Are 02 show....it would be me.

I think basically, we are doing the same trip. I'm planning on spending one night (Sat night) in Northern Sonoma County and the next night (Sun night) in Brookings/Gold Beach, OR

Jerry

[Byron]

...and eat breakfast/brunch at the Green Salmon. You won't regret it. It's right on the highway.

If you have a chance to check out Nehalem Bay State Park....it's pretty neat. North coast, before you head east down the gorge.

There is nothing on the coast that you'll be disappointed with though. I had the fortune to ride most of CA and all of OR on my R1150R in 2006. By far the most incredible road trip of my life.

Post up some pics for us!

bc

[BlindRhino]

Hit the Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR! it is a must!

[Squatch Pads]

You are welcome to join up with us. There are a bunch of us heading down to the Bay Area show out of Portland and Salem. We're headed north after the show and we're not sure where were staying Saturday night. Some of the group has to be back at work Monday, but we could at least do dinner somewhere Saturday night. Give me a shout if this sounds like something your interested in.

[shipm_8]

thanks for the offer, Woody. We are staying through the weekend in San Francisco before continuing north, so perhaps will cross paths at the Swap and Show? Or maybe at the Portland meet.

Thank you all again for the suggestions....will report back!

[eurotrash]

If you are going to pass through Astoria and were ever a fan of the movie The Goonies, you can visit Cannon beach, south of town, where the last scene in the movie was filmed. Its an amazing park with disturbingly surreal views. (I stripped down and went for a skinny dip at the Goonie rock -and subsequently lost our rental car keys in the sand...as the tide was coming in! But thats a story Karie loves to tell, so I'll save that for V@V if anyone wants to ask her about it..)

As well, you can visit the Goonie house that the kids lived in, the jail, and the phone booth. We were there a couple of years ago for the 20th anniversary reunion of the Goonies. I did the truffle shuffle, I couldn't help myself!!!

We fell in love with that town. If there were jobs, we would have moved there..