I hope you’re having a good, relatively calm closure to your summer and transition into fall. We wrapped up our lazy summer with a mini family reunion and our first road trip up the CA and OR coastline. On the way up, we drove along the coast and visited the towns of Fort Bragg, Klamath, and Bandon. And for our return, we ventured more inland into the OR wine country and visited Silver Falls State Park, Corvallis, Cottage Grove, Crescent City, and Shelter Cove. Our most northern destination: Astoria, where I got to fulfill my dreams with all things Goonies like a wistful 80s awkward teenager. By default, my extended family was also subjected to nerd fandom and were locked up in the same prison cell filmed in the opening sequence.
Aside from spending quality time with one another, other highlights included seeing elk prancing in the wild, discovering exotic marine life, exploring sea caves, experiencing our first bonfire on the beach, and even having a real, proper photo session with Portland photographer extraordinaire, Posy Quaterman. (Not pictured: all the toe injuries, random car on fire along the highway, driving through a Level 3 Evacuation wildfire (!!!), and a person doing his “business” right at the hood of our car—pretty much all things most memorable for my pre-teen). ????????
It’ll be a million years until I edit all my photos, but here are some favorites.
And by popular request, here is our full itinerary for our 4 day leisurely road trip from Alameda, CA to Manzanita, OR. Each stop was about 3-4 hrs drive. All our lodging was done at dog-friendly accommodations.
Day 1: Fort Bragg, CA. Lodging: Surf and Sand Lodge which was within walking distance of Pudding Creek Beach. Be warned: Leashed dogs are strictly enforced at the beach and fines are common. If your dogs love to run on a beach, pack a 15+ training leash. We also visited Glass Beach, where I had the best clam chowder of my life at Noyo Fish Co. I still dream about that creamy bowl of chowder. The fish and chips were note worthy, too.
Day 2: Orick, CA. Lodging: Roosevelt Base Camp. As our lodging indicated, this was pretty much our base camp, as there really is not much to do in this tiny town. Our motel (which I highly recommend with its recent renovations) was literally the town’s main attraction. From here, we made side trips to Redwood Nat Park and Trees of Mystery to see the legendary 49′ Paul Bunyan and his faithful blue ox, Babe. What can I say? I’m a sucker for cheesy roadside attractions and gigantic statues who’s voice sounds like Nick Offerman.
Day 3: Bandon, OR. Lodging: Best Western Inn at Face Rock. This was hands down the fanciest BW we ever stayed it, and it was directly across from the beach. The main attraction is Face Rock Beach and its impressive formation of sea stacks. We changed our itinerary at the last minute to stay here because we noticed that it would be low tide, which is the chef’s kiss when it comes to landscape photography and discovering all the marine life living on the rocks.
Day 4: Manzanita– our final destination for our mini family reunion. We rented a house on the beach for about a week that was 1 mile away from the downtown. I preferred it this way because the beach was much quieter, and it felt like we had it all to ourselves. Our pup didn’t mind it one bit. We made day trips to Astoria, Cannon Beach, Secret Beach, Hug Point, and the cute, neighboring town of Nehalem.
As we began our journey back to CA, our first stop was at Silver Falls SP to see some majestic waterfalls. We then continued inland for a change of scenery and drove through Oregon’s wine country, Willamette Valley, and stopped for a bite to eat at Corvallis with our lodging for that evening in Cottage Grove.
Day 5: Cottage Grove, OR. Lodging: BW, Cottage Grove, where we took an epic driving tour to all of the town’s historic covered bridges.
Day 6: Crescent City, CA. Lodging: Anchor Beach Inn. As the name implies, it’s also located on the beach. Our stay also aligned with the low tide which made the Battery Point Lighthouse accessible. This lighthouse’s tower was the only one on our trip that was open to the public.
Day 7: Whitehorn Inn, CA. Lodging: Black Sands Inn. I may have chosen this location purely for the alluring name of its beach: Shelter Cove.
Day 8: Home sweet home.
