happytrailstoyou

I have never stayed at the BW in Florence. I have. It is a well-run property. We had a room with balcony and water (bay?) view. As I recall, somebody made me an omelet in the morning. Dinner at Waterfront Depot is a treat. HTtY

dshamritsky

Any thoughts on the Old Town Inn in Florence? It looks like a clean, relatively cheap place in the center of town.

sunbum1944

Old Town Florence is nice. Lots of shops and restaurants. As Happytrails suggested, Waterfront Depot is a great place to eat. May need reservations

I also enjoy the Restobar restaurant-

The Coffee Roaster is a good place for coffee, desserts.

sunbum1944

Oops. Sorry. I don't know about the Old Town Inn. Thought you were asking about the Old Town area in general.

dshamritsky

Thanks anyways, it looks nicer than anything in reedsport/further south, so we will probably stay there. Reviews are good for the inn and cheaper than most other places.

dshamritsky

I have gone along and booked a room at Crater Lake Lodge for the two nights we will be there. Do any of you have suggestions on the best way to utilize 1/2 a day at Point Reyes? There seems to be so much, but it looks very spread out on the map and adds up to a lot of driving and little time to hike/walk.

dshamritsky

Hello again,

On day 5 (from Trinidad to Crater Lake) we are planning to doing the drive through Redwoods and continue on 199 from there towards Grants Pass. After doing some research I have found that Oregon Caves is not far from there. Would it be worth the side trip, and if it is, could we fit all of that into one day? Also, would it be very busy there in early June?

sunbum1944

I think Oregon Caves would not be busy in early June.

Although they are interesting, I think it is not worth the side trip. I would spend more time exploring the redwoods or the waterfalls along Hwt 138 between Roseburg and Crater Lake.

dshamritsky

sunbum,

I may be wrong, but wouldn't we arrive at crater lake from the south (grants pass)? 138 would be the route back to the coast after crater lake, but I was asking about our drive from the California coast.

sunbum1944

Yes. You are right. 138 after Crater Lake.

I still think I would spend more time in the Redwoods than I would the cave.

One of my favorite places to stop is The Klamath River overlook. Great views, sometimes whales feeding down below, there is a trail down to another overlook. We did a rather long hike starting from there- had another car pick us up at the end. You likely wouldn't do that but you could do a portion of it.

I only did part of the cave tour ( there is a point where you can exit if you wish). Low ceilings, lost of stooping etc. so was not for me.

We did stay at the lodge there for 1 night. Nothing remarkable but OK. The lodge does have a dining room.

lanejohann

Hi there!
We are just back from a big trip ...juneau to
La

Loved loved loved the Oregon Coast and northern cal and Seattle!
Thanks to the many fodorites who made strong persuasive suggestions, my husband and I enjoyed a sensorama smorgasbord of sights

We didn't plan the route ...just winged it on suggestions made here and the excellent advice of local into centres and a fabulous guide free from the info centre called mile by mile..it outlines everything ..but it's not effusive so u really need to talk to people who will be enthusiastic about a certain place .. We had a limited time on this leg ..five and a half days ..so we needed to pick the eyes out of the route

Loved cannon beach..should've stayed there instead of seaside but then we wouldn't have walked the promenade at seaside
Haystack rock is amazing on cannon beach and we loved brekky at the sleepy monk cafe...there was a line up but it went quickly ..atmosphere was great

Coos bay was a disappointment ...but maybe we didn't give it a chance..just stayed on the main drag near the river to avoid the noisy highway motels

Fort Bragg was nice.. Can see its potential as a holiday spot
Liked eureka with its cute architecture..drove the backstreets looking for the zoo but it was closing by five so we would've had 45 mins only
Glad we turned in to ferndale..lively town to explore...everything was closed but we did drive round it

So many little highlights..so blessed to have seen them on this gorgeous coastline

Will treasure our myrtle wood lighthouse we carted home !hNdcrafted by michael..thank you!

Loved seeing the elk along the Davison road near reedsport.still a novelty for us Aussies and as animal lovers it was a privilege to watch them lying around or grazing with their babies

Redwoods were majestic...avoided the mystery of trees tours and drove the avenue of giants instead..great sights but I don't know how many more trees one needs to see..not offending any treelivers I hope with my sweeping naivety?lol��

dshamritsky

Hey all, thought I should update you on the status of our trip this June. The itinerary has been quite firmly set as follows:

Day 1 (3rd): Arrive in Portland
Day 2 (4th): Columbia River Gorge, Mt Hood
2nd night in Portland
Day 3 (5th): Explore Portland
3rd night in Portland
Day 4 (6th): Leave Portland for Florence, Oregon
Day 5 (7th): Florence to Crater Lake
-Crater Lake Lodge
Day 6 (8th): Crater Lake
spend 2nd night at Crater Lake Lodge
Day 7 (9th): Crater Lake to Eureka
-Redwoods SP/NP
Day 8 (10th): Eureka to Mendocino
-Avenue of the Giants
-Fort Bragg
Day 9 (11th): Mendocino to Bodega Bay
Day 10 (12th): Bodega Bay to San Francisco
-Point Reyes
-Mt. Tamalpais
-Golden Gate Bridge
Day 11 (13th): San Francisco
Day 12 (14th): Fly from SF in evening

Obviously the direction of the journey has been reversed, but we will be hitting almost all of the things we originally planned on. Hotel at Crater Lake has been booked, but would love recommendations for any of the other towns/cities we will be staying in.

Thanks

Gardyloo

Why are you doing a giant zigzag to get from the coast to Crater Lake and then back to the coast? Going Portland - (Mt. Hood) - Crater Lake - coast - south would save quite a lot of driving.

janisj

>>The itinerary has been quite firmly set as follows:

tyger1020

Hi there! I'm reading this thread because my husband and I are looking to book a very similar trip and are asking many of the same questions. I was wondering what your final itinerary looked like, how it worked for you, and if there is anything you would do differently otherwise or would recommend. Thanks so much!

janisj

Welcome to Fodors Tyger1020. >>Hi there! I'm reading this thread because my husband and I are looking to book a very similar trip and are asking many of the same questions. I was wondering what your final itinerary looked like, how it worked for you, and if there is anything you would do differently otherwise or would recommend. Thanks so much!