Oregon trip report
 

we spent 9 days (sept 9-17) in oregon (not counting flight days). thanks to everyone on this board for suggestions.

brief summary below:

first 5 days on the coast.

cannon beach to florence.

spent 2 nights at ocean lodge in cannon beach.

one night at inn at cape kiwanda (ok if keep window closed - then not noisy - no AC so not sure how this would work in the summer).

and then 2 nights at overleaf lodge in Yachats.

all accomodations were great, nice overlooking the ocean and hearing the waves at night.

we spent much time exploring various sights up and down the coast. parks,overlooks, birding sights, tillamook cheese factory and newport aquarium to mention a few. we did find that we had to drive back and forth from where we were staying. I guess if we stayed each night in a different place we could have saved some driving.

there was no rain the whole time we were there. several days on the coast were cool and foggy. rest was fine.

a few restaurants that come to mind were wayside? in cannon beach, warren tavern and ecola fish market.

in kiwanda we ate at restaurant affiliated with the motel.

in yachats drift inn was good and good music.

up to portland. stayed at hotel monaco which was great. got a good deal as members of klimpton club -or whatever they call it. parking, breakfast and internet all included. Also there were hardly any dogs at the hotel - which was great. saw maybe 2?

went to rose, japanese and chinese garden. liked the rose and japanese the best.

stopped at powells bookstore. and some friends who live there took us around by car to other sights.

also did a day trip to the gorge and mt. hood. Timberline lodge is under repair and hard to get the full effect of the place. the trip is certainly doable in a day if you don't do too much hiking at any of the stops.

we also spent the first and last night at the staybridge motel at the airport.

reviews of hotels are on trip advisor.

happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks for your trip report. I'm thinking about doing this in the future. Sounds like I'll definitely want to stay in different places along the way to lessen the driving. What were the top three highlights of the trip?....in terms of scenery, hotels, food?

well the scenery along the coast is great. hard to pick a favorite area. depends on your interests. we are into bird watching, photography, nature. and not much walking.

we moderately enjoyed portland and sights I mentioned were definitely worth seeing. a 1/2 day less or even 1 day less would have been fine for us in portland.

as for restaurants -we are usually not into fancy restaurants on trips as too tired by days end to enjoy a really upscale dinner.

the only one we really didn't like was the one at the monaco hotel.

also having to go out to breakfast- versus having it in the hotel at cape kiwanda was a bit of a pain as didn't open till 8 am , service a bit slow and we wanted to get going. food was fine and if into leisurely breakfast not a problem.

overleaf was the best hotel of the 3 coast hotels. but all were really good.

Sounds fun, what did you do in Cannon Beach? ***kim*** ((#))

ecola state? park. walked out to haystack rock. spent time driving down the coast to tillimook and back with stops along the way. window shopped briefly in town.

the state puts out a guide book about points of interest along the whole coast. tied to mileage markers along the road. we used that. plus a guide to birding the coast as well.

pictures from this trip are at:

http://www.pbase.com/joanel/oregon

The Wayfarer?
I loved getting picnics at Ecola Seafood!
Kimpton.. once you have stayed there, you can get a Kimpton card and get good discounts! Glad you liked the Monaco .. we were always happy with our stays there.
We were there once when the GM told us there were 5 or 6 dogs, we never saw one either .. I don't care if I see them but I am so happy when I don't hear them. We stayed there with our big dog and they spoiled him rotten :- )

Did you love the Gorge?
It is serious summer here where I live and I really miss those cool green green forests and the falls.

thanks for posting !