My wife and I plan on driving from Astoria to the California border in August. I understand the scenery is beautiful and look forward to sightseeing but was wondering if there are some specific attractions we should plan to see. Also, we plan on staying in Rockaway, Newport and Gold Beach.Any comments?

How did you choose those towns, and how many nights do you plan to spend in each?

Rockaway is rarely mentioned as a tourist favorite. It's mostly a residential community, without much commercial - i.e. shops, restaurants, etc. What little is there is pretty touristy-tacky in my opinion. I do know you can find a decent cup of coffee though. Newport's a good choice, as is Gold Beach, particularly if you're planning a jetboat ride up the Rogue River.

Not sure what you mean by "attractions" as sightseeing is mostly what the coast is about. But, if you're interested in history, Astoria and the surrounding area has several Lewis & Clark related attractions and interpretive centers. Further down the coast, lots of folks like to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, though I'm not sure why. The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport is another popular stop. Tourists seem to like Sea Lion Caves too; but most locals prefer observing them from the docks in Newport. If you're up for thrills, take a dune buggy ride, just south of Florence. Great fun.

Post back with more of your plans, including sightseeing.

In Gold Beach we took the trip with the Mail Boats www.mailboat.com and it was great! The trip up river was slow W/plenty of sights to see. On the way back we had a great driver who did wild things on the way back from lunch. Be ready to get wet!

My wife and I enjoyed the Washington-Oregon coast 12 years ago. I liked how non-touristy Rockaway was. Toured the Tillamook Cheese factory and that was fun. Westport, Washington was rednecky but I remember eating very good marlin at a restaurant there.

Years ago we got a pamphlet on the Oregon coast from the AAA ... I don't know if they still produce it, but it was excellent and we still use it.
A couple of good websites are:
http://www.visittheoregoncoast.com/
and
http://www.traveloregon.com/Explore-...gon-Coast.aspx.

The high points for us are, north to south:
* Cape Disapointment & Ft Canby St Pk on the north side of the Columbia
* Ecola State Pk and Oswald West St Pk (forest, walks, ocean headland, views) with Canon Beach inbetween
* Depot Bay (*small* fishing bay tucked into cliffs
* Devil's Punchbowl (surf crashing against rocks)
* Newport and the aquarium
* Cape Perpetua and Yachats area
* Heceta Head and Devil's Elbow St Pk north of Florence(quintessential lighthouse above nice agate beach)
* the dunes south of Florence just because they are so *big* and different from other coastal sights
* World class golfing at Bandon (people fly from all over the world ... one of its courses is *very* scotland like)
* Cape Blanco near Port Orford
* Gold Beach and the mail boats
* Jedidiah Smith St Pk near Crescent City, CA (nice redwoods)

If you go to Tillamook, don't miss spending some time at Cape Lookout State Park. Beautiful scenery here. We did a day trip to Newport from Seaside last summer that was fun. There is also the Blue Heron Cheese place in Tillamook that is fun and you can taste some local wines there in the back. ***kim***