Pacific Coast Highway/Oregon Coast Roadtrip

[sonick]

So some buddies and I are gonna do a road trip/top-gear style convoy down to the Oregon Coast via the 101 coast highway and Portland; 1 night on the road (Forks, Washington), 2 nights on the coast and 3 nights in Portland.

Originally I was thinking of staying at Cannon Beach, but many of the vacation rentals are booked up or have a minimum stay more than 2 nights. I found several at Rockaway Beach, but I can't seem to find much info on the area.

Anybody have any info on Rockaway Beach? Also anything you guys recommend doing along the way?

[kleensleper]

Sea lion caves. It's a great drive down the coast. Lots of other hotels along the way all the down to Coos Bay.

[BBMme]

There's a famous chowder stand / restaurant place you can check out if you are into claim chowder
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[jbsali]

You're going to have a hard time finding a decent place to stay at a good value. I usually book my rentals about 6-8 months in advance for the summer. Also, it's slim pickings if you're looking for a place that will rent for less than 2 nights. I would never recommend taking a trip down to the oregon coast for a couple of nights. I would recommend spending at least 4 nights along the coast. I've been going all my life and it's really hard to take in all the best sites in that amount of time. If your just doing it for the "drive" and not so much for "kick-back-and-relax" than i would recommend 2 nights.

For rentals try seaview4u.com. Its a rental company based out of Pacific City. I've stayed at tons of different places along the cost and this is by far one of the nicest. Beaches are clean, low-traffic, you can drive your car on the beach, surf or grab a beer at the Pelican pub. It's a small town but it's beautiful. There are two other cities that the provided rental company covers.

Rockaway beach is pretty nice but i find it's just out of the way. I fucking hate having to drive through Tillamook because 1) i'm not a fan of farmland and 2) there's nothing to do or look at. You could drive about 2 hours south to Lincoln city but it'll eat a day of a "short trip/stay" I've booked a beach house this year in Rockaway beach and i do plan on visiting quite a few cities. I'll be going to 9 days so i'll have plenty of downtime. For you personally i would recommend staying in pacific city, nehalem, manzanita or lincoln city if its a short trip.

If you're into tourism check out Seaside, Newport, Lincoln City and Depoe Bay.

Seaside is the ultimate tourist area along the oregon coast! The promenade is nice, lots of trinket and t-shirt shops, a small but cool aquarium where you can feed harbour seals and all that jazz.

Lincoln City is more shopping based in my opinion. Surf shops, Tanger Outlet Mall, Casinos, restaurants, hotels, hotels, hotels. Fun to spend a day here but I wouldn't recommend anything more than that. Try to avoid Lincoln City beaches as they are usually crowded. If your looking for a cheap hotel try thelookingglassinn.com I've stayed here once and its a comfortable hotel. Small and reno'd.

Depoe Bay is a small touristy city. You can actually view Whales right from the large stone wall across the main drag. The shops are mainly trinkets and nick-nacks like all tourist shops would carry. I've honestly seen the same shit every year going into these places but it's just fun stuff to look at. Check out The Sea Hag restaurant. A widow of a sailor owns it and she has a really interesting story about the whole place. Really fun to talk to. Awesome customer service and great halibut fish and chips! Yum!

Newport is also a cool touristy area to check out. Right in a harbour with..yet again.. nick nack shops, art shops, restaraunts, Oregon's famounf Rouge Ale Company restaraunt, wax museums (wax works and ripley's), under sea garden, etc. You can see tons of sea lions basking in the sun from some the the floating piers just below the boardwalk. Just look for all the people taking pictures...

Theres a Nuetical Museum in Astoria and a Cheese Factory in tillamook. Other than that these two cities are boring as hell.

I would honestly focus between Astoria and Newport. Nothing further. I've been going to the Oregon coast nearly ever summer for 24 years so this is just a quick cap of things to do. Theres still tons of other things i have missed! Sealion caves, ziplining, whale watching, dunes, the famous oregon ship wreck, etc etc etc. I'm sure a lot of people will chime in with things to check out! If you're open to camping, stay at an Oregon State Park! They offer yurts so you don't have to bring tents, etc. These yurts usually book up quick but there are tons of parks along the coast! usually a walk to the beach too.

Any questions just post here or pm me! Best of luck.

[sonick]

Wow great info, thanks.

It is indeed tougher to find a place that will allow short 1-2 night rentals, but they are out there.

I think the beach will more just be a winding down type of thing vs visiting sights and sounds, so I think Rockaway may be ok despite it having nothing to do or look at. However I'm sure we'd venture out to Seaside at least.

We are actually going down for the Portland Brewer's Festival, so the Coast is more of a side trip and also an opportunity to drive the coast highway.

[finbar]

Jetty Fishery,
been for the crab
it's a nice ride down 101 from Cannon Beach
can't comment on the rest of it.

[icemiko]

If you guys want to drive another 3 hrs South of Portland and go to Florence, you can check out the Sea Lion Cave and sand dunes, I think it's worth the drive. Pacific Coast Highway is a nice twisty drive but watch out for cops because they like to hide behind the bushes or after the curves.

[Gh0stRider]

thinking of heading down in 3 weeks. not sure if im going all the way to san fran and back.

[sonick]

I am leaving this Sunday! Can't wait!

[Gh0stRider]

keep us posted on your trip.

[jbsali]

Originally Posted by icemiko

If you guys want to drive another 3 hrs South of Portland and go to Florence, you can check out the Sea Lion Cave and sand dunes, I think it's worth the drive. Pacific Coast Highway is a nice twisty drive but watch out for cops because they like to hide behind the bushes or after the curves.

florence is really nice OP but it is quite far down the coast. If you plan on going down that far there will be plenty of site along the way: seaside (shopping), lincoln city (shopping), cannon beach (touristy), depoe bay (touristy), newport (touristy), pacific city (touristy), florence (sea lion caves), etc etc etc. lots to do if you plan your trip that far.

totally agree with icemiko about the cops. highway patrol can be really nasty along 101, especially in small towns. speed limit can go from 65 to 20mph in seconds. watch the air around higher speed on 101 and 1-5. They'll let you go for miles before finally getting pulled over.

[sonick]

Just got back, great times. The roads were nice, but less twisty/scenic than I imagined so I must be honest to say I was a bit disappointed. We went off I5 at Chuckanut and that was a VERY nice drive, exactly what I was imagining but unfortunately was not the case.

Although I only went until Tillamook, not sure if it gets better south of there. It did get better between Cannon Beach and Tillamook, but before that was a lot of forested roads, maybe some curves and sweepers but nothing really technical.

We stayed at a beach house in Rockaway and it was amazing. A beautiful, clean, modern townhome with lots of beds and rooms, literally right on the beach. And since it was Rockaway and not Cannon, the beach was nearly empty.

One night we grabbed three crabs and 4 lbs of clams from Jetty Fishery and it did not disappoint. Although I was a bit iffy when they told me they don't really catch it themselves just buy it from local fishers, but quality was great all the same. For the crab, I asked them to just clean the gills out but keep the rest of the good guts; usually they just throw out the back shell and all the great back fat and brains.

Didn't run into any issues with police/hwy patrol except for one stretch that was littered with cops, and then my friend who got pulled over in Rockaway but was let go by a friendly cop (who we coincidentally bumped into in the check out line at the grocery store there).

We were booking it pretty quick too, my buddy in his BRZ hit 100mph on stretches. It was pretty hairy doing some opposite-lane passes in my 130hp Protege5 while my buddies were in 200hp BRZ and Civic Si.

Overall good drive but not as epic as I imagined. If anybody wants to know the info on the beach house PM me, I HIGHLY recommend it.

[bcrdukes]

Thanks for the review.

Having said all that, if you don't factor in the company you had and the stay, was the drive alone even worth it? Seems like you spent a bit of time on the road.

[sonick]

Hard to say, if I weren't into driving or cars probably not as it wasn't something clearly outstanding, but compared to what we have here it was still better than nothing. Quality wise I think the Sea to Sky drive is a better drive, only issue that it's too short. The 101 probably 80% as good as the S2S, but just much longer so it added up to be a pretty solid drive overall.

I think my expectations were just too high as I had imagined it more to be like the sea to sky hwy for the most part, but when really it was about 20% of the time it was that good. Also, I prefer scenic and slower twisty routes or fast sweepers rather than high speed/long wide curves. Chuckanut was definitely a great little road, just too damn short.

Oregon Route 6 between Tillamook and Portland was surprisingly good as well.

I have some on-the-road vids and pics I will share once I get them off my camera.

[jbsali]

Originally Posted by sonick

Just got back, great times. The roads were nice, but less twisty/scenic than I imagined so I must be honest to say I was a bit disappointed. We went off I5 at Chuckanut and that was a VERY nice drive, exactly what I was imagining but unfortunately was not the case.

Although I only went until Tillamook, not sure if it gets better south of there. It did get better between Cannon Beach and Tillamook, but before that was a lot of forested roads, maybe some curves and sweepers but nothing really technical.

We stayed at a beach house in Rockaway and it was amazing. A beautiful, clean, modern townhome with lots of beds and rooms, literally right on the beach. And since it was Rockaway and not Cannon, the beach was nearly empty.

One night we grabbed three crabs and 4 lbs of clams from Jetty Fishery and it did not disappoint. Although I was a bit iffy when they told me they don't really catch it themselves just buy it from local fishers, but quality was great all the same. For the crab, I asked them to just clean the gills out but keep the rest of the good guts; usually they just throw out the back shell and all the great back fat and brains.

Didn't run into any issues with police/hwy patrol except for one stretch that was littered with cops, and then my friend who got pulled over in Rockaway but was let go by a friendly cop (who we coincidentally bumped into in the check out line at the grocery store there).

We were booking it pretty quick too, my buddy in his BRZ hit 100mph on stretches. It was pretty hairy doing some opposite-lane passes in my 130hp Protege5 while my buddies were in 200hp BRZ and Civic Si.

Overall good drive but not as epic as I imagined. If anybody wants to know the info on the beach house PM me, I HIGHLY recommend it.

just out of curiousity, did you have a rock barrier between your house and the beach? I have a feeling our houses were pretty close to eachother haha.

btw, also got pulled over in rockaway beach and let go. Must not be a lot of action for police in that dinky town.

[sonick]

not rock, just high grass brush. It was a newer townhouse unit with three attached homes.
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[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by sonick

Hard to say, if I weren't into driving or cars probably not as it wasn't something clearly outstanding, but compared to what we have here it was still better than nothing. Quality wise I think the Sea to Sky drive is a better drive, only issue that it's too short. The 101 probably 80% as good as the S2S, but just much longer so it added up to be a pretty solid drive overall.

I think my expectations were just too high as I had imagined it more to be like the sea to sky hwy for the most part, but when really it was about 20% of the time it was that good. Also, I prefer scenic and slower twisty routes or fast sweepers rather than high speed/long wide curves. Chuckanut was definitely a great little road, just too damn short.

Oregon Route 6 between Tillamook and Portland was surprisingly good as well.

I have some on-the-road vids and pics I will share once I get them off my camera.

Thanks for that. I ask because sadly, I've never been to Portland mostly because I don't like driving far/long distances. Going to the border is already too much of a drive, IMO.

[Gh0stRider]

probably gonna stay overnight in Lincoln City, then hit the road and explore

[finbar]

If you are into whale watching there are resident greys that feed off Depoe bay.
A great view can be had at restaurant beck, get a window seat or patio. Spendy.

[Gh0stRider]

just got to lincoln city. It was windy and foggy on the hwy. Seaside traffic was a nightmare.
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[Special K]

It was foggy this afternoon.

Go to Coos Bay for ATV. Good times.
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[Gh0stRider]

went from astoria down to brookings

good times down the 101

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Gh0stRider

went from astoria down to brookings

good times down the 101

That's a good drive. Astoria is also a neat little town to stop at for ice cream, surprisingly

[blackGS?]

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Been in Arch Cape since Sunday.
Leaving tomorrow Love the Coast. Has become a family tradition

[Jgresch]

Gonna bump this up... Just starting to plan a trip for summer down the coast. The plan is to drive down and end up in New Port - Already booked a place down there for two nights, then on the way back stay in Portland 1 night.

We also want to do seattle for most of the first day, then make the rest of the drive (the actual coast part) the second day. Any recommendations for a place to stay near seattle that isn't priced outrageously? Looking at something like Tacoma or Dupont but open to suggestions. Don't want it to be too far away from seattle because when we get there it will be after a long day.

Also any suggestions for cool places to check out would also be appreciated I've made note of most of the places already covered in this thread and others, as well as a few other places I found on the web.

Thanks!