We%26#39;ve just planned a trip from Portand to SF starting on July 8. Well, the only planning has been booking the flight! We will have a week to get to SF and desperately need advice on where to go and stay, what to see and do.
We are in our 50%26#39;s, active and outdoorsy. Possible activities: day hikes, kayaking, biking, sightseeing.
Hate tourist traps, love nature, animals, places the locals love, quirky and unique adventures. My husband definitely wants to do a charter for salt water fishing (salt water fly fishing a plus).
Open to nice B%26amp;B%26#39;s, inns, etc. Any info on the California leg would be a plus, too.
Thanks so much! Happy to share info on New England if you%26#39;re coming this way.
Oregon Coast to San Francisco--One week-HELP!
You inspired me to look up an old post of mine from 2007 at
www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa鈥?/a>
I%26#39;ve made a few minor edits, cutting info on Washington and south of SF.
Driving with your own car? You absolutely, definitely need the California and Oregon road %26amp; recreation atlases by Benchmark Maps. Don%26#39;t mess with inferior alternatives!!!
It%26#39;s a very long coastline.
The University of California Press has excellent guides to the coast, especially Monterey Bay. Info available through their website.
Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. A remarkable temporary building, recreated in concrete in the 1960s when Roman-Renaissance was out. Piranesi would be proud. Info at Exploratorium website.
Farther north, Jug Handle State Park has an ';ecological staircase'; that isn%26#39;t impressive, unless you think about it. That%26#39;s why you need a nice UC Press guide.
Elk: Todhunter on kayaking
randomhouse.com/boldtype/鈥ssay1.html
Fort Bragg. Nice tourist town, nice botanical garden, absolutely neat harbor (with hotel overlooking it). ';Murder, She Wrote'; (Lansbury%26#39;s town was Mendocino, even more touristy)
Crescent City. The Noll surf shop. Ask about the Howell Hill gravel road into the Boy Scout Redwood Grove. Hike the trail.
Brookings. The temperature is always 50 degrees. Easter lilies love it (even though they%26#39;re from the much warmer Ryuku Islands). Stop at Loeb State Park to say goodbye to redwoods, hello to myrtle (leaves formerly sold by Spice Islands as ';California laurel/bay leaf';)
Coast to Pt Orford is gorgeous.
Bandon: ';The new Monterey'; and prices are rising to Monterey levels. Blame it on the links golf course.
Charleston (near Coos Bay): Shore Acres State Park is sort of odd--formal garden right by the ocean
Dunes. Big. Largely full of ORVs, so find a quiet spot.
Darlingtonia natural area is tiny, but neat. Resist temptation to pass it up.
Sea Lion Caves. Major scenic spot.
Aquarium at Newport is essential, even if it%26#39;s the former home of a stray killer whale. Excellent exhibits.
Yaquina Head--essential. Otter Rock--neat. Wonderful surf spot for the not-so-adventurous, and one of the very first places where Oregonians surfed.
Lincoln City has been accused of being the ugliest urban blob in Oregon. Nevertheless, stop by the Lincoln City Surf Shop at the south end of town for its little museum. Ask about Nelscott Reef.
I regrettably never hiked the Cascade Head trail. Classic Oregon view, thanks to The Nature Conservancy.
Pacific City and Cape Kiwanda are neat. Too busy on a weekend, but a weekday might be nice to stay at a motel and enjoy the Pelican Pub. Art gallery, too.
Road to Cape Lookout (worth hiking the Cape, but don%26#39;t expect a view) and Oceanside is more classic Oregon. Oceanside is the most picturesque of Oregon towns, climbing up a hill. I don%26#39;t know if you can still launch yourself from the hill and hang glide down to the beach. On a nice day, good longboarding.
Tillamook: gotta see the cheese factory.
Manzanita: Yuppie cute.
Oswald West State Park/Short Sands Beach. The beach is a cove protected by two capes. If the weather%26#39;s sunny, walk out to a cape and spot the garter snakes sunbathing. The coast is stuffed with garter snakes, as is much of western Oregon.
Ecola State Park. Another beauty.
Cannon Beach--wealth.
Seaside--the masses (to the extent that Oregon has masses).
Ft Stevens. Interesting Civil War fort but no scenery.
I%26#39;m an ex-Portlander and very fond of the place. http://www.contemporarycrafts.org/index.php ( I guess their move and name change was a good thing, but half the fun used to be finding them on Corbett). http://www.printartsnw.org/.
Astoria is neat.
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Salt water fishing would be at most major port towns, I think even Depoe Bay with its infamously narrow harbor entrance.
Oregon Coast to San Francisco--One week-HELP!
Hi, the Necanicum River in Seaside is a very nice place to kayak, there is the Gilbert Inn there that is a nice Bed and Breakfast, Weiss Paradise Suites is another nice place to stay in Seaside. www.seasideor.com
Astoria has several very nice Bed and Breakfasts, Britta%26#39;s Inn gets very good reviews on this site and is in a quiet, residential area of Astoria. We just came back from Astoria, if you go don%26#39;t miss the Columbian Cafe for a nice meal, very cool place. Clementine%26#39;s is another nice B%26amp;B that has been around Astoria for a long time. www.oldoregon.
I hop you have a wonderful trip and have a fun with your travel research as well! :)
BlueRusso, with all due respect, there are some points in your long post that leave me puzzled, and several that are just plain incorrect.
I won%26#39;t go into all the incorrect statements here, as most have no bearing on what the OP is asking.
Maps? Dylanaud, the only maps you%26#39;ll need are the simple paper state maps. If you are AAA members, those are fine, and you can get them ahead of time at home :-)
Okay, so you want to travel the coast. With one week you%26#39;ll have ample time, unless that also includes time in Portland and SF? (Hopefully not!)
Newport or Depoe Bay are the two most popular spots for charter fishing.
The north coast area is the most busy and congested, the central coast next, and the south coast is the least busy as it%26#39;s the farthest from Oregon%26#39;s big cities.
How many hours do you want to drive each day, and do you want to try to stay two nights in one place and then move on, or a difeerent place each night?
Anything in particular that you have read about or seen on TV that attracted your attention?
Thanks so much, everyone. Keep the advice coming. Half-Brit, we are flexible as to whether we%26#39;ll spend more than one night in one place.
Do we need to have reservations for every night or will we be able to play it by ear at all?
We do not intend to spend any time in Portland (been there before), but head straight for the coast, probably not north of Lincoln City. Just guessing about this by looking at the map. Also, the week travel time does not include time spent on the other end in San Francisco.
Places to consider overnighting (2 nights in each place would be nice as well):
Overleaf Lodge in Yachats (but Newport/Depoe Bay would probably work better for your fishing charter--but Overleaf is such a great place to stay I feel compelled to mention it ;-)).
Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Gold Beach (stay 2 nights if you can and do the Rogue River jet boat trip). This is an outstanding lodge and you may not be able to get a reservation but it%26#39;s worth checking into.
Lost Whale Inn in Trinidad CA for the redwoods.
Any number of places in Mendocino CA--I especially liked the Albion River Inn south of Mendocino.
I would make reservations--in most years I%26#39;d say it%26#39;s a necessity in July, this year maybe not as much due to the economy but I%26#39;d at least call some places you%26#39;re considering and see what their availability is like the week you%26#39;ll be traveling.
I am also a bit dismayed by BlueRusso%26#39;s recommendations. The Darlingtonia Botanical Garden just north of Florence, where the cobra lilies dwell, is indeed worth a stop. But it%26#39;ll only take 10 minutes. The Sea Lion Caves aren%26#39;t worth the time or money (you can see them for free in Newport or just over the side of the cliffs). Omitted from the list are such MUST SEEs as Heceta Head Lighthouse and Cape Perpetua. And, believe me, the 60+ miles of Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area are NOT just a gridlock of dune buggies and all terrain vehicles...although taking a tour on one of the 20-passenger dune buggies is well worth it. This is an amazing ecological area with lots of hiking and photo opportunities.
Having said all that, I suggest you take the good advice and recommendations of half-Brit and our other coastal destination experts, who are very familiar with the area and its features, lodging options and activity highlights.
http://www.benbowinn.com/
Add the Benbow Inn near Garberville and the Avenue of the Giants to your list of possible stops.
Again, many thanks to Half-Brit and others.
Best short to all day hikes or walks?
Horseback rides?
Places where the locals eat?
Northern California ';don%26#39;t miss'; sites?
Keep those suggestions coming!
I went horseback riding on the beach near Mendocino--I think the stables were up near Ft Bragg. Good horses, it was a nice experience. If you google horseback riding and Mendocino, I%26#39;m sure it%26#39;ll come up (I don%26#39;t have my notes from my trip handy).
In Oregon, the trails at Cape Perpetua (south of Yachats) are fun to explore.
I did a couple short hikes in the Redwoods (didn%26#39;t have time for longer ones unfortunately): Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Prairie Creek (the trail right near the visitors center because Fern Creek was closed at the time), Founders Grove.
Did the amazing Lost Coast drive--if you have time, highly recommended.
If you%26#39;re adventurous, do some research about driving to Sinkyone State Park north of Mendocino--it%26#39;s a hairy drive on a one lane road but oh, what a payoff at the end...a gorgeous isolated beach and amazing views from the mountainside that you%26#39;re crossing on the drive in.
BTW, I saw Mendocino described as a tourist trap on on of your other posts, I strongly disagree. Just because a place is popular doesn%26#39;t make it a tourist trap, or at least not as I would define it.
One of my favorite meals of the trip was at Larrupin Cafe in Trinidad CA--wonderful ribs. Their website still says they are reopening in April...hopefully they have reopened and just haven%26#39;t updated the site. Anyway, if you%26#39;re in the area, it%26#39;s worth looking into.
I%26#39;m not getting a handle on your proposed itinerary - have you developed one yet? The OR coast is very busy in the summer, so if you want to stay in oceanfront lodging, or in nicer lodging such as B%26amp;B%26#39;s you%26#39;ll be needing to make your bookings ASAP.
Once we have a rough itineary, it will e easer to make suggestions for eating %26amp; attactions.
There are several places to go kayaking. I am familiar with this one in Waldport on Alsea Bay, operated by Waldport High School students, must reserve ahead:
http://www.whskayakshack.com/
There is also this one run by the state:
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_206.php
There is horseback riding (rentals) on the beach in Cannon Beach, Nehalem, just north of Florence . . . and that%26#39;s all that come to mind at the moment.
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