Still unsure about Itineary on coast - need help!

Thank you everyone for helping me start our itinerary down the Oregon coast. My husband and I are driving straight up from San Francisco (one stop along the way). We were planning on stopping in Portland for 1 night but are thinking we may just go straight to the coast and head back to SF.

Here is what we have so far and i really need some help. This is our first trip on the oregon coast.

Night 1 Cannon Beach

Night 2 Cannon Beach

Night 3 ??

Night 4 Newport

Night 5 Heceta House Lighthouse (above Florence)

Night 6 Port Orford - Wildspring Habitat

Night 7 Redwood Coast (CA)

Night 8 Mendocino

We are not sure if we should stay 3 nights in the central coast (i.e. 2 nights in Newport and 1 in Heceta House) or 2 nights in the Southern Coast.

Am i missing any place that would be key? We don%26#39;t want to travel too much in one day and want to see the different areas.

Should we go back to our original plan of staying in Portland for a night?

Thanks again for all the initial suggestions.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Still unsure about Itineary on coast - need help!

No, I don%26#39;t think you need to spend a night in Portland as your coast trip is very busy.

I think you need a day without driving somewhere in the middle, just to keep from getting highway hypnosis.

I also think you might want more time in the Redwoods.

Is the Heceta House booked for one specific night?

I think your main priority should be to just slow the trip down a bit - it doesn%26#39;t matter that much where it is.

Still unsure about Itineary on coast - need help!

Not sure where you%26#39;re spending night 7?

We haven%26#39;t focused yet on the CA section of our trip, right now we are focusing on Oregon, but if anyone has any recommendation for Night 7, great.

We have booked our night at Heceta for Night 5.

Where would you recommend we stay on Night 3 or should i change the order around. Heceta was pretty open right now, so i can be flexible.

Thank you!

My recommendation is that you stay 2 nights in the same place somewhere around night 5 and 6. You%26#39;ve driven straight up I-5 so 2 nights in Cannon Beach would be welcome.

I%26#39;d move Newport up to night 3. Can you stay (and would you enjoy) 2 nights at either Heceta House or Wildspring Habitat? That would give you a day without driving to just relax and explore.

That is a good idea, thank you.

What I am curious of, is there more to do in the central coast or northern and that will help me decide if i should spend 2 nights at Heceta or Port Orford.

Thank you!

I%26#39;m not an expert on the south coast, but I know Heceta Head is beautiful and the area south of Florence with the dunes is also a unique place to explore. There is lots to do there. Just north of Heceta are flat beaches to walk.

I%26#39;m just not that familiar with the Port Orford area to give a good comparison, however I don%26#39;t believe there are many beaches unless you go quite a ways south.

Port Orford, as I think I said before(?), is a very very small rather depressed town, not ';near'; anything. Bandon is about 30 miles north of it, with shops, services, restaurants, etc. Gold Beach is about 30 miles south of it with restaurants, stores, etc. There is one paved road from Port Orford going inland which goes for awhile and then becomes gravel - it doesn%26#39;t actually ';go'; anywhere. (Old logging road)

In Port Orford, there is one small grocery store, a couple of restaurants (if both of them are still open), one or maybe two gas stations . . . that%26#39;s about it. I might have forgotten something . . . oh, there is a hardware store also I think.

Given that Port Orford is on the south coast, I%26#39;m not sure I understand the question. But, to directly answer it, there is ';more to do'; on the central coast than on the north coast. On the other hand, there aren%26#39;t many things in life better than a relaxing, sunny day on an Oregon beach. And there aren%26#39;t many beaches better than at Cannon Beach. That help any? ;-) No? Okay, add a night to the central coast. :-)

I would concur with adding another night to the central coast over the southern coast, unless you want to do the rogue river jet boat trip in which case you%26#39;d need 2 nights on the southern coast to make that work. But I%26#39;d be hard pressed to decide between an extra day on the north coast vs central--both have lots to recommend them. Whichever you choose, I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll end up with plenty to see and do.

For the redwoods, I%26#39;d recommend Trinidad...the Lost Whale Inn there is a very cool place, and it makes a good stop between WildSpring and Mendocino (that was my route down the coast two springs ago).

Sorry,i made a mistake in my last post. I meant south vs. central (not north). But thank you all for your feedback. We will do 2 nights on North coast, 3 nights in central and 1 night on south.

Also,thanks for the recommendation on Trinidad.