Oregon Coast Road Trip

Brette and I went on a vacation to Paris, and we have been best friends ever since. We decided that we wanted to go on another vacation, and we had many ideas for this trip. We ended up deciding to do the Oregon Coast road trip, and I'm so glad we did!! We both had so much fun and it was very relaxing. It was the perfect vacation, and I'm so glad that Brette planned almost (really like all) of the vacation. She did such a great job planning the itinerary and coming up with ideas of what to do. We packed a lot in for those days at the coast, and the following is how we did it! The vacation also allowed us to bond and become even better friends!



What to bring:

• Soap, shampoo and conditioner
• Personal toiletries (face wash, tooth brushes, etc.)
• Blankets and pillow
• Towels, toilet paper, garbage bags
• Chargers (car, wall, portable)
• Cell phone mount for maps
• Large and small cooler and picnic basket (silverware, plates) (food storage containers)
• Water bottles
• Hangers
• Clothing: general clothing, rain jacket, sweatshirt, sweatpants, sunglasses
• Hiking shoes (Chacos)
• Small purse
• Food: bread, crackers, peanut butter, sandwich meats
• First aid kit, medications

What we did:

September 7th & 8th

• Left town and we stayed in Portland for two days.

September 9th

• We woke up bright and early (4 am) to head to the Peter Iredale ship wreck. We went to Pig N' Pancake for breakfast before we got to Peter Iredale. Peter Iredale was a really fun place to take pictures. We spent a little while enjoying the beach and admiring the ship wreck. The ship looked really spooky, and I love spooky things. 
• After Peter Iredale, we went to Fort Stevens, which ALSO made for some fun spooky pictures. Brette and I had a lot of fun taking some funny ghostly pictures.
• We went to a botanical garden that was just beautiful! When we went, there were hardly any people at all, and the pictures were beautiful.
• For lunch we got Dutch Bros and had PB and J's on the beach.
• Next we went to Astoria, and went around and went shopping. They had some interesting skulls at all of the shops and I thought they were super pretty!
• In Astoria there was a farmers market, and we walked through that.
• We talked to a lot of friendly locals who gave great suggestions on what to do and pricing.
• For dinner, we ate at a restaurant called the Buoy Beer Company. It has a glass floor so we can see seals at the bottom, I thought it was super cute! I tried Brette's fish and chips, and, get ready for this, I actually liked it! From that point on I got fish and chips as much as I could.
• We went to St. Helens so I could see where Halloween Town was filmed.

Peter Iredale ship wreck

Peter Iredale ship wreck

Fort Stevens

Fort Stevens

Astoria Farmers Market

Buoy Beer Company

 

September 10th

• We woke up at 6 am to drive to Lincoln City and had breakfast at Lil' Sambos and we called around to some hotels and made a reservation for Motel 6 for the night.
• We went to the Lincoln City Outlets and went shopping.
• We went to a Prehistoric store and it was very cool inside in Lincoln City.
• Brette and I got a Halloween CD, and we drove around town blasting a Halloween Dance Party Music CD, which pretty much sums up our randomness in our friendship, and I love it.
• For lunch we ate PB&J on the beach, and honestly it was one of my favorite things to do on the trip.
• After lunch, we headed over to the Connie Hensen Garden Conservancy and it made for very pretty pictures.
• We went and checked into our hotel room, relaxed, and walked nearby to 60's Cafe & Diner for dinner. The diner was playing old Disney cartoons and it was super cute. However, when we finally got our food the were burgers cold, the fries were too hot, and the shakes were super boozy.  Afterwards, we went to Cold Stone Creamery to get some ice cream on the way back to our hotel to make up for dinner. We passed a Mojo coffee shop that we ate breakfast at the next day.

Lincoln City

September 11th

• We left our motel at 8:30 and for breakfast we ate at, you guessed it, the Mojo coffee shop. It was such a cute, simple coffee shop, and had seating outside. The coffee was good and they served food for breakfast. I got a coffee and a bagel sandwich and it was good.
• Off to Depoe Bay we went, we walked around town and did some window shopping. Here is s tip for everyone about Depoe Bay, NOTHING opened until 10 or 11, or was closed on Tuesday. We took pictures in front of the whale statue and that was fun.
• After Depoe Bay, we headed off to Newport. We went to the Hatfield Marine Science Center, but it was closed because of a change of hours, so instead we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. 
• We got a hotel room in a Super 8 in Coos Bay, and checked in around 8 pm. We went to dinner (kind of) at Whitecaps cocktail bar at the old mill casino, where we shared a 1/2 pound burger.

September 12th 

• For breakfast, the Super 8 had a complimentary breakfast, so we ate breakfast there.
• We tried to make it to low tide at Sunset Bay, and we only saw one starfish. 
• Next we went to the Botanical Gardens at Shore Acres State Park. They were beautiful, and we took so many fun pictures.
• For lunch we ate at the Bandon Fish Market and I got fish and chips, it was delicious.
• We stopped at the Wildlife Game Park where we got to pet baby lion cubs, a fox, and a baby raccoon.
• We drove to Brookings, where Brette's grandparent's live and we stayed with them. I was very thankful that we were able to stay with her grandparents because it was great financially and they were super nice. We ate dinner at the house and went to bed early. 

Bandon Fish Market

Wildlife Game Park

Wildlife Game Park

Wildlife Game Park

September 13th

• Brette's grandmother took us to Crescent City to collect sand dollars during low tide. Between all of us, we found about 200 sand dollars and I think it was great! I never had very good luck finding sand dollars, so this was a great opportunity for me and I really appreciated it.
• We went to lunch at the 101 Hawaiian Grill and had butter lettuce wraps and kalbi/galbi.
• We went to Brette's grandmothers to make some shell ornaments, and it was a lot of fun. It helped to add to the "Oregon Coast" vibe, and I enjoyed it. 
• For dinner we went to Khun Thai, and I got my favorite, pad thai. I love pad thai so much.

September 14th

• We woke up to go to the lighthouse and Brette's grandmother drove us. I was very thankful for how much she drove and helped us out with the vacation. We went to the lighthouse tour, and were lucky we made it because the tide was coming in. 
• We went back to 101 Hawaiian Grill for Thai ice tea and headed to the Trees of Mystery. Trees of Mystery was such a magical walk and view. Being able to look at all the different HUGE trees was very whimsical. 

Trees of Mystery

Trees of Mystery

September 16th

• This was the day that we were ending our trip and heading home. We decided to stop at the beach one last time, before we left.
• When we arrived to Medford, we stopped and went shopping around the mall, because why not.
• And finally, we were home!