OREGON COAST IN 48 HOURS
If the Oregon Coast has not been on your travel lists, it definitely is worth adding. If you love a good road trip, this is for you. Your entire drive you have beautiful ocean views, something that I personally never get sick of. It is funny, I was born in a landlocked state, but I definitely feel like I belong near the ocean and the mountains, neither of those are found where I grew up. Probably where my love developed for these two beautiful places. The salty hair life chose me. Some day, we will hopefully end up back on the coast when the time is right and I can live in a constant state of ocean spray! Family has been totally worth the move, the ocean is always just a flight away!
Oregon, a coast that is a must see. I sure do have a first love for the beaches and coast line of Vancouver Island, but Oregon easily takes the next top spot! Eric and I are the type of travelers that we love, I mean LOVE driving and road tripping on trips! They hold the most special memories, the funniest experiences, and the most breathtaking views! So this is for those adventure-seekers that love spending their travel time road-tripping!
First, we were able to drive from our place down to Seaside, Oregon. That is where we spent our two nights! There are a ton of AirBnb options or hotel options to choose from as well! It does book up quickly, especially in the summer months, and not to mention, crazy expensive during the summer months. We traveled during the off-season, which helped save on accommodation costs. If you do not live on the West Coast, flying is a super easy and affordable option as well! Fly into Portland and you are only about an hour and a half from highway 101. The highway that will give you glorious views and memories of a life-time.
Day 1, we woke up, grabbed a bit of breakfast at our hotel and then we hit the 101. Since we didn’t have enough time to drive the entire coast, we chose different highlight points that we wanted to stop and visit at. Again, Instagram can be a blessing and a curse, it allows us to see the beautiful things out in the world, but it also often means that there are tons of people! We knew Haystack rock is a highly populated area and always busy, no matter the time of the year, but it is popular for a reason. These rocks are so beautiful and so massive. I was not expecting that degree of monstrosity! We strolled up early enough to where the public parking lot right next to the Sleepy Monk Coffee shop. It is the cutest little coffee shop with an enormous selection of coffee! Living in the rainy PNW, Eric and I definitely took on a strong passion for good coffee, and we can never have enough coffee! So this hidden little gem of Sleepy Monk Roasters was perfect for us as we were about to journey to the misty Cannon Beach to go check out Haystack Rock for the first time of our little weekend getaway. I don’t know about you guys, but I could walk on the beach with a cup of coffee in hand ALL DAY LONG! When we walk the beaches for a bit we always are on the lookout for the perfect driftwood piece to perch ourselves on and just talk. All of our favourite conversations about our past, present, and future happen on road-trips and our driftwood sits on the beach. No distractions and the ocean is just so mesmerizing. Cannon Beach is a long and vast beach, so much to do and so much space on there, so even though it is busy, you still feel like you have a bit of space! The big attraction on Cannon Beach of course is Haystack rock, so definitely make your way towards the big rock and you will soon realize why it is such an attraction!
We hopped back in our Jeep and continued down Highway 101. We stumbled across a couple of lookout points along the drive. There will be lookout points, stop at as many or as little as you want! They usually are always worth it, but you also can lose a lot of time if you stop at every little pullout! Shortly after we left Cannon Beach we came across Hug Point Beach. It is a cozy little beach area, and if you time it out right with the tide you can go on the other side of Hug Point rock and reach another little cozy nook of a beach! These beaches are much smaller, but has very beautiful cliff sides and cozy beaches and often less crowded.
Next we continued on our journey, we didn’t really stop for lunch anywhere, rather snacked on protein bars for lunch, we usually have a stash in the Jeep somewhere for those times we get hungry, we are definitely a protein bar loving couple! Saves money by being able to eat lunch in the car all while keeping it healthy and light when on a road trip. Nothing worse then eating greasy food and sitting in a car for a handful of hours! We will always go out for dinner at night and enjoy some of the local favourites. We are foodies through and through, so we love being able to explore and try new foods, another one of our favourite parts of traveling! We stumbled upon this random beach where we were able to drive right up on the beach with our jeep, and that is where we enjoyed our protein bar and snacks. Open up the hatch, grab a few blankets and watch the ocean waves crash in! Nothing more relaxing then that!
Keep your journey going and we came across Devil’s Punch Bowl State Natural Area. We had never heard or seen this stop before, but we also didn’t really have anything planned for this trip. Friday morning (the day we left for Oregon) we decided to book a hotel for two nights and just on a whim do this road trip before we moved and would regret not seeing it while we were already out on the coast! So we only knew of the big things to see, but that was about it. It definitely helps to plan ahead and make an itinerary, but it also is fun to be spontaneous and just see what you see as well! Devil’s punch bowl was definitely one of those stops for us, we weren’t expecting much, but it was so cool to go down in the bowl are and explore it!
The sunset was quickly approaching so we decided to stop at a beach near Newport where later we were going to grab dinner. We watched the sunset, enjoyed the last bits of the beautiful day we had just experienced. Got ourselves nice and hungry before we went and ate some delicious seafood! Pack your trips full or keep them super relaxed. We’ve done some of both and they both make unforgettable memories!
Our first day was packed with driving and stopping all along the coast. The second day, we really only had until early afternoon before we made our way back home because in a few short days we took off for Montreal, (travel blog for that will be coming in the next week). We decided to spend the entire morning and early afternoon walking all of Cannon Beach and finding different driftwood to sit on and just talk and reminisce on our last 3 and a half years that we had just spent in the PNW (this trip was right before our big move to Minnesota to be by family). The northwest will always be a home to us and I wouldn’t be surprised if someday we end up back there, so until then, these pictures and memories we hold near and dear to our hearts.
(P.S. If you have more than 48 hours, which if you can, do more than 2 days for sure! You could spend a whole week + traveling down the 101 along the coast! So many beautiful places that I wish we could have seen were on the way southern part of Oregon. So plan for more than 2 days if you can, and then tell me all about your adventures, please! Already can’t wait to travel the entire coast some day!)
Happy traveling!
xox, Mara
