Check out the natural beauty of this magical state!
We visited Oregon as part of our journey from San Francisco to Seattle on an epic Pacific Northwest itinerary. We absolutely loved our time in Oregon. There is so much variety in activities and beautiful nature to see. We mostly hit up the coastal areas, and have a lot more Oregon activities on our bucket list. Our trip was fairly intense – we got a LOT done in a short amount of time. If you are able to take more time to do this trip – do it!
This trip took place July 2023.
Our Oregon road trip itinerary looked like this (coming south to north):
- Day 1 – Crescent City -> Florence
- Day 2 – Florence -> Newport
- Day 3 – Newport -> Hood River
- Day 4 – Hood River
- Day 5 – Hood River -> Oceanside
- Day 6 – Oceanside -> Astoria
- Day 7 – Astoria -> Olympic National Park
Check out our full vlog here:
Day 1 – Crescent City -> Florence
Today we entered Oregon! This is our kids 39th state! Our first stop was Harris Beach State Park – I almost skipped this but was so glad I didn’t. Keep driving all the way to the end, bigger lot to park. We really enjoyed this beautiful beach, sea stacks and sea life! We wandered out towards the ocean and the rocks and saw tons of star fish, sea urchins etc. Really neat.
Next up we headed towards the Samuel H Boardman Corridor. There are so many things to see here and we tried our best to see many. I will say, by this point we were tired (already, yikes!) and were tired of driving, and of our kids arguing so we did scrap a few things we normally would have done. We stopped at Whaleshead beach overlook – it was fine, nothing exciting. Next stopped at Indian Sands which looked like too long of a hike so we skipped it. Then we made it to Natural Bridges Overlook. This was really nice – and for sure a stop people should make. We walked to the left towards the overlook. Then my husband took the trail down to the bridge. This was a fairly steep hike so kids and I stayed at the top. The trail wasn’t bad until the end near the bridge. He was able to walk out on it, but didn’t climb onto the bridge (way too dangerous).
Made one more stop at Arch Rock Viewpoint – this was a great overlook and just a short trail.
Finally – kept going towards Sisters Rock State Park where we parked in a small lot and walked down towards the rocks. Once down there we setup our picnic blanket and ate lunch with a beautiful view.
After lunch we drove towards Bandon. We actually saw a sign for a Safari Park which we didn’t have planned but made the last minute decision to pull in there. It was a little pricey but the kids loved it. You could pet so many different animals. It was kind of like a really small zoo but they would announce every few minutes to come pet a new animal. We got to pet a jaguar and even a bear among other things.
Past that, in Bandon we made a quick stop. Really enjoyed this little town. We parked near the Cranberry shop and went in to get some sweets. We then walked over to the Washed Ashore Gallery – amazing and worth a stop. Got to see art made from stuff washed up on the beach. We checked out a few more shops then were on our way. We made a detour to the State Parks – Cape Arago which was nice but at this point in the journey we probably should have skipped the extra driving. No sea life present at this time also.
About 1.5 hours later we ended in Florence and checked into the Riverhouse Inn. This hotel was nothing fancy but it was a perfect location. We were able to walk into town to get ice cream. We had planned to eat dinner in Florence but we were hangry and instead found a taco truck outside of Florence along our drive, which was excellent.
Day 2 – Florence -> Newport
This was a super fun day, and not much driving (yay!)
First stop was River Roasters coffee, a short walk from our hotel. We didn’t need to rush this morning for once, so we actually left our kids in the hotel and walked, adults only, to the coffee shop! So FUN!
Next, we checked out and grabbed the kids and went to Darlingtonia Natural Site to see the carnivorous plans. This is a really quick stop but enjoyed seeing something like this.
We then went to get brunch at Little Brown Hen café – food was great. We decided to do a brunch today, because our next activity would be over lunch.
We then headed to Sandland adventures for our 1 hour Oregon Dunes sand dune adventure. Our tour was at 11:50, so we arrived early, only to find out that 11:50 was the arrival time 😐 so instead we let the kids do some go-karts while we waited and then just hung out until it was time to go.
The 1 hour trip was so fun. We did the high speed one instead of the big giant one. It was more expensive but it was longer and more adventurous. We were covered in sand at the end. We wore hoodies because it was chilly and we brought buffs with us too which was a lifesaver. Really neat adventure and was a highlight of the trip.
After we were done there, we headed up on our drive towards Newport, making a few stops
Stop 1 was Haceta Head lighthouse – which was about a mile hike roundtrip and had nice views. Note – we did skip the sea lion place because we had hardly seen any sea lions anywhere so we figured we’d pay a lot of money for a tourist attraction and then not see any there either.
Stop 2 was Thors Well – this is of course, very hyped, but it was actually really neat. The stops along this route are not super well marked and we lost phone coverage a lot. I had printed pictures of google earth which helped.
Stop 3 was Cape Perpetua Lookout – this was a gorgeous view
Lastly – we arrived in Newport where we first grabbed dinner at South Beach Fish Market. This was another picnic style place, and they had corn dogs for the kids. We could have split a dinner – the portions were insane.
For the night, we stayed at the Hallmark Resort. Wow – this hotel is beautiful. Each room with a balcony and a view! We didn’t want to leave, but decided to quick run up to Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Outstanding Natural Area. We were hoping for lots of tidepools but we were closer to high tide so didn’t see a ton, but the whole area is gorgeous.
We came back to the hotel and enjoyed sunset on our balcony, and walked down to the beach for a little bit. We even saw a whale in the distance!
Day 3 – Newport -> Hood River
Today we had a bit more driving today – heading towards Hood River. We made a quick stop in Depoe Bay hoping to see some whales, but after looking around for a few minutes, we left
We first drove about 2.5hours to Portland where we stopped to see a childhood friend of mine for lunch.
Next, we drove east before stopping at the Bonneville Dam. We got to tour the dam, see the fish ladders and other things. We didn’t see the hatchery but we would have if we had more time. Super cool stop though.
We dropped our stuff at our hotel, which was the Best Western Hood River, then ran out the door to hit up some of the Fruit Loop stops before they closed. We did a few of them, especially enjoying Packer Orchard and Bakery where we got stuff for breakfast and a bunch of fresh fruit, Smiley’s Red Barn – which had a cider place right next door which was inexpensive and we got a bottle of something, then Gorge White house looked fun too and had nice views. We got some jelly here.
Then we ended back at our hotel. By this point in the day we were exhausted. There was a McDonalds next to our hotel so we got that for the kids dinner (we gave up at this point in the week 😀 ). My husband wanted to get a little more walking in, so he decided to walk downtown and pickup some tacos while I stayed with the kids. When he got back we left the kids in the room, ate dinner by the river with a great view, then went to the hot tub!
Day 4 – Hood River
Today we had an action packed day! We booked a full day white water rafting tour with Wet Planet adventures on the White Salmon River. This company was awesome – great trip, super professional, safe and fun! This rafting trip was crazy though – with some scary parts and some things we still laugh about today.
We arrived pretty early in the morning, well ahead of our start time. Another scenario where we arrived 1/2 hour ahead of time, but the start time listed was the arrival time 😀
Once we got started, they gave us the overview, then quickly got us all suited up in wetsuits and gear. It was a well oiled machine, then we jumped on the bus for about 15 min drive
We got started right on a pretty big rapid and I think it scared my younger son. We have rafted before, but somehow starting right on a big rapid just freaked him out. Honestly though, the rapid was huge. Probably not the best drop in point. He spent a lot of the trip just sitting in the middle of the raft unfortunately. I probably could have warned him more if I knew that ahead of time.
The rapids themselves were not that bad and the scenery along the way was incredibly beautiful.
There were a few things that were interesting about this trip. One – right before lunch we got a chance to stop at a bridge to jump off! A lot of folks did this, including my husband who said it was really fun, but really cold! Next – there is a big waterfall you can go over if you’re over a certain age (my kids were too young), but the water level wasn’t right so we didn’t get to do it. I didn’t realize that fairly often it’s too dangerous to do, so my husband was kind of disappointed as he wanted to try it. I was not that disappointed missing this 😀 They gave us a great lunch as well before heading off again
Also – there is a little part where you have to walk through the water because the area is too dangerous to raft. This part was insane. I’m a bit of a chicken already, but this part was so hard and I can’t believe it wasn’t further disclosed. You get off the raft at a certain point, and they tell you – ‘see the wire there along the edge, you’re just doing to walk in about knee deep water along there then you’ll get back in the boat!’ So we started off, not thinking much of it. But once we got around the bend, we saw it kept going. And then you had to climb up some rocks, then over some slippery rocks, then climb up some ladder sections. It was scary and insane. I can’t believe everyone got through it, and it was scary with a 10 year old.
At the end, we came out in the mouth of the Columbia River, which had amazing views of Mt Hood and the kiteboarders. However, it was so windy, we paddled against the wind for 30 straight minutes and at points were moving backwards. It was exhausting and we (mostly me) were sore for days.
Overall the trip was a highlight. The water was clear and beautiful, scenery was amazing, the staff was awesome. But it was way more intense than I pictured (the non rapid parts!). Not a lot of pics, but we have a lot of video of the experience in our vlog above!
After we were done, somehow we were still awake and we drove downtown to go to Full Sail Brewing for dinner which was delicious and nice views.
Day 5 – Hood River -> Oceanside
Today was one of my favorite days. We woke up and started our drive along the waterfall corridor. You needed to book a $1 reservation for a time slot to do this drive (new this year), but I’m pretty sure no one checked it, and tons didn’t book it because it was crowded and there were tons of passes left.
First place we stopped was Horsetail Falls – it was right off the side of the road and no one was here.
Next, we arrived at Multnomah Falls, probably by 8:45am. We took a risk and went to the smaller lot right next to it, right past horsetail falls. If we didn’t get in that lot, we would have had to backtrack to the big lot. If you come much later than we did, you’re probably better off just going to the big lot. But we found a spot. The waterfall was beautiful but it was so incredibly crowded it wasn’t super fun. We walked up to the bridge, tried to get a few pics then left. Is it worth it? I’m not sure. 🙂 It is really beautiful, but kind of a pain to visit.
Next up we stopped at Wahkenna Falls and then Bridal Veil Falls, each were about a mile hike. Super beautiful and glad we got out early.
Finally we stopped at Latourell Falls – we got a little confused where to walk, but it’s to the right of the parking lot. It’s very flat and you get to walk straight up to the falls. Once you get to the viewpoint, you can walk behind the falls too. A few people were doing this, including my husband and older son. They did say it was a little slippery on the rocks and they got soaked.
Our last stop in this area was at the Vista House and Portland Women’s Forum Overlook. Vista house was the nicest for sure.
By this point it was about 11 or so – and we decided to keep moving to get to Tillamook for lunch. We did do a quick drive through downtown Portland, hoping to get Voodoo donuts but the line was like 1000 people long so we scrapped that.
We made it to Tillamook Creamery around 1 or so, and went straight to the cafeteria. We ordered a little bit of everything – mac and cheese (insane), pizza, grilled cheese and cheese curds. We sat outside and loved the food. Afterwards we did the self tour of the factory which was really neat, got some free cheese samples, and then shopped at the grocery. We grabbed some local ciders, tillamook yogurts and others for our dinner and breakfast coming up the next day. Tillamook was one of the favorite parts of the trip – don’t miss it!
For the night, we headed towards the small town of Oceanside. This town was very small, right on a gorgeous beach and had absolutely no cell phone coverage. We checked into the Three Arch Inn which had beautiful picture windows looking out onto the beach. We walked down to the beach around 4pm and spent the evening out there. We walked through the Tunnel to Tunnel Beach, and enjoyed a peaceful evening.
Day 6 – Oceanside -> Astoria
In the morning we headed out towards Cannon Beach, first stopping at Dutch Bros (this isn’t something we have where we live, so we thought we’d try)!
We stopped in Cannon Beach and parked at a public lot then walked towards the beach. We really enjoyed the beach – near Haystack Rock we could see so many tide pools. Really neat experience and even though touristy, the town felt quaint and really nice. It was 4th of July this day, and people were setting up chairs for the parade, so we didn’t spend quite as much time here as we wanted, because we did not want to get trapped! We had a few spots planned for lunch but were done about 10:30 so didn’t want to just waste time waiting for lunch and instead went on our way.
We next drove to Ecola State Park for some really nice views (and a few more Goonie’s locations).
Next – we drove to Seaside. We struggled for parking here too. Their parade was earlier in the day but I think it was still really crowded. It took us forever to find a spot. Finally, we grabbed a parking spot and headed towards the main beach overlook where we got a table at Mo’s and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Next – we walked down the street to the Aquarium. This was really small but a great aquarium. You could feed the sea lions, touch some sea life, and they had some really interesting things in their cages, local to the area, and interesting for us being from out of town.
Around 2pm we headed towards Astoria to see some Goonie’s locations. We stopped at the Oregon Film Museum which was really fun. Then we drove by a few more sites from the movie, like Lower Columbia Bowl, Flavel House, and the Goonie’s house, which you can walk up to.
After that – we drove up to the Astoria Column for some really nice views.
For the night, we stayed at the Astoria Crest Motel. This is a cute little family run motel which is certainly not nice but was perfect and one of my favorite stops for a few reasons. 1- they had a nice hot tub with views of the river, 2- they had a nice breakfast 3- it was super small so you could park your car right there and bring stuff into room, 4-and it just felt like a really safe place for the kids to wander around. I’d 10/10 recommend this place. It was probably $150 a night compared to $400 a night for some mediocre hotels in the center of town. And check out the views!
For dinner we went down to the Astoria Brewing Company – great dinner and nice view. After that – we headed back to our hotel for the last reason I really loved it – it had views of the river and the fireworks for 4th of July! We picked it for that reason because not only did we get the views of the fireworks but we avoided the crowds. There were lots of places to sit, we just grabbed a drink, watched the sunset and then the fireworks.
The following day, we headed into Washington State with the goal of exploring Olympic National Park! Check that our on our Washington page.