Road Trip to the Oregon Coast

My Weekend Getaway from Astoria, through Seaside, to Cannon Beach

Experiencing the Northern Pacific Coast is a must do, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of doing, set up your trip now! If you want to do it during the summer when the weather is perfect here, you will have to do some real hunting in order to get a hotel for a good rate. You can’t be picky, and if possible, book it way before 6 weeks like I did. Although I felt I got a decent deal last minute, if I would ha e booked a few weeks earlier, I may have been able to make it into a much nicer place, for a few bucks give or take. Our drive from Portland only being about 2 hours, we left town around 5:30 PM, and made it to Astoria before 8:00 PM. We took Highway 26 North out of Portland until it reached US 101, then headed north from there as well. As we continued until Astoria, reaching Marine Dr., we were greeted by the Astoria-Magler Bridge, more grand than any photo we saw beforehand.

We stayed at the Rivershore Motel, and witnessed that the Riverwalk was accessible across the street. There is a trolley that runs that we saw a few times, but did not ride. The views of the barges were very cool when you had very little experience seeing them as we did.

I had don’t some research before, and read up to go to Buoy Beer. They have an area of the floor made of plexiglass that looks down into the dock below, the brewery being built over the river. Apparently, the sea luons hang put down therr. I walked in searching for the plexiglass, but could not see any sea lions below. We went to the bar to grab a beer, and the bartender informed us that the sea lions are gone until late August, and it was only July. He tried the Czech Pilsner, and I tried the Citrus Wit, bit being just OK. We also shared fries and New England Clam Chowder, both being good after dinner snacks.

After dinner, as we were strolling back to the hotel, the barges turned on the lights on their boughs, quite a sight.

Also along our trip, we spotted out first city deer, with so much more to come.

The next day, after a recommendation from someone, we decided to try Pig N Pancake, which was within walking distance of the hotel. As we walked to breakfast, we had our second deer sighting of the trip, this lil guy having full antlers.

As we walked up to the restaurant, there was a VW bus and bug car meat going on in the parking lot. We were a bit worried there would be a super long wait, but much to our surprise, were sat right away. We put in a drink order right away, then didn’t see our waitress come back. It got to the point where we sat there so long, we discussed leaving, and the restaurant wasn’t that crowded. Just as we were deciding to stay or go, a new waitress came and took our order. The food came out quickly, but had tons of mistakes. We shared the eggs benedict breakfast, and ordered an extra side of toast. One of the eggs was over poached, and the toast appeared burnt, although it didn’t taste burnt.

The first stop we made was to the Goonies House, Goonies never say DIE! As you can see, the sign outside the driveway didn't stop me from living out my childhood dreams.

After leaving the Goonies house, we headed out to the Astoria Column. Whether or not you make the trip to the top of the column, you will see gorgeous views of Astoria, the Astoria-Magler Bridge, and the Colombia River. They sell gliders for $1 a piece that you can throw from the top of the column. Mine went flying into the forest somewhere. While we were at the Astoria Column, we happened upon 2 more deer eating on a hill.

After leaving the Astoria Column, we headed down to Warrenton in search of a shipwreck. We heard of the Shipwreck of Peter Iredale. It is at Fort Stevens State Park.

After finishing up at Fort Stevens State Park, we headed out to Seaside to walk the Waterfront, also known as the Promenade.

We stopped at a restaurant called Doogers. Avoid it if you can (NOTHING WAS FRESH! )

After lunch we decided to hit the road in search of a good view of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. On the way back to the car, I passed this kid that posed for my photo, and didn’t even realize it.

Leaving Seaside Beach, towards Cannon Beach, we entered into Ecola State Park to get a glimpse of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. It is a mile offshore, and hard to spot. We were also able to get views of Haystack Rock from afar. We hiked through the park a bit to catch a better glimpse of the lighthouse, and found an area that turned to a beach during low tide, quite a find.

After finishing up at the Ecola State Park, we headed down to Cannon Beach to see the famous Haystack Rock. We couldn’t find real parking, and parked on the side of the road, walking between multi million dollar mansions, and getting a birds eye view of what they get to see on a daily basis from their living rooms.

After finishing up at Haystack Rock, it was time to head to our last stop for the day, Hug Point. We were excited to see the Hug Point Waterfall, a waterfall at the beach, that emptied to the Pacific Ocean. There were also tons of caves full of bugs to explore as well.

By the time the day was over, we were completely exhausted! We headed back to the hotel and lounged with Sahara Pizza in Astoria, yum! The next day we went in search of Sea Lions, and was told by the hotel they would probably be at Pier 39. We went down there and saw no sea lions ☹

All in all, we didn't get to see it all, but we saw enough! I hooe you enjoyed our trip to the Northern Oregon Coast!