Post by jayhawkbecca on May 10, 2015 20:59:50 GMT -5
My husband has a conference in Seattle this fall. I'm thinking of joining him at the end for a little getaway. We're thinking about renting a car and enjoying the Oregon and Washington coast. Any suggestions for cities to stay in or things to do? We enjoy a combo of relaxing with seeing sights, historical places, attractions, and meals of all kinds.
Post by InBetweenDays on May 10, 2015 22:07:35 GMT -5
How much time will you have? We love Cannon Beach, OR but it's about a 4.5 hour drive from Seattle.
Lots of things to do though: *Rent bikes on the beach. They have these sort of recumbent bikes that are pretty fun. *Visit Haystack Rock at low tide *Hike Saddle Mountain (a tough 6 miles round trip but has incredible 360 degree views - on a clear day you can see Mt. Hood, Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, and the Olympic Mountains in Washington. *If you want a shorter hike try Neahkahnie Mountain. 3ish miles round trip with a short scramble at the top. Beautiful views to the south and west. *Visit the Hug Point State Park waterfalls and caves during low tide *Visit Short Sands beach at Oswald West State Park and watch the surfers *Try surfing *Visit the numerous art galleries in town *Cannon Beach Spa *Go to the Cannon Beach Distillery
The north coast of Washington is mostly National Park or National Forest. Absolutely beautiful with great hikes but not much to speak of in terms of towns.
Seabrook is a cute area along the WA coast. Not much of a town but beautiful and quaint.
There are also Ocean Shores and Long Beach but personally I haven't been impressed with either of those towns.
Post by dutchgirl678 on May 11, 2015 14:45:14 GMT -5
I used to live in OR and my parents would come visit from Europe every year so we have quite a few cool places. The last time they came, they went to a cool little B&B in WA called the Red Caboose. It is in Sequim and their breakfasts are amazing! The room is pretty fun as you get a train caboose to yourself. Nothing super fancy but quaint .
We also one time stayed in Port Townsend at the Palace Hotel. Super quirky fun rooms with breakfast delivered outside your door.
In Oregon we love Astoria and Cannon Beach for the northern part of the shore. The last time we visited there we went to some friends who rented a little vacation home at the south end of Cannon Beach. It had a very log-cabin kind of feel to it.
I live off the north coast in WA and it's gorgeous up here. Bellingham is a charming place to visit, with some really good restaurants. Locally, there is a restaurant that has a new James Beard award winner called The Willows (which I've been dying to try) that has gotten excellent reviews. A little further south is Anacortes, where you can catch a ferry to the San Juan Islands or Victoria. We're about 2 hours north of Seattle.
I'm thinking we'd have 3-4 days. Thanks and keep the comments com9!
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For 3-4 days, you probably need to go either one direction or the other. It'd be pretty rough to go both directions and you'd be spending all your time driving.
We added on a few days when we were in Seattle for a wedding and spent the entire time in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Really beautiful island town with great activities and whale watching. We took the Victoria Clipper directly from Seattle, so no rental car needed (the town is 100% walkable). We found a great place on Airbnb to stay and did a whale watching cruise, ocean kayaking, zip-lining and then just hung out around town.
We flew out to Seattle last summer for a couple of nights. Then we took Amtrak down to Portland (about $25 each and a lovely ride), explored the city, and rented a car for a day to drive out to Cannon Beach.
No kitchen, but a great place to stay and so close to EVERYTHING. There is a phenomenal bakery half a block away and several other restaurants within a few blocks.