Why the Oregon Coast:
I was looking to take a trip with my wife Maisie over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. She had never been to the Pacific Northwest. While most airfare was sky high, I found a good deal from Burbank to Eugene, Oregon. Having been to Eugene back in 2016 for a University of Oregon football game, I set my sights on the coast. While accommodations on the coast were very expensive due to the holiday, I was able to find a decent deal for a motel in Coos Bay. Based on this, I was able to craft an itinerary to see the coast over 2 days with a night in Eugene on either end.
While not planned, we lucked out with the weather, as Oregon was going to be trapped by a heat dome. That meant that inland temperatures would reach 100 F but the coast (which is normally around 60) would be a perfect 70 F.
Highway 101, which runs the length of the Oregon Coast is known as one of the best road trips in the US. Only 5% of Oregon’s population lives on the coast – all the major cities are about 60-90 minutes inland in the Willamette Valley. Additionally, the entire coast is publicly owned and easily accessible.
July 4, 2024: The Least Patriotic Place
After flying into Eugene and picking up the rental car, I took Maisie on an abbreviated tour of the Mckenzie River Valley which I also visited back in 2016. Sadly, much of the region was hit by a forest fire in 2020.
Back in Eugene, the town was empty. Every business had closed at 20:00 and there were no public firework displays anywhere. With nothing going on, we got dinner at a McMenamins and went to bed.
July 5, 2024: Florence to Bandon
Maisie and I woke up and drove out to the coast. The drive took about 90 minutes to cross the Coast Range.
The road dropped us off in the town of Florence. Florence lies at the northern end of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes on the continent and one of the largest expanses of temperate sand dunes on earth.
We decided to rent sand boards from the Sand Master Park, the world’s first sandboarding park. Sandboarding is like snowboarding but on sand. The board shop had its own dune field on premises. The dunes were not as large as others in the area, but it would suffice.
We sand boarded for about 45 minutes before getting bored. Sandboarding is inferior to snowboarding and skiing in several ways. 1. The runs are very short – just a few seconds. 2. There are no sand lifts. 3. Walking up the sand dunes is difficult.
Next, we headed south along US-101. This part of the road is adjacent to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Although not managed by the National Park Service, I still wanted to visit. I pulled into a day-use area and took a two-mile hike with Maisie. The hike started in a pine forest before crossing the dune field, then making its way through a lowland forest and finally ending up on the beach. The temperature difference between the start of the trail and the beach was enormous: my guess 30 degrees F.
In the town of Reedsport, we stopped for lunch at the Harbor Light Restaurant. They are known for their clam chowder which was made with an excessive amount of cream and dill. It ended up being our favorite chowder of the trip (we tried four altogether).
I also drank a marionberry lemonade. Marionberry is a hybrid berry that is a descendant of blackberries and raspberries. It was created in 1956 by USDA scientists at Oregon State University. Oregon accounts for 90% of the world’s production of marionberries and the berry is a big part of Oregon culture. I might be banished from the state for saying this, but a marionberries tastes just like a blackberries.
Heading further south, we reached the town of Coos Bay, our destination for the night. However, at this point in the early afternoon, we continued southwest along State Highway 540. The road led to three state parks: Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Cape Arago. Sunset Bay was a swimming beach which we skipped. Shore Acres contains a historic home of timber baron Louis J. Simpson, formal gardens and a gorgeous coastline.
Cape Arago had spectacular coastal views. Thanks to a volunteer, we were able to look through a telescope to see colonies of seals and sea lions.
30 minutes south of Cape Arago was our most southern destination on the trip: Bandon. Bandon has a small old town with an okay variety of shops and a wide town beach with many sea stacks. The houses in Bandon seemed nicer than in other towns.
For dinner, we ate at the famed Tony’s Crab Shack which had a huge line. We ate their famed crab sandwich: fresh Oregon Dungeness crab, and cheese smothered between two hot sourdough loaves. I thought it was a top 10 sandwich of all time. However, Maisie said it was just okay and I only liked it because of the massive amounts of butter.
Finally, we visited Bandon’s (and the southern coast’s) biggest tourist attraction: Bandon Dunes. This golf resort has five full courses plus a par 3 course. It was inspired by Links style courses in Scotland. With its location on the ocean and Scotland-like rainy and windy weather, it is easy to draw the comparisons. Many consider Bandon Dunes to be a (if not THE) top golf destination in the US.
Maisie and I are not golfers, but we were still able to get a feel for the place. After driving around the complex, we stopped briefly in the clubhouse which had a restaurant and bar. We also took their 1.8-mile hiking trail which cuts on and around the courses. After walking along the trail, I totally understand the appeal of Bandon Dunes for a guys’ golf trip in the summertime. It is so pretty, there are more than enough courses to keep you occupied and there are rooms and houses you can rent on property.
Back in Coos Bay, we stopped for ice cream before heading to bed.
July 6, 2024: Florence to Depoe Bay
This was our final full day on the coast. We woke up in Coos Bay and immediately drove 1 hour north back to Florence to start our journey north.
Our first stop was the Sea Lion Cave. Billed as the America’s largest sea cave, it is more than 400 meters long. The cave is inhabited by Steller’s sea lions, by the dozens in the summer and by the hundreds in the winter.
The cave is privately owned and can be accessed by an elevator dug through the earth to an observation platform. The cave is awe inspiring but is also extremely smelly due to the sea lions and birds.
Continuing north over the amazing Cape Creek Bridge, we stopped at the Heceta Head Lighthouse. The lower level of the lighthouse is open to the public; however, the real highlight is the pretty scenery outside.
Another 30 minutes north, we reached the Cape Perpetua area. There are several attractions here. The most famous, perhaps the most famous attraction on the entire Oregon coast, is Thor’s Well. At high tide, this phenomenon appears to be a bottomless sinkhole. However, at low tide, it is less impressive.
There are other features in the park such as a giant spruce tree and another area called the Devil’s Churn, but instead we drove up to the Cape Perpetua Overlook 800 feet above the ocean. From here, we could see an endless stretch of the south looking south. Additionally, we could spot a whale!
Just north of Cape Perpetua is the town of Yachats. The name sounds Hebrew but is in fact a local Siletz word meaning “dark water at the foot of the mountain”. The town is known as a more upscale destination, but I did not feel that way. We ate lunch at Luna Sea Fish House, one of the many seafood shacks along the coast. Luna is different because the owner is a fisherman and serves the fish he personally caught on his boat. The staff also appear to be off-duty fishermen due to their many tattoos and rough way of talking. This all added to the experience. We ordered grilled salmon, and it was incredible – without a doubt the best fish of the trip.
30 more minutes north, Maisie and I reached Newport, the largest city on the Oregon Coast. Newport, named for Newport, Rhode Island, actually has a well-rounded economy. Its primary economic driver is fishing. It also houses the US government’s weather forecasting agency.
Its most famous business is the Rogue Brewery. Founded in 1988 in southern Oregon along the Rogue River, it was one of the pioneers of the microbrewing movement. They relocated to Newport Their brewery is located on the south side of the bay. Since it was a holiday weekend, we could not get into the bar sadly.
Newport also is home to the famous Oregon Coast Aquarium, but we were short on time and sadly could not visit.
After briefly checking out the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, we ventured into the Historic Bayfront – Newport’s downtown. This strip is a uniquely weird combination of tacky tourist destination and very real fishing commercial fishing hub. On the land side of the docks are restaurants, gift shops, bars and even a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. On the water side are commercial fish processing plants, offices of fishing companies and the fishing boats themselves. Some of the fishermen will sell you their catch from the boat– Oregon law stipulates that if the sale is done on the boat, is your own catch and is sold to an individual consumer or restaurant, you only need an easy-to-obtain Limited Fish Seller Permit which can be obtained for just $42/year. By contrast a sale on land or a sale to a fish distributor would require a full business license.
The Bayfront also had an insane number of memorial benches – well over 100. Some of the benches had heartfelt messages while others had cheeky sailor jokes. My favorite was in memory of Steve Berkeley: Scientist Fisherman Friend – Defender of Big Old Fat Females.
Additionally, there were extremely informative placards explaining each type of fish in detail. I did not realize that black cod is not actually cod but rather a sablefish! Black cod became the go-to name for marketing reasons.
After wandering the Bayfront, Maisie and I found a Rogue Tasting Room where we were able to get the beer! Per tradition, I sent a photo of my beer flight to my friend Joe Craig.
We briefly stopped at the Devil’s Punchbowl, a sinkhole 10 minutes north of town before reaching our northernmost destination on the coast: Depoe Bay. The town is best known for whale watching in the spring and fall and claims to have the world’s smallest harbor. After walking along the main strip of shops, we got dinner at Gracie’s Sea Hag, one of the most revered restaurants along the coast. We ordered their iconic clam chowder and bloody Mary and a shrimp sandwich. The clam chowder was the most unusual we had on the trip, but was slightly beat out for the crown by Harbor Light in Reedsport. Nevertheless, we were huge fans of Gracie’s.
It was now 19:30 and we needed to head back to Eugene. The drive took 2 hours. After an ice cream stop at Prince Puckler, we checked back into the Motel 6 and went to bed. The next morning, we walked around the University of Oregon campus and then flew back to LA.
Final Thoughts:
While the Oregon Coast has no single must-see blockbuster attraction, the constant flow of medium sights makes it a perfect place for a road trip. There is also great food – seafood is the highlight but there are diverse cuisines. We spent two full days and saw the middle 50% of the coast. I think it would take five full days to see it all.
Because Oregon’s cities are all in the Willamette Valley, there is no easy way to reach the Oregon Coast, which means you probably will need to add a day on either side of your trip to get to the coast. Eugene was a great base to fly in/out for exploring the central coast, but Portland would be a better base if visiting the north coast. The south coast is very remote so Eugene or Medford are both okay options but are still 4 hours away from parts of the coast. Regardless of where you visit on the coast, you will have long drives to/from your airport of choice.
The weather along the coast is never good – the summer is the only guaranteed sunny time of year but the average temperature is only 63 F (17C). Anything outside the summer is rainy: Astoria is the 4th wettest city in America and Laurel Mountain once set the record for annual rainfall in the 48 states.
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