Oregon Coast Road Trip

06/25/2013 - United States, Portland, Oregon

06/25/2013 – UNITED STATES, PORTLAND

Oregon Coast Road Trip

We flew from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Portland, Oregon on a Friday a couple of weeks ago.  Talk about different climates!  Stephen had a meeting in California so we decided to fly into Portland and drive the Oregon Coast to get down to California.    

We picked up a Hertz car from the Portland Airport and drove straight to The Heathman Hotel.  The Heathman Hotel has been a landmark in the city of Portland since 1927.  It has been awarded Travel & Leisure’s Top 500 Hotels in the World, Top 50 Large City Hotels in the US, Conde Nast Gold List, and the Four Diamond award for the 27^th consecutive year.  Fewer than 30 hotels in the world have been awarded that prestigious honor.

The Heathman gained infamy though for playing a role in the Fifty Shades of Grey novels.  The hotel now even has a Fifty Shades package that includes a bottle of wine, a grey tie, an eye mask, and…weirdly… earplugs. 

We arrived at 11:40pm, 2:40am our time.  That, of course, did not stop us from going out.  We wandered through the empty streets to find a dive bar perfect for a late night tipple. 

Kelly’s Olympian opened in 1902 and is proud to be Portland’s third oldest continuously operated bar/restaurant.  It has quite a history going through transitions to a speakeasy during Prohibition to the vibrant music venue it is today.  In the early days, it was a popular gathering spot for locals as well as visiting timbermen, sailors, shipyard workers, longshoremen and others passing through.  In addition to being a popular bar, it had the reputation for having one of the most well-known card rooms in all of Portland.  Legend has it that there used to be several secret entrances to the Shangai Tunnels, where Chinese immigrants and dockworkers lived and made their way about the underground of Portland.  (The Shangai Tunnels are a unique part of Portland’s history.  The passages run underneath Chinatown to the central downtown area in Portland and are now part of a historical tour today.)

We had a blast! Kelly’s is known for having all the local beers on tap so we tried a couple, had some chili cheese fries, and savored the night.

The next morning we stopped for coffee at the Public Domain Coffee House.  Their motto: Great coffee is Public Domain.  Public Domain is the vision and creative expression of Coffee Bean International, Oregon’s original specialty coffee roaster.  The company was founded in 1972 on a clear mission: To craft-roast exceptional coffees, and to cultivate coffee passion among the public.  They do it exceptionally well!  Everything was fresh and tasted delicious.  I wish we had one in DC!

After coffee, Stephen talked to some volunteers in green jackets that gave out maps and info on Portland.  They pointed us in the direction of the Food Trucks.  We had the most amazing BBQ sandwich I have ever tasted at The People’s Pig.  Opened by Chef Cliff Alan in 2009, it has continuously won awards and represented Portland well throughout world food truck competitions.  Seriously, I am from Oklahoma where BBQ is second nature, and I was thoroughly impressed by this truck.  Do not miss it if you visit Portland!

After our amazing BBQ experience, we walked around and visited the different shops and galleries in the downtown area. Our favorite was the newly opened Boys Fort.  It started as a Holiday Pop-Up Shop and featured 45 different artists from around Portland.  All of the art was for sale so we bought a couple of handmade mugs for our coffee mug collection, each one with a naked blonde drawn in artfully tasteful ways on them.

My other favorite shop was Powell’s Bookstore.  If you’ve read my blog, you know I am an avid reader.  Going to the biggest independently owned bookstore in the world was a must-do in my book.  We actually found a rare Japanese copy of my uncle Larry Clark’s book Teenage Lust there, and Stephen purchased it for $350.  We also bought some of the artwork hanging in the small gallery at Powell’s.  We bought two drawings, charicatures of J.D. Salinger and Stephen King, and one painting of Mark Twain.

That night we ate at The Heathman Restaurant.  Michael Stanton is the new Executive Chef, and I thought he did a wonderful job.  This restaurant has been helmed as one of the best in Portland, and I can see why.  The service and the food were superb!

The next day we drove to the Oregon coast on one of the slowest highways ever! I can definitely say that Oregonians like to take their time and adhere to the speed limit.  We drove by several wineries along the way though making for a beautiful drive, and we stopped for a bathroom break at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. 

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is a museum, theatre, and waterpark that honors the spirit of aviation and educates through interactive exhibits and learning tools.  It’s a great place for an educational family outing.

We stopped at the Starbucks in Lincoln just before we hit US Route 101.  We re-caffeinated and started the journey down the Oregon Coast.

The Oregon Coast proved to be a truly beautiful journey.  We stopped at several viewing coves to take pictures.  Oregon is known for having many rainy and foggy days, but we got lucky with a clear blue sky and optimal viewing conditions.

We stopped at a couple of hotels along the way as well to stretch our legs and walk: The Adobe Resort in Yachats, OR and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, OR.  The Adobe was a quaint little inn with rooms perfect for whale watching.  Bandon Dunes, known for its famous five distinctly different courses, was set on a beautiful stretch of sand dunes perched 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean making it a haven for golf fanatics.

Our final destination was Crescent City, CA, but we quickly realized towards the end of the day that we would be driving the final two hours of the trip in darkness.  Since the whole point of the trip was to see the coastline, we decided to find a place to stop for the night.

Ireland’s Rustic Lodge, a quaint little beach hotel in Gold Beach, OR, had the vacancy sign lit.  The TripAdvisor reviews looked positive so we decided to give it a try.  We checked-in and immediately walked to the beach to watch the sunset.  The beach was totally natural, not groomed, and had lots of logs and driftwood.  It made for an extremely romantic sunset! We were happy to see several other couples holding each other tightly and loving the beautiful setting just as much as we were. 

We finally reached Crescent City the next day, and checked into our hotel, The Oceanfront Lodge.  It was a former Hampton Inn so the rooms were pretty much standard Hampton Inn size.  They were remodeling the restaurant to make it more of a hip venue, and it looked like it would be nice when it was finished.  The hotel was pretty average, but the view of the ocean hitting the rocks was very picturesque.

Crescent City is a harbor for shrimp and crab boats.  It has many great restaurants like the Good Harvest Café for local foods like Steelhead Trout and Jumbo Prawns.  It even has several island bars in the harbor where seals “hang out” by the boats.  But it is most famous for its access to the Redwoods Forest. 

We were so excited to see the Redwoods!!!

We made a beeline for the Crescent City Rangers Center.   The rangers gave us maps and info about the best trails to see the biggest trees.  We were on a time schedule so the ranger suggested the Howland Hill trail.  It had some of the oldest and tallest trees in the Redwoods. 

Howland Hill is a narrow gravel road for automobiles.  You can stay on that road and see some beautiful forestry, or there are several trails at which to park your car and explore on foot.  We stopped at the Stout Grave Trail and ventured on foot on a small half hour hike.  This is where I saw one tree that I had to walk 61 steps just to circle the tree.  It was huge! The Redwoods are truly a natural wonder, and if you ever pass through this area of the country, do not miss the opportunity to see them!

The next day we drove back to Portland on the highway.  Fun fact: all of the gas stations in Oregon are full service.  It’s the law.  Imagine never having to pump you own gas, especially when it is cold and rainy.

All in all, this was an amazing road trip! I had quality time with the hubby while seeing some very beautiful and romantic sites.