TAKE THE SLOW ROAD
A road trip down the coast of Washington and Oregon is not something to be rushed. Instead, the small towns, seaside vistas and vineyards are something to be savoured.
The best road trips aren’t just about driving. If you want more time to unwind and explore than sit behind the wheel, take at least a week to meander down the Pacific Coast and take in the natural beauty of Washington and Oregon.
Rather than drive all the way, we took the Amtrak from Vancouver and seven hours later arrived in Portland relaxed. (Next time we’ll pack a lunch and snacks to go with the wine.) In our rental car, we checked into the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria with enough time to enjoy the Columbia River view from our private balcony and meet fellow travellers sipping wine in the lobby. We also planned on eating the freshest seafood — easy to do along the Oregon Coast — starting with Clemente’s, run by four generations of fishing families, where the daily specials are determined by what hits the net that day.
Since much of the Oregon Coast is public land, you have access to endless beaches and great picnic spots from Highway 101. We topped up our cooler with bagels from the Astoria Co-Op, drove 20 minutes to Cannon Beach and picnicked at Haystack Rock, a monolith that rises 235 feet out of the sea at low tide. Known as one of nature’s most amazing outdoor aquariums, visitors are mesmerized by the tide pools filled with orange and purple starfish and sea anemones. Mussels and limpets vie for space on the rocks, all overseen by terns and puffins that call this area home year-round.
If you love beaches and shopping (only privately-owned businesses are found at Cannon Beach, including art galleries, two fabulous book stores and too many clothing stores, where I did serious retail damage), you might want to stay two nights at the Ocean Lodge, just steps from the beach. Bonus: the Lodge gave us yoga passes to Canon Beach Yoga Arts — nothing like a good stretch after sitting in a car for any length of time. Don’t miss dinner at The Wayfarer: Everything we had, from the Black Sands Ginger Drop martini to Chinook salmon, was perfect. Chef’s philosophy is to “let Mother Nature show off,” and the restaurant prides itself on product traceability, from the fishing vessels hauling in salmon to foragers picking wild mushrooms to olive oil from the Oregon Olive Mill.