Road Trip: Oregon
5 October, 2010
Where to start? I met up with my friend Daylin outside of Corvallis in a small town called Philomath. I stayed two nights there and then we set off on our three day trip.
The first day we drove west toward Newport and spent the rest of the day driving north on Highway 101, which runs along the Oregon coast. The first stop was Newport, where we enjoyed the silliness of sea lions and where Daylin introduced me to her favorite chowder in all of Oregon.
After Newport we made a few stops. At one beach we saw whales in the distance and watched surfers from a cliff. Then we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where we went through the free sample line twice, having ice cream in between. We ended the night at Fort Stevens, where we watched the sunset behind the remains of an old shipwreck and camped out in the park.
Day Two: Off to Portland.
We woke up the next day and spent the morning checking out the historical part of Fort Stevens State Park, then finished the coastal part of our drive by zipping up to Astoria, which had a really pretty lighthouse.
The next couple of hours were spent on windy roads leading to Newberg, just outside of Portland, where Daylin’s cousin Katrina lives and goes to school. We had lunch with her and her friends, and then drove into Portland to see Caitlin, a friend from Bucknell. We proceeded to have an excellent night filled with rose gardens, Powell’s Books (largest independent used and new bookstore in the world, a.k.a. heaven), Voodoo Doughnuts (we waited in a huge line and it was totally worth it), delicious mac n cheese, and a beer to end the night. It was great! I wish I could have spent more time there, but I’m sure I’ll be back.
The third day was our last on the road, and we were so lucky that all three were full of beautiful weather! This is particularly special for Oregon, where it rains quite a lot. We started off by visiting Edgefield, which was SUCH a cool place. It was a building that had once been a poor farm, and then a nursing home. They converted it into a hotel with a brewery, winery, and little pubs and restaurants all throughout the property. Oh yeah, there’s a golf course that goes around it as well–something for the whole family! haha. Seriously, though, it is hard to describe how neat this place was so I’m going to stop trying.
The rest of the day we drove along the Columbia River Gorge and checked out some beautiful waterfalls. It was so pretty, and really the perfect way to end our trip.
After the waterfalls we headed back to Philomath and proceeded to veg out, since we were both exhausted. Speaking of exhausted, I just spent the day driving through California and need some coffee. Until next time!
