I never thought I would have such a love for Oregon as I did this past week of traveling along the coast up to Washington. I absolutely fell in LOVE with everywhere we stayed at while we were in Oregon.

DAY 1: We started out around Mt. Shasta, CA which can I say is such an incredible mountain?? OMG is it gorgeous. It has so much character and such a presence. I am much more of a mountain lover than a beach lover, but who can choose really.

We stayed in one of those bad a** railroad cars for the night, which was a really neat experience. It was more like “glamping” for the night. In each railcar was a large bed, bathroom, little dining area, and a lookout spot you had to climb up to. It was really nice, we just looked at the moon for awhile while finishing our glass of wine. I felt like I was 12 years old again and it was a great feeling being up there. It’s definitely not as luxurious as staying in a nice hotel or house somewhere, but if you like camping and whatnot this is just the ticket!

Tara Tip* There’s not much going on around here because you are very much out in the wilderness. Good coffee is hard to find so if you are a coffee lover like myself be aware. We managed to find a little drive-up coffee shop in town. We found a decent restaurant that is known for their burgers called Yak’s. It is less than 10 minutes away from the Railroad Park Resort. Plan accordingly!! 🙂

DAY 2: Next stop was Bandon, Oregon which has an incredible beach area. They are known for Face Rock State Park also which is def a must see. All of the rocks jutting out of the ocean was simply breathtaking.

Tara Tip*Stay close by and take a walk on the beach. Enjoy some great seafood from the nearby restaurants and soak up the view or take it to go and enjoy the view from your room (which is what we did). Seafood, wine, and an ocean view? Done.

DAY 3: We drove a few more hours the next day to get to our next location. We stopped on the way to check out some sand dunes. Thank goodness we did because they were unbelievable! We took the John Dellenback Trailhead and this hike was incredible, lined with mounds and mounds of sand dunes as far as the eye could see. I wish we had more time to do the whole trail because it was such a different type of hike and very exciting! I’ll have to save it for next time.

We drove on and arrived at one of the most relaxing places ever called Cape Kiwanda. I highly recommend that you stay here one day, it truly is a remarkable place. There’s a great restaurant with award winning beers within walking distance called Pelican Brewing. Get the fish tacos!! This is a place you go and just relax, walk on the beach, hike up some sand dunes, have a bonfire, etc. Speaking of bonfires, you are allowed to light fires on the beach which is pretty awesome! There were a lot of people cooking and chilling by the fire. Definitely a pretty cool place!

DAY 4: It was difficult to leave Cape Kiwanda for sure, but we were looking forward to checking out Portland. We made a stop in wine country, which again was UNBELIEVABLE . We’re used to wine country  in California, and Oregon wine country did not disappoint. We went to Penner Ash Winery which was on top of the hill overlooking the gorgeous vineyards. The wine was delicious and we really enjoyed the flight, which included some whites, a rose, and three pinots. Oregon is known for their pinot noir and it was delish.

When we arrived in Portland we were excited to try out some breweries and get a bite to eat. We walked around the entire city and ended up going to Deschutes Brewery. We tried out a lot of good beers and my favorite ended up being their Fresh Squeezed IPA. If you like IPA’s like myself you will really enjoy it! We ended up getting a bunch of food there too. The brewery pretzel appetizer is AMAZING for all of you that love that kind of thing 🙂

DAY 5: We headed to Washington to a place called Port Ludlow. There was some beautiful scenery there! Before we got to Port Ludlow we stopped at a little place called Hama Hama Oysters. If you are ever in Washington and pass this place, please go. Just do it. It is literally such a neat spot and the oysters are known all over the country. I’ll be talking more about this awesome place in one of my next posts. Anyways, after Port Ludlow we drove about an hour to catch the ferry boat over to Seattle. The ferry boat ride was stunning! You could see the whole city view and Mt. Rainer, which was equally splendid 🙂 When we arrived in Seattle, we immediately headed to Pike Place Market, which is definitely a must see. They have delightful bouquets of flowers, the famous fish company, good eats, etc. It was a lot of fun walking around there, but make sure you are ready for the crowds of people. I didn’t mind it one bit though 🙂 After walking around we grabbed a bite to eat at BACCO Cafe at Pike Place Market. BACCO Cafe is known for their fresh juices, Dungeness Crab Omelets, and Benedicts. If you are a lover of super fresh seafood like myself, go with the crab omelet and order an “Abruzzo,” which is simply fresh grapefruit and orange juice. This breakfast will make you so happy I just know it!

DAY 6 and 7: After exploring Seattle for the day, we headed back towards Cali to make our way home. We stopped at Crater Lake National Park, which was the most magnificent sight I have ever seen. Period. I will be writing just about this National Park because it was that remarkable.

It was such an eye opening trip for me. I realized that just when I thought things couldn’t get any better they kept getting better! Our country is so gorgeous and everyone should really take the opportunity to check it all out. I still have so much to see!! Living out on the West Coast for the past 4 plus years has really opened my eyes to some things I probably never would have seen. It’s amazing out there and it is all just waiting for us to arrive! ❤

Safe travels everyone! ❤