Let me start out by saying I fell in LOVE with Oregon. Having not been there since I was a little girl my memories were of foggy beaches and sand dunes (well and The Goonies…). Now they are of craft beer, vineyards, waterfalls off sheer rock faces, epic food, stunning beaches and river gorges. This is a state I could live in one day.
We crossed over from Washington into Oregon and drove along the Columbia River and crossed over into Hood River Oregon. We then drove the Columbia River Gorge to see some of the 77 waterfalls that cascaded down the mountains all along the river. It was a rainy day and so we did not take many pictures, however, the old Highway 30 was one of the prettiest drives we have taken so far on this trip. The Highway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was declared a National Scenic Landmark, this little-known route is one of the original 13 federally designated All-American Roads.
One of the many waterfalls along highway 30.
View of the beautiful river and valley (in the rain….)
From the Columbia River we drove into Portland and started the gluttony tour of cheap craft beers and food.
Beer tasting at 11:30 am (don’t judge) at Deschutes Brewery in downtown Portland. Crappy Iphone picture….
My favorite place for great food was Mississippi Ave. We had epic Thai food at Mee Sen, the best I have had since our trip to Thailand.
As we headed out of Portland we discovered that the road out of town to the coast passed through wine country, we of course had to stop at a few wineries.
Pinot tasting in Willamette Valley up in the Dundee Hills.
We arrived at our destination, South Beach State campground and had some beautiful hikes on the wild, people free beaches that seemed to stretch on forever.
Beach at South Beach State campground in the evening.
I loved all the sand dunes in Oregon, they reminded me of the beaches in Baja Mexico from my childhood.
The following day we continued our mad dash to California, we told Marc from XP Camper that we would be at his shop in a few days to fix a some things before he headed to Mexico. So we had to sadly drive quickly down the stunning highway 1 that hugged the entire coast of Oregon. It reminded me of the coastal highway in California, but had parts that were even more stunning. I will definitely go back one day and spend weeks exploring the campgrounds and beaches of this coast.
Lunch stop at the dunes.
Climbing up the giant dunes made my calves burn, best workout ever!
Big waves along the rugged Oregon coast.
More coast….
More coastal pictures….
Ok, last one!
You get the idea, it was a beautiful drive with turn outs every few miles that made you want to stop and take more pictures. We were so lucky to be able to do this drive over two sunny days. Oregon, we will be back!