Oregon Coast

Astoria is a point of Historical focus. (Destination of Lewis and Clark) and has good museums, historical and marine. Be sure to see Capt. George Flavel's 19th century house and the related city museum (it's a two for one ticket. Also, the Astoria column is fabulous and worth a drive to the top of the city. The rest of the coast is more touristy and has the great coastal scenery, beaches, state parks etc.
Cannon beach has rejuvenated their old town into a shoppers delight with numerous gift shops etc.
The sea lion caves at Newport are worth a look.
The sand dunes start at Florence run approximately 40 miles south. There are several places you can go for a dune buggy ride, and I would highly recommend one. You can ride anything from a one or two seater to being a passenger in a huge 'truck' that seats about 20.

Quick Tips:

Oregon state offers a guide book which has about 20 pages that will lead you down the coast to all the highlights.
They also provide an accomodation guide.
If you are into B&B's, we would recommend Maurice at the Blue Heron just outside of Florence.

Best Way To Get Around:

The coast is about 400 miles long. We travelled by Jeep (Grand Cherokee) about 100 miles per day stopping along the way as we desired. We noticed quite a few people biking. There appeared to be numerous sites along the way for R.V.'s.

The B& B had 4-5 rooms of varying size and price ranging from $70 to about $100 per night. The owners were very friendly and willing to give opinions about restaurants etc. Although, it wasn't a selling feature with us, they advertise as a Christian B & B (but no preaching was done). Breakfast was excellent including fresh fruit, a coffee cake, quiche, juice, coffee or tea; but we didn't like the fact that it was served only at 9:00. With conversation etc. you don't hit the road until about 10:00, and we like an earlier start. Location is good, all rooms have an ocean view. It is about a half mile walk along the beach promenade to the downtown area with most restaurants, shops etc. (a very nice walk).

The Inn is about 2 miles out of Florence along Highway 126. The proprietor, Maurice, is an interesting personality. He is, or at least considers himself to be, somewhat of a culinary expert, and he takes great pride in his analysis of local restaurants. Based on the breakfast he serves, he may very well be an expert. He has five rooms varying in price and size and luxury from $70 to about $105. The $105 room he calls the bridal suite and is a beautiful room with a jacuzzi tub. Our room was comfortable; Maurice was very helpful in any way we asked, and breakfast was exceptional. Breakfast is a one-serving affair @ 9:00 am which was the only thing we didn't like as we like to get on the move earlier than 10:00.

We went to Mo's in Lincoln City. It is a large, open building. The tables are picnic benches. It seated over 100 people and we were in a lineup of about 25 people which moved fairly quickly. The service is quick, the food is good, but not fine dining. It is a great place for informal family dining or a quick meal of better quality than a fast food stand. My spouse had fish and chips while I had a meal of clam chowder (good) served in a sourdough bread container. We were both happy with our meals. This is not a place to go for a quiet romantic meal, but for fairly quick, decent guality, basic seafood, we would recommend it.

There are 40 miles of sand dunes starting around Florence and running south. We stopped at a place about 4 miles south of Florence and would highly recommend it. You can rent a two-seat dune buggy that you drive or you can be a passenger in either an eight seat buggy driven by an employee or you can ride on the top of something equivalent to an army tank that seats about 20 people. This is the option we took, partly because it was late in the afternoon and there would be a wait for the smaller buggies. They suggested there is usually not a wait if you go in the morning. The driver/guide on our 'truck' was great. He was very informative as to the history and origin of the dunes and their future (how they are currently changing). He also was quite funny with his standard monologue of jokes and comments. Our ride lasted a little over a half hour. Some of the dunes appeared to be about 50 feet high.

Astoria is a small city at the northernmost point on the Oregon Coast. It is the western end of the journeys of Lewis and Clark. Highlights of the city include several museums. We went to two, Captain George Flavels house. He was the bar (harbour) pilot and Astoria's first millionaire. Beautiful house. Next we went to the heritage museum which was also very worthwhile. Both museums are manned by well-trained volunteers eager to tell you small anecdotes or the history shown in the exhibits. There is also a marine museum we didn't go to. The most spectacular exhibit is the Astoria column. The column is located at the top of a hill above the city and rises about 100 feet in the air. In a spiral design the outside depicts the history of the area. There is ample room to park at the site. There is also an excellent view of the city and ocean as well as a little tourist stand selling souveniers, drinks, ice cream etc.