Last summer at this time, Giselle and I headed south for the Canada Day long weekend. We had 4 days to go as far south down the coast as we could. We rode down to Anacortes, Washington, then headed south on Hiway 20 to the Port Townsend Ferry. From Port Townsend we headed south to Hiway 101 and then west towards Port Angeles. The weather was cloudy and cool most of the way.
Heading south from Port Angeles, we encountered heavy rain through the mountains until the small town of Forks. Here we stopped at Sully’s Drive In for some lunch and to dry off a bit. The burgers were great, with friendly service, just like a drive in should be……
From Forks, we continued south on Hiway 101 towards the coast. Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean came at Ruby Beach. The skies had cleared and the surf was up. What a beautiful spot!
We continued down the coast to Queets, where the highway heads inland. We turned off of Hiway 101 onto the Moclips Highway. This heads back toward the ocean at Moclips. From there we headed to Pacific Beach and our first overnight stop of the trip.
Pacific Beach is a quaint little town that time seems to have forgotten. There are several motels, one restaurant/bar, and the beach……….
We checked out the local restaurant/bar. It was GREAT! The Seagate Restaurant isn’t much to look at, but the bartender/waiter STONEY is awesome. The food was served hot, and was delicious. I recommend this spot if you are ever in the area.
We made reservations the month before at the Sand Dollar Inn. We were lucky to get a room because of the long weekend. It is one of several small motel/cottage places in town. The rooms were clean, free wifi, and only a short walk to the awesome beach.
The next morning we woke up to clear skies. We headed out onto the highway with a stop in Aberdeen for breakfast. After breakfast, we stayed on Hiway 101 and turned left onto Hiway 4 just south of Nemah. At Naselle we turned right onto Hiway 401 and headed towards the Columbia River. Heading west, we approached the Astoria Bridge which crosses at the mouth of the river over into Oregon.
We crossed the bridge and headed south on Hiway 101 again. We saw glimpses of the Oregon coastline, but our first real view was at Canon Beach.
We continued heading south towards Tillamook. At Tillamook, we took a side road out towards Cape Meares and a small settlement of Oceanside. The views were incredible.
From Cape Meares, the highway heads inland for a while. The roads are great and meander south through some very pretty inland valleys until it pops back onto the coast at Lincoln City. We continued down Hiway 101 to Newport, where we stopped for a late lunch. The bridge at Newport is quite impressive.
Our goal for the day was Florence. Another 60 miles or so of fantastic Oregon Coast scenery awaited us. We had no trouble finding a motel room in Florence. There were lots to choose from. We checked in to the Comfort Inn after looking at some other motels on the strip. For dinner, we found a nice seafood restaurant, looking at the bridge over the Siuslaw River. Mo’s Chowder has awesome clam chowder and their menu was priced right with a fine selection of fresh seafood.
The next day we headed inland on Hiway 126 towards Eugene. Several miles inland we found a smaller, twistier, less used route – Hiway 36 which comes out at Junction City, just north of Eugene. That was a fun route! From there we continued north to McMinville and then over to Portland. On a whim, when we got north of Portland, we found Hiway 504 that follows the Toutle River up to the Mt St Helens observatory.
The road up is great and well worth the ride in if you are old enough to remember when this mountain blew its top. Once back down, we opted for a cheap motel in Centralia. The King Oscar Motel met all of our expectations for a cheap, clean and affordable place to stay for the night.
The next day we got up early to beat the heat and head up I-5 to the border and home. Four days of riding and the bike never gave us any issues. I can’t wait to do this route again with more time so we can head further south into California.
