OT CalifOregon for my 60th OT

HoustonEgger said:

BizGreenEgg said:

You heading directly west on 26 out of Portland, then down the 101?  There's some great wineries and good place to stay just SW of Portland in the Dundee/Newberg area.  You can't drive 5 minutes in the northern Willamette valley without hitting a winery.  My favorite place to stay on the coast is Pacific City.  Yachats is another neat little town.

+1 for Yachats - stayed here many times: https://www.adoberesort.com/

dmourati said:

@YukonRon, here's a hike I've done with my family. It's an hour or so and close enough to where you're staying:

Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve

http://sonomahikingtrails.com/parks/healdsburg-ridge/

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Campo Fina in Healdsburg.

http://campofina.com/_media/CampoFina_Menu-Dinner-Sample.pdf

Have fun!

gdenby said:

My son and DIL live in Portland. If you have any time there, lots of great places to eat. Think there's 5 James Beard award Chef's there. I've eaten at 3, and they were definitely Michelin 1 star +.

The son's family went down to Sequoia Nat'l park, a bit farther south than Yosemite. He grew up visiting a forest near where we live that had a 180 ft/350+ yrs old Tulip Tree. When he got to Sequoia, he was like "Um, big trees, then we went a bit further in. BIG TREES. I was impressed."

Legume said:

The Sonoma/Northern Marin coast is fantastic.  Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore for hiking, you can backpack there, dayhike, whatever.  It’s dramatic, beautiful, largely unspoiled.

Point Reyes Station, Olema and Tomales Bay have some great wine, cheese, oysters, etc.  Plenty of small places to stay, eat, hang out, etc. 

Bodega Bay is great.  Day trip west across Sonoma through Sebastopol into Occidental is a great drive into a funky, hidden, still 3/4 hippy town with some great food.  Keep going and you're at the coast in Jenner where the river dumps into the sea, just north of Bodega Bay.  Not sure of the timing, but see if you can find fresh abalone around Bodega.  Unreal if you've never had it.

Legume said:

YukonRon said:

Legume said:

The Sonoma/Northern Marin coast is fantastic.  Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore for hiking, you can backpack there, dayhike, whatever.  It’s dramatic, beautiful, largely unspoiled.

Point Reyes Station, Olema and Tomales Bay have some great wine, cheese, oysters, etc.  Plenty of small places to stay, eat, hang out, etc. 

Bodega Bay is great.  Day trip west across Sonoma through Sebastopol into Occidental is a great drive into a funky, hidden, still 3/4 hippy town with some great food.  Keep going and you're at the coast in Jenner where the river dumps into the sea, just north of Bodega Bay.  Not sure of the timing, but see if you can find fresh abalone around Bodega.  Unreal if you've never had it.

@Legume
RFO!!! We have done Point Reyes previously, and that is a definite return to for us. I will certainly add the suggestions and make it a couple of wonderful days. The last time we did was during the week, and the place was almost abandoned when we went. We did not see folks for miles.

Just checked with one of the Park Rangers we got to know while there, and there have been some collapses and cave ins around chimney rock, and others. some trails are still open while others are closed.

Thank you for the heads up. We will be on this trek.

Ah, glad you know of it and like it.  One of my favorite areas.  As a boy scout in the '70s, we had at least one backpacking trip a year to Pt. Reyes.  When I married, my wife and I bought our first house in Novato in the early '90s, just inland from Pt. Reyes Station and Olema.  Loved it there.

Much further north, but Ft. Bragg and Eureka areas used to be great stops.  I suspect they've grown quite a bit, so I don't know what they're like now.  Fishing/logging towns.

dcc said:

Did a loop from Sonoma up to Medford and back down the coast last summer for my 60th.  Made a day trip to Crater Lake from Medford.  Definitely worth a stop.  Heading south  Newton B Drury parkway has lots of easy hikes in the redwoods.  Liked that better than Avenue of the Giants.  The Best Western in Eureka was a good place to crash for one night.  Huge hot tub to enjoy a bottle of wine in.  VRBO in Ft Bragg Mendocino area called Marebello. On a cliff over the ocean with a private hot tub on the deck.  Worth 2 nights and doing nothing but chill during the day.  Great breakfast or lunch at David's.  Book it through Vacasa vs VRBO.  The further south you go the worse the traffic gets.  If I do it again will head inland at The Russian River.  The Charles  M Schulz museum in Santa Rosa is nice if you are a peanuts fan. In Napa/ Sonoma we like Chappellet and Pride Mountain wineries.  The Kunde mountaintop tour was nice.  The food/wine pairing at St Francis is also very nice.  Dean and DeLuca in St Helena is much better than the Oakville Market.  The Sonoma Market and Glen Ellen Village Market are great groceries to pick up a meal to go.  Have fun!

caliking said:

We drove down part of the PCH last Xmas, starting in SF and ending up in LA. We didn't hike, but camped at a few sites, and it was very fun. Caliprince got a big kick out of it all.

Don't know if this would interest you, but we rented a campervan, which was very self-contained.

https://www.escapecampervans.com

Great folks to deal with, and it definitely amped up the fun of our trip. The highlight was probably the night we camped in the Big Sur area. The van was awesome, and we ate well throughout the trip, since the van includes a stove, sink, and a great little fridge. I enjoyed the mornings the most - waking up in the forest, sipping coffee, and making breakfast.


Hope you have a wonderful birthday trip!

CTMike said:

Interesting that Pacific City was mentioned above. My grandfather was a commercial salmon fisherman there, we used to visit every summer. Loved watching the Dory fleet launch and recover from the beach. 

Also, someone else mentioned Crater Lake. If you’ve never been you really should - amazing.