In September this year we had a trip planned for just the two of us to take the trailer down the Oregon Coast, ending in the Red Woods just inside California. Our plan was to make one additional stop on the way home in Ashland Oregon for a night before heading home, but trailer problems stopped us from doing that.

Our first night out we spent at Nehalem Bay State Park on the Oregon Coast, just south of Canon Beach. This was a great little stop, and we had stayed here previously with Delaney in 2016. Prior to leaving in the morning, we drove north (backwards!) to Canon Beach and toured town a bit prior to returning, picking up the trailer, and continuing south.

Driving south with the trailer again that first full day we spent most of it passing various cyclists who were competing in some sort of ride/race event. The drive down to South Beach State Park, our stop for the evening, was almost 100 miles, and passed through quite nice potential stops. One I would like to spend more time in on another version of this trip would be Tillamook (and its air museum!). Also in this drive we stopped at a pull out (lots of them on the Oregon Coast!) at Rodea Point just south of Depoe Bay, pulled out a couple of chairs, and had a snack. A local stopped in his car and asked if we had seen the whales, and he then explained he saw them quite often, and after looking a little more, we started seeing a few just beyond the kelp beds.

We spent the night in South Beach State Park, a massive Oregon State Park on the coast just south of the town of Newport (which has an awesome aquarium we did not visit this trip). The next morning we were back on the road heading south, this time traveling a little slower as we were getting to areas of the coast we had not seen anywhere near as much as those farther north. The destination today was Bullards Beach State Park, about 115 miles south of South Beach. This drive would also be along a lot more coast line than the section north, much of which was inland from the coast.

Our first stop of the day, barely outside the park, was a coffee stand, Seal Rock Espresso. It happened to share a parking lot with the Wood Carving Outlet, and we spent some wandering around the shop and yard, admiring their creations. The carvings here were pretty spectacular compared to most wood carvings we have seen, and if it were not at the start of our trip, we would have probably bought something here.

Again though, we made a few stops on the way down to stop and just enjoy the scenery. The weather was perfect, and the slow pace was perfect. We spent two nights at Bullards Beach State Park, and spent a part of our full day there in the small town of Bandon. We were able to do some needed laundry, and enjoy some awesome seafood.

Leaving there we continued to our final stop, Lighthouse Cove RV Park in Crescent City CA. While park was fine, there was a local fog horn in the harbor that was a) loud, and b) sounding about every 10-15 minutes. Sleep was not great!

The Redwoods were phenomenal though, and worth the trip. Our final adventure was coming home across US Route 199 from Crescent City CA to Grants Pass, with forest fires requiring the use of pilot cars leading groups of cars through one group at a time. With a few additional stops for food though, we made it home in one piece!