Trying to make the best of our upcoming trip across the country from Forida to the Oregon Coast mid May. We will have 1 month there before the trip home. Would appreciate any planning help as would like to stay in 3-4 places and take the car out for day trips. By then we and the RV will be tired. Any help is greatly appreciated.
QUOTE(A.E.Michell @ Mar 27 2009, 01:31 PM) [snapback]15638[/snapback] Trying to make the best of our upcoming trip across the country from Forida to the Oregon Coast mid May. We will have 1 month there before the trip home. Would appreciate any planning help as would like to stay in 3-4 places and take the car out for day trips. By then we and the RV will be tired. Any help is greatly appreciated. Winchester Bay RV resort is a great base camp for touring the southern Oregon coast. If you check the review on this site you'll see almost everyone speaks highly of it. It's not far from Coos Bay which offers some city conveniences (including a casino) not to mention all the state parks in that area. The Oregon Dunes are also nearby.
A couple of our favorite RV parks (not campgrounds) in the Coos Bay area are the Charleston Marina RV Park and The Mill Casino RV Park in North Bend. At The Mill, you can dry camp for free if you don't want hookups. The Charleston Marina is in the village of Charleston and is a couple hundred yards from the Bay. The Mill is right on the Bay. In both cases, this is not ocean beach-front property, but sheltered Bay water with a lot of boat and ship traffic. For campgrounds we like Bastendorf County Park. All of these parks have reviews posted here.
You've hit my favorite subject - Oregon! We have hosted on the southern Oregon coast for three years and feel very comfortable there. You CANNOT go wrong staying at any state park, they are great. Since you are going during the spring, I recommend that you get reservations ahead of time. However, if you want to take chances, you still should be able to get places Sunday afternoon through Friday morning without reservations in most places. School may still be in which will help you. On the coast, the state parks I recommend you stay at are: Cape Blanco in Port Orford (and be ABSOLUTELY sure you eat at the Crazy Norwegian), Bullard Beach in Bandon (great little marina/shopping area - eat fish and chips at the little blue building on the marina), and Sunset Bay near Coos Bay. I also recommend you consider Umqua or William Tugman near Charleston. As for private campgrounds, each place has a few good ones. Port Orford has a couple, not fancy but certainly adequate. Winchester Bay Resort is very nice, but overpriced (in my opinion). There is a pretty nice one on the way to Sunset Bay called Midway and another just before you get to the park called Oceanview (I believe). There is also Bastendorff in the same area, which was mentioned by an earlier poster and is very good. I don't remember any decent in the Reedsport area other than the state parks I mentioned earlier. There is so much that you can do in that area that even a month won't do it justice. However, go and have fun and I hope I gave you some good places to consider.
Most of Oregon's State Parks are as nice as any private rv park. Honeyman near Florence is really nice, paved, showers, and is on a little lake so the kids can swim. Cape Perpetua, just north of Florence, is simply gorgeous, one of the most scenic spots on the coast. Beverly Beach by Newport is nice too. Osprey Point RV Resort is a nice private park at Tenmile Lakes, near Lakeside. It is just a few years old, has full amenities, plus a market, pizza pub, beauty parlor, lots more. Their site is ospreypoint.net. Loon Lake is a little ways out of Reedsport, on the highway to I-5 that has the Dean Creek Elk Reserve. If the weather is windy or damp, you can go inland just a little ways and it warms right up. This is a favorite local lake, but not too crowded during the week. There are a lot of lakes that have rv parks on them. Most of them are well maintained, clean and safe. Lots more campgrounds at pacific101.com.
Beverly Beach State Park near Newport is great. In the Coos Bay area, Oceanside Rv is really close to the beach.
QUOTE(Vic_ @ Mar 28 2009, 10:22 AM) [snapback]15654[/snapback] Beverly Beach State Park near Newport is great. In the Coos Bay area, Oceanside Rv is really close to the beach. You're right, I meant Oceanside rather than Oceanview. I've been in there several times and it is pretty good. Sunset Bay and Shore Acres are just up the road from it and Bastendorf is just "around the corner".
Oregon is truly a wonderful state to visit and very varied in it’s scenery. The coastal area is what we enjoyed the most. The Sea Lion caves were spectacular for us. Coos Bay was very nice. Coyote Rock campground was extremely beautiful. Be alerted that it can get very chilly at night and ring some layered clothing. We could easily spend a month in Oregon and I envy you your trip. http://www.linandnancy.com/coosbay1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/centralor1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/columbiariver1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/easternor1.html
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Mar 29 2009, 07:19 AM) [snapback]15657[/snapback] Oregon is truly a wonderful state to visit and very varied in it’s scenery. The coastal area is what we enjoyed the most. The Sea Lion caves were spectacular for us. Coos Bay was very nice. Coyote Rock campground was extremely beautiful. Be alerted that it can get very chilly at night and ring some layered clothing. We could easily spend a month in Oregon and I envy you your trip. http://www.linandnancy.com/coosbay1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/centralor1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/columbiariver1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/easternor1.html QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Mar 29 2009, 07:19 AM) [snapback]15657[/snapback] Oregon is truly a wonderful state to visit and very varied in it’s scenery. The coastal area is what we enjoyed the most. The Sea Lion caves were spectacular for us. Coos Bay was very nice. Coyote Rock campground was extremely beautiful. Be alerted that it can get very chilly at night and ring some layered clothing. We could easily spend a month in Oregon and I envy you your trip. http://www.linandnancy.com/coosbay1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/centralor1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/columbiariver1.html http://www.linandnancy.com/easternor1.html Thanks so much for the great photos..now I am really excited.What time of year were you there ? We are from Florida and will really need to layer up!
QUOTE(A.E.Michell @ Mar 29 2009, 11:32 AM) [snapback]15659[/snapback] Thanks so much for the great photos..now I am really excited.What time of year were you there ? We are from Florida and will really need to layer up! Funny you should ask about layering as it depends upon where you are. When we hosted at the Cape Blanco lighthouse in mid-summer, the temps at the lighthouse could be in the 40s and 50s, with wind howling and fog. Yet, just five miles inland the temps would be in the 90s and 100s! On the coast, wear layers. Inland, probably not as much.
We were there in April which was a little early. It is beautiful. We stayed along the coast on the way up, but hit some of the central and Eastern areas on the way back. It is extremely beautiful. One of my favorite meals of the whole trip was a seafood buffet for my wife’s birthday in Coos Bay. For some reason OR has a law that you are not allowed to pump your own gasoline. Strange, but true. I tried to pump my own and the girl said I cold get arrested. We handled the cold well by layering. Our plan on the whole trip was to go North just to miss the cold and snow. We missed the snow on the roads, but did manage to get down to 14 degrees one night in NE. What part of Florida are you from and are you driving to OR? Enjoy your trip and see the sea lion caves for sure. Astoria is extremely nice too.
Thanks for the update. We live in the Tampa Bay area and are driving across the country for the trip. Need to wait until May until the snow clears up!
When we travel to Oregon, we do a loop that includes the eastern part of Oregon, across to Portland and then down the coast. I will just give you the highlights of the eastern part, since it is just as much fun as the coast, and often gets overlooked. Our last trip was in the fall of 2007, and we were in a motorhome without a tow vehicle, so everywhere I describe below is big rig friendly. Additionally, we had grandkids with us, 2 teenage girls and a 4-yr-old. And, amazingly, everyone had a great time all of the time. I don’t know if you will be going through California at all, but if you do, I really urge you to start your Oregon trip in Redding, by visiting the Sundial Bridge. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava, to span the Sacramento River and it is so beautiful. There are botanical gardens, a great exploration museum for adults and kids alike. Redding has quite a few RV campgrounds, some on the river, and one next to a Water Park (if you are traveling with kids). From Redding, we headed to Klamath Falls, and spent our first couple of days camping at Lake of the Woods, which is west of Klamath Falls, and south of Crater Lake. This is a great campground, rustic and on a beautiful lake. Bring your bikes. From there we traveled to Crater Lake taking 140 to 62. It is a beautiful park, we took the requisite photos of the girls pretending to "dive" into the lake. We got on to 138 on the north side of the park and headed east back to 97. That night we camped at a state park west of Madras called Cove Palisades. It is about a 20 minute drive out into the country, located on a bluff that overlooks a gorgeous recreational group of lakes. The state park is grassy, flat, with hookups and adequate restrooms. We arrived without a reservation, but it was in the middle of the week. We stayed there one night, and headed to Kahneeta, which is located just up the road, in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. This place is high-end camping, probably the most expensive part of our trip (and you will definately need reservations, regardless of when you arrive). But a fun place for everyone. There is a nice RV campground – grassy but no trees – with lots of pull throughs and very level. They have spas, huge heated swimming pools (3 of them – one for little kids, one with water slides and one with diving boards), they have a casino, horseback riding, miniature golf, restaurants. But everything costs. They have a little bus that takes you from the RV park to the other parts of the resort. After Warm Springs, you can either go northwest towards Government Camp and continue west to Portland, OR you can go to Government Camp and then head northeast past Mt Hood and on to the Dalles. The Dalles is the highway that runs along the Columbia Gorge – which is gorgeous. I really wouldn't miss Mt Hood OR the Dalles if this is your first trip to Oregon. Either way, be sure to stop at Frog Lake, which is on 26 out of Warm Springs. Take a picture of Mt Hood’s reflection in the lake, if the weather is sunny – the lake is shaped like a frog, and is home to a LOT of real ones. And also stop in Government Camp at the Mt Hood Recreational Area, and try the Alpine Slides. The Dalles will take you into Portland, and after that, head for the Oregon coast. Have a great trip.
Wow, endofrope, what a great overview. I don't have a trip to Oregon planned right now, but you sure do make me want to go. I intend to print out your post and put it in my Oregon file for when we do plan to visit that area. Thanks for providing some great information. I hope you'll follow up soon with your coast version.
We live about 90 miles NE of Tampa Bay and are doing a trip up to the headwaters of the Mississippi and Mount Rushmore. We also plan to leave first of May to avoid the snow. We ended up in OR in April, but left in Feb. We avoided the snow by going South first and just avoiding the cold. There is a great “ Western Mountain Book” that has the % grades of all major roads out West and it is a must for your trip. Camping World has them for about $12, I believe. We have their Eastern Mountain book also. My wife, the navigator doesn’t like steep grades. Of course, Passport America will pay for itself many times over. Have a great trip.
Hi Lindsay, The mid west has had unusually high snow fall this year. My brother-in-law was storm stayed this past week in North Dakota. He mentions 15 foot snow drifts. Temperatures are below seasonal norms. QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Apr 1 2009, 09:39 PM) [snapback]15697[/snapback] We live about 90 miles NE of Tampa Bay and are doing a trip up to the headwaters of the Mississippi and Mount Rushmore. We also plan to leave first of May to avoid the snow. We ended up in OR in April, but left in Feb. We avoided the snow by going South first and just avoiding the cold. There is a great “ Western Mountain Book” that has the % grades of all major roads out West and it is a must for your trip. Camping World has them for about $12, I believe. We have their Eastern Mountain book also. My wife, the navigator doesn’t like steep grades. Of course, Passport America will pay for itself many times over. Have a great trip.
I too thank you for the reply..we will start our trip in N. California as it will be mid May and the weather is a concern driving from Fla. But...we will be sure to include the placea you suggested on the way home.
Fort Stevens (a state park) is in the Astoria/Warrenton area (North Oregon Coast). We stayed there for 5-days last May (Memorial Weekend). I highly recommend it...make reservations.
End of Rope... quick question.. how were the roads in all of the areas you spoke of in this post? Where they steep, winding, etc.. this will be my first time traveling to these areas and very concerned about driving a 28' motorhome... as I am a newbie... I guess you could say I am trying to find ways to build up my confidence level by asking those who been in these areas... thanks and its with hopes you can respond!!!! Robyne QUOTE(endofrope @ Apr 1 2009, 01:36 PM) [snapback]15688[/snapback] When we travel to Oregon, we do a loop that includes the eastern part of Oregon, across to Portland and then down the coast. I will just give you the highlights of the eastern part, since it is just as much fun as the coast, and often gets overlooked. Our last trip was in the fall of 2007, and we were in a motorhome without a tow vehicle, so everywhere I describe below is big rig friendly. Additionally, we had grandkids with us, 2 teenage girls and a 4-yr-old. And, amazingly, everyone had a great time all of the time. I don’t know if you will be going through California at all, but if you do, I really urge you to start your Oregon trip in Redding, by visiting the Sundial Bridge. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava, to span the Sacramento River and it is so beautiful. There are botanical gardens, a great exploration museum for adults and kids alike. Redding has quite a few RV campgrounds, some on the river, and one next to a Water Park (if you are traveling with kids). From Redding, we headed to Klamath Falls, and spent our first couple of days camping at Lake of the Woods, which is west of Klamath Falls, and south of Crater Lake. This is a great campground, rustic and on a beautiful lake. Bring your bikes. From there we traveled to Crater Lake taking 140 to 62. It is a beautiful park, we took the requisite photos of the girls pretending to "dive" into the lake. We got on to 138 on the north side of the park and headed east back to 97. That night we camped at a state park west of Madras called Cove Palisades. It is about a 20 minute drive out into the country, located on a bluff that overlooks a gorgeous recreational group of lakes. The state park is grassy, flat, with hookups and adequate restrooms. We arrived without a reservation, but it was in the middle of the week. We stayed there one night, and headed to Kahneeta, which is located just up the road, in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. This place is high-end camping, probably the most expensive part of our trip (and you will definately need reservations, regardless of when you arrive). But a fun place for everyone. There is a nice RV campground – grassy but no trees – with lots of pull throughs and very level. They have spas, huge heated swimming pools (3 of them – one for little kids, one with water slides and one with diving boards), they have a casino, horseback riding, miniature golf, restaurants. But everything costs. They have a little bus that takes you from the RV park to the other parts of the resort. After Warm Springs, you can either go northwest towards Government Camp and continue west to Portland, OR you can go to Government Camp and then head northeast past Mt Hood and on to the Dalles. The Dalles is the highway that runs along the Columbia Gorge – which is gorgeous. I really wouldn't miss Mt Hood OR the Dalles if this is your first trip to Oregon. Either way, be sure to stop at Frog Lake, which is on 26 out of Warm Springs. Take a picture of Mt Hood’s reflection in the lake, if the weather is sunny – the lake is shaped like a frog, and is home to a LOT of real ones. And also stop in Government Camp at the Mt Hood Recreational Area, and try the Alpine Slides. The Dalles will take you into Portland, and after that, head for the Oregon coast. Have a great trip.
