Summer road trip

[mepham55]

Planning a on/off road trip with the family in July and looking for any tips and experiences on camp sites between here and San fransico. Our loose plan is camping on the Olympic peninsula, cannon beach, dune camping in Florence, OR, redwood forest then to San fransico. Share your thoughts and experiences.

Matt, Stacey, Henry, George

[island dormy]

Hi Matt

When you are down on the Olyimpic Penninsula make sure you visit long beach and take a drive on the beach, 12 miles long its a blast. They also have coin car washes in the town to rinse any salt spray off.

Lots of neat little towns to see just stick to the sea side route.

Victor

[mepham55]

Hi Matt

When you are down on the Olyimpic Penninsula? make sure you visit long beach and take a drive on the beach, 12 miles long its a blast. They also have coin car washes in the town to rinse any salt sparay off.

Lots of neat little towns to see just stick to the sea side route.

Victor

We're planning on doing this trip sometime over the first 2 weeks in July. I'll look up long beach sounds like fun! Thanks Victor.

Matt

[island dormy]

Hi Matt

Long beach is a really neat but very windy place, if you camp in the town I would recommend staying away from the ocean side camp grounds. Lots of nice camping spots a block away from the beach and no wind.
When you do your beach drive heading north from the town make sure to come back on the beach there is a inland paved access road that follows the beach but it was very boring just a few old houses to look at.

Victor 1962 Dormobile

[Bill E.]

I can recommend

Nehalem Bay State Park Campground
Manzanita, OR 97130
United States

Manzanita is a small town with a few good restaurants and another great Oregon beach. The campsite is sheltered from the wind behind a dune.

Bill

[ANDYD]

Hi Matt,

I did a similar run down the Oregon Coast to Florence Sand Dunes and accross to Crater Lake and back up to Portland.
We stopped and camped at a bunch of cool places along the way, I will look up the names of our favourite spots and post again.
If staying in the State Parks you should go online asap & book your spots in advance as all the best camping spots are pre-booked.
A really cool spot for kids is Fort Stevens State Park, it has some really cool old military gun implacments that you can explore (all free) and from Fort Stevens you can drive right out and onto the beach and visit the old ship wreck then drive for a couple of hours down the beach almost to Seaside which is a good little seaside village to explore.
You can also camp right on the Sand dunes at Florence and can spend many hours driving around the dunes exploring and along the beach. If you are on your own, may not want to get too adventurous as you may find yourself doing some digging!

Cheers,
Andy

[acg]

I used to live in Seattle and Portland. My personal favorite is Fort Stevens in WA (just across the Columbia River from Astoria). There is a KOA RV and campground just across the street from the Fort Steven State Park entrance. The KOA location is a huge place with lots of play options for the family (e.g., artificial golf, volleyball, restaurant, lots of daily events for kids such as face painting, bike rentals, etc).

Fort Stevens has a 10 mile beach where you can drive the Disco. In addition, Fort Stevens holds an inaugural Civil War renactment during Labor Day which is simply amazing:
http://www.nwcwc.org/stevens.html.

The interesting bit of history about Ft Stevens is it was developed to stop the illicit cotton trading between the British (in Canada) and the South in the Pacific NW due to the trade blockade in the South.

Astoria is also home to a few movies such as the Goonies, Free Willy, . The Goonies museum is a must-see if you have not been there: http://oregonfilmmuseum.com/

My family (wife, 3 sons and two grandmothers) went on a RV trip a couple of years ago... all the way from Portland to San Diego and back. A few favorites from this trip which also offers camping options...

1) Railroad Park Resort in Dunsmuir, Northern California (http://www.rrpark.com/)

2) Disneyland. My recommendation is to find a camping spot in a RV park just outside of Disneyland. You get to see a great fireworks show when Disneyland closes at night.

3) Pacifica (just outside of San Francisco)... great cliff views of the ocean and excellent for camping

4) Carlsbad or Oceanside (just outside of San Diego). Great beach camping and excellent drive along the ocean all the way to Newport Beach/Laguna Beach. The ocean view from Laguna Niguel is simply breath-taking. My favorite RV/camping facility is Paradise by the Sea resport (http://www.paradisebythesearvresort.com/). A walk across the street to the beach plus they have lots of planned activities for kids (swimming, open air movies at night, etc)

Enjoy your vacation!

[Gromit Dog]

I love the sound of that. I haven't been to Oregon in years and years! (I was 6) I love SanFran, but I think the in town speed limit is like 70 mph. Just spent a couple days in Carlsbad/Oceanside. The family and I Loved it. (Yes you need to see Legoland if you are there) Great beaches too. If I didn't already live in Paradise Id be there now.

[DrRangelove]

Solduc hot spring west of port angeles is a good family campground. Not exactly wilderness camping but lots to do there for the family.

[acg]

P/S. If you are planning to hit Legoland and Disneyland.... no need to pay full price. The California locals gets great discounts. I went to Craisglist and hooked up with some folks who sold their tickets to me... I recollect 50% discounts.

[mepham55]

Thanks for all the responses so far guys, some good information for sure. No Disneyland visits this year, but legoland sounds tempting! Keep up the suggestions please

Matt

[Antur]

Matt,
Have to recommend Prairie Creek/Redwoods State Park in Humboldt Co, CA. Make the drive out to Gold Bluffs campground and don't miss Fern Canyon. Don't know how one gets the OK, but I've seen local fishers drive out on the beach. It's often under the coastal fog, but the area boasts a local elk herd, pelicans, and some sweet hiking. It's off a short side parkway alongside the 101. Tends toward crowding, but would be worth the chance to tent or truck camp. Jealous.

Kyle

[rezdiver]

matt,
sent you a PM

cheers,
Reza