Where do I even start.. haha😅
Well we woke up at 3:00am and left around 4:00am and didn’t get back home till 3:30am the next day.. Honestly what were we thinking??? haha we weren’t, but we did make some amazing memories!
Our first stop of the trip was Astoria, OR, and we timed it perfect for sunrise! Both Nick and I agree that it was the most beautiful sunrise we had ever seen! The water was like glass and the cotton candy sky glistened across the water and boats, and there were flocks of birds flying every which way! It was STUNNING!😍We also saw this cute little deer just trotting around town about one street over from Main. So sweet!
Our next stop was Fort Stevens State Park which takes up the Northwestern tip of Oregon. Our purpose for this stop was to find the Wreck of the Peter Iredale, which is this cool washed up old ship on the beach! I honestly thought it was going to be a bit harder to find; however If you just type up “Wreck of the Peter Iredale” into maps it will bring you directly there. There will be a parking lot (with a bathroom) right next to the beach were it is located. Super easy! When we first got there I saw sooo many cars and I was like “oh god there are tons of people here!!”. Ya none of them were actually there for the boat, they were all out there clamming. I looked a bit ridiculous out there in my purple dress haha😅 I was getting a lot of weird looks!
We made two very quick stops at both Cannon Beach for some awesome drone shots, and a beach in Neskowin for some awesome yoga pictures that you see above!
Next was a couple quick, but very WINDY stops. First the devils punch bowl. Super easy to get to. No hike. Nice parking lot. All in all super cool, but seemed very touristy. Beautiful view all around, not just of the punch bowl. If you walked just a little farther on the trail you would find beautiful views of beaches and surfers! There were honestly too many surfers to count out there! Second was Thors Well which is also right next to Sprouting Horn! Crazy Windy! Crazy waves! Nick got some amazing video on his camera. I pretty much didn’t participate at all because I felt like I was going to fly away haha. I was just playing Pokemon go the whole time entertaining myself. The parking lot for this is right on the side of the road and then has a short little trail to the rocky wild shore. I went almost all the way down until I found a bench that I could sit on and try and bare the wind haha. Would love to come here during low tide and maybe during a sunset! It was high tide, mid day when we got there.
After this we headed to the Florence sand dunes which was probably my favorite stop! It was so surreal! I honestly felt like I was in Egypt. So neat! I did get sand everywhere that I didn’t want sand tho… 😭It was definitely a little tricky trying to get to the large sand dunes where you could see for aways without seeing any trees tho. We ended up hiking through sand dunes for probably an extra 2 miles before we realized we went the wrong way and we really walked where more of the trees were. Then we turned around and completely backtracked and then went another direction haha. In the moment tho it really was not funny. I was a bit mad and my knees were killing me. So if you plan on making a trip I suggest parking at the parking lot on the south end of Cleawox Lake. Once there take the short trail going west, to the lake and you will find the largest sand dune EVER! Now DO NOT hike up that thing like Nick and I did for no reason, because if you go that way you will just find some grassy dunes and trees. Instead head West across the dune, NOT up it, and you will find a trail that will lead you to where we went! If you just satellite view this lake on Google Maps you will totally understand what I am explaining haha. Also making sure you are keeping an eye out and listening for atv’s. There were definitely people up there riding those and some tours going through there.
Our last stop which was kinda a disapointment was Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor which is just viewpoint after viewpoint of gorgeous coast views! Unlucky for us tho, due to smoke and fog we couldn’t even see 20 feet in front of us, so we weren’t able to see anything at all. Which was kinda a bummer since we timed it perfectly for sunset! UGH! We even checked weather before we left the dunes and the whole time it claimed that it was totally clear and sunny, even once we got there!! Going that far south (almost to the border of Oregon and California) added on an extra 6 hours to trip. oops.
Well in the end I think the late night conversations and laughs made it all worth it haha. Some of you might also be wondering why we didn’t just stay in hotel and do this trip it 2 or 3 days. Well theres two answers for that. One is we are trying so hard to save money for our future! Nick is already halfway through college and right after his graduation we plan of getting married!💗weddings and honeymoons can be expensive! The other reason is that when it comes to things like spending the night together that is something that we are saving for marriage. Its definitely at times really hard for both of us, but we know that it will all be worth it in the end! So excited to do this trip again with him in the future and spend a little more time in each cute coastal town instead of being in such a rush against time!
Hope you are having a good start to this BEAUTIFUL week!
To see more on our little adventure! Check out Nick’s first VLOG! here
xo
OTHER CLOTHES:
Lavender dress from Vici Dolls
Leggings from Gymshark
Sports Bra from Gymshark
Jacket from Romwe
