The plan was to drive down the Oregon coast and see how our four month old daughter did in the car along the way. If she was a champ, we would keep on driving to San Francisco. If she cried too much and we wanted to kill ourselves and each other we would turn around and come home.
The first leg of the drive we drove to a town called Leavenworth, WA - its totally out of the way if you just want to drive along the Oregon coast, but I wanted to visit the German Christmas village I'd heard about. It was November 14th, so not quite close enough to the holiday season to get the full effect of all the festive lights but good enough. It was very sleepy and quiet the night we were passing through. We ate pizza, walked around the town, looked in some tacky souvenir stores and settled in at a brew pub called Stein; and drank from steins. Its a place to bring your parents, was my reaction to the town.
The following day, we drove to Astoria. One of my favourite pre-teen movies is of course the Goonies - so I was stoked to finally visit and boot around looking for the infamous house, jail, and beach where scenes for the movie were filmed. The town of Astoria looked pretty cool, it had some funky coffee shops and antique shops, but the weather was crappy so we motored on to Cannon Beach. I'd like to return to Astoria someday and spend a full day walking aroundIMG_2811.JPG
Our hotel in Cannon Beach was called the Surf Sand Resort and it we couldn't have been any closer to haystack rock - it was defiantly a moment for me, it got me in the feels. The storm of the century ensued that evening and the following morning, there was a break in the clouds and rain and we ventured around walking along the beach and checking out the town.
Dave used to surf in the area years ago so took us to Oswald West. The sun came out just as we arrived and it was so beautiful. We watched the waves and enjoyed the moment.
Izzy was doing so well in the car, sleeping most of the time we were driving so we continued driving along the beautiful coastline. I could post so many photos of all the epic stops along the way. A four hour drive would take us 6-8 hours a day, because of all the stops, antique shops and nursing breaks we would pull of the road for.
Our next evening we splurged and stayed at the historic Benbow Inn. It will now be family tradition; as it was Dave's second time staying there, once with his family when he was a teen. We pulled off the highway so he could show it to me and once we got off the road we decided to stay. We ate in the bar/lounge and sipped complimentary sherry in our room. The hotel has a lot of history and is over a hundred years old. I loved it. Izzy fell asleep on me while we were dining.
The drive through the redwoods is AMAZING and so scenic - and driving into California and over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time - priceless! We totally lucked out with a free place to stay off of Haight Street in an old painted lady-style house. I instantly fell in love with SanFrancisco, it felt so cozy and eclectic and cool. Our house was a 5min walk to Ameoba Records and a rad pinball machine hangout and the best vintage clothing stores I have ever seen; more like museums than stores. Ill defiantly return with Izzy someday, maybe before we go to Burning Man together and stock up on awesome clothes! (that is what I was thinking the entire time)
We spent 5 days walking around through Chinatown, the Castro district, saw the Full house strip of houses, visited the Piers and Wharf. Our favourite spot was Haight Street by far - totally our jam. The records shops, vinyl toy shops, bars, hippie stores, pot shops, street art and people.
The drive home was bittersweet, we missed our cat, but didn't want to leave San Francisco. We only stopped in Portland on the way home and it was American Thanksgiving so literally the city was dead except for the street people and a gyro food truck. We checked out a rad skateboard park under a bridge Dave used to skate at.
Totally recommend the drive to San Fran and taking your time. The little unplanned stops made the trip special. We got some awesome treasures at random antique stores and enjoyed the road trip with our new addition. It was an amazing first family vacation.