FioreBird's Travel Series: OREGON
Fiore’s Travel Series Part I: OREGON
“You only live once” is what I hear a lot of these days, and I like to embrace that life motto. I recommend everyone to travel if you have the money and time to do so. It teaches you so much about norms, culture, identification, and really can help you to relax when you need a vacation, or to party it up… depending on what your travel goals and needs entail. I am going to make this travel commentary a series, so press the follow button if you would like to see more.
The following includes one of my favorite travel destinations, OREGON, United States. It will include the best places to visit there, travel tips, and really bad ass photography from the area (sourced from me, unless otherwise noted)… And for the traveler who wants to relax, party, adventure and explore, Oregon is one to visit if you’re looking to hit all the above.
Lincoln City, Oregon – United States
Lincoln City is a hidden gem. I especially recommend flying into Portland and driving the two and half hours down to the coastal town.
… But first, don’t forget to drive 20 minutes to check out the Columbia River Gorge, it is one of the best parts of Oregon. Make sure to spend a day here, bring some food to picnic and take lots of pictures.
[Columbia Gorge, Portland, Oregon]
… Ok back to the drive to Lincoln City. The drive to Lincoln City from Portland is a steady decline to the Pacific ocean and looks surreal as you’re surrounded by leprechauns, elves, greenery, and lush forest (No, but really, the forest looks so unreal). The whole time driving in Oregon, I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing, the shades of green, and lushness of the trees made me feel like I was in some childhood storybook…
Lincoln City, Oregon The art and folk music seems to be plentiful here. Roadhouse 101 in Lincoln City, features some really good local talent on the weekends, and the bartenders seriously hook you up on the drinks... The restaurant Kyllo's has some of the best seafood, and clam chowder, but costs a little bit more than some of the other area eateries. It’s worth spending the money on though.
The hotel was booked through Airbnb and was ONLY $75 a night through Sea Gypsy Rentals ($). There was an older couple who lived in one of these condos below us who were locals. They were very sweet to us, and we shared many glasses of wine with them.
Here are some pictures of the ocean in Lincoln City, right out from our room.
[Lincoln City, Oregon]
[Lincoln City, Oregon]
[Lincoln City, Oregon]
Pacific City, just twenty minutes north up the coast is also beautiful to visit with some weird rock formations along the coastal shoreline.
[Pacific City, Oregon]
[Pacific City, Oregon].
If you have time, make sure to just do some driving on Highway 101. The Whale Cove Habitat Refuge is said to be an area where whales hangout (not Steemit whales, but real ones). I didn’t see any, but the ocean was picturesque here and had brighter shades of blue and green.
[Whale Refuge Area, Oregon]
[Whale Refuge Area, Oregon]
Other Highway 101 pictures:
[Highway 101, Oregon]
[Highway 101, Oregon]
[Highway 101, Oregon]
[Highway 101, Oregon]
OREGON RESTAURANTS AND SHOPS MUST SEE’S
• Lincoln City Local gift shops:
o Red Cock Gifts
o Reads Homemade Saltwater Taffey
• Local coffee: Try everything, their coffee actually works~! Coffee shops are abundant and many shops have drive thru’s. We literally did this trip in five days, with five hours of sleep every night. The coffee really helped and seemed stronger than the coffee you can buy in the store. It made me wonder if they were growing coffee beans somewhere here... and that wouldn't surprise me with the valley and mountainous areas all around. Wineries are also very popular in Oregon.
• Devils Lake - Lincoln City, Oregon
• Kyllo’s Restaurant ($$) - plan on spending a little more, try the wine, seafood plates, and clam chowder.
• Roadhouse 101 ($) - Lincoln City, Oregon - make sure to visit for the live music on the weekends, there is lots of fun and dancing, and good ‘foo foo’ drinks.
• Tidepool Pub and Pool ($) - Depoe Bay, Oregon, they have great homemade pizza!
• Sportsman's Pub and Grub ($) - Pacific City, Oregon, this place has a homey feel, and is great to catch a quick bite to eat. Try the fried seafood.
AND MAKE SURE TO TRY the local brand of beer, it is quite tasty - Deschute's Mirror Pond Pale Ale. There are others available if you don't like a pale ale, but this was one of the best.
See a picture of it here: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/30-of-the-best-oregon-beers.html.
Until next time my friends....
Other travel destination series to include and to be continued
The Grand Canyon, Arizona
Madeline Island, Apostle Islands, Bayfield Wisconsin
Duluth/Superior, Wisconsin Point, The North Shore
The Blue Dragonfly Inn - Cimarron, New Mexico
Totagatac Flowage - Minong, Wisconsin
Sliding Rock National Park - Sedona, Arizona
Long Beach, California
Venice, California
Santa Monica, California
Cozumel, Mexico
P. S. Don't forget to follow my account if you're interested in seeing more travel tips, and/or art, and photography series @fiorebird.
Great photos :)
Great post & photos! I love Oregon, it's my favourite state in the US. Living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, it's a fairly short trip to get down there... must return soon!
@keithboone thank you! I love your photography too by the way. Yes, Oregon is an amazing place! I hope you get to visit some of these places in your next venture, I especially recommend the Gorge too.
Oh, that's nice of you to say :) I've been to the Gorge in 2014, saw many of those waterfalls... I understand a bad fire has been through the area. How bad was the damage? I saw on TV that Multnomah was largely intact?
@keithboone I didn't hear about this until you mentioned something. So big thanks for sharing. I found some good content on the web stating 100% containment as of Nov 30, 2017. At first I was really sad to hear about this, but this article and video helped, the video is kind of cool too as it talks about the necessity of fire in forests, and shows the damaged and undamaged areas. It still looks beautiful, but definitely will be different having recent burn damage. Thank you again for sharing and hopefully you find the following links helpful too. The video was really cool. http://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/index.ssf/2017/10/new_map_shows_areas_that_fared.html
That was good to see, thanks for sharing. There were so many forest fires last year, it seemed like the entire west coast was burning. We had very bad air conditions and spectacular red sunsets as a result. It's good to hear how quickly nature recovers. I drove through some badly burned areas in Jasper Nat'l Park, Alberta in 2016. Some areas looked grim, frankly not as "nice" as the footage from the helicopter. Still, that video left me feeling more hopeful :)
@keithboone yeah me too, feeling hopeful as well. Fires can be very devastating, especially to places like the Gorge or any national park. It's scary to hear about and to see. It makes me feel for the residents too that live near those areas. Truth is those fires change the landscape, and even though it's nature's course or cycle, it's still a big change for the areas impacted...and also a grief to those who love the areas.
Your photographs are beautiful! The peninsula in the first one looks like a dragon on my phone! I plan to read the rest of your Tao posts. You make me think. Thank you!
@karenps I am happy to hear that my post inspires you to think. Thinking is critical when so much is in front of our eyes day to day. Grateful. Thank you. Namaste.
OMG.... What a beautiful nature you capture by camera, nice collection
@riazrahman thank you, I am glad you like it. I'm going to post more, this is just the beginning :)
I will always with u for few good post, Thank u too @fiorebird
Hehe, love to find my favourite destination here too! ❤️ By the way - Russian Khabarovsk I've chosen to write of this time is Portland's sister-city ☺️
@inspirations that's so cool! I will definitely check it out and follow you. I didn't know of Portlands sister city, I am excited to see😊
Nice pictures! I want to go there! I didn't see the leprechauns. Are they nice ones? 🎃
@steemseph the leprechauns are green and fabulous hehe. Let me know if you have any other questions about it. And Oregon truly is a must see😊
Ok, I got a question... did you go swimming? If so, where? If not, were you ever tempered and where?
Yes, in Lincoln City, although I didn't go under the water at the time, I was too scared, and the waves were too big at the time hah... Now I live near the ocean, funny randomness there 😊
A lot of the Columbia Gorge got burned :(
@nomadicsoul I found out about that news from Keith in the comments above and through the creation of this article. Initially, I was very saddened by the news. Take a peek at the video I posted above, in response to him. It made me feel more hopeful. Its wierd, the recent fires make me want to see it again sooner, to pay tribute to the area, and to do another post on
it... Maybe the topic would be how necessary balance is in it all. Our earth has a natural way of putting everything in to balance. Although hopeful, I'm still sad about this area being burned. Thanks for sharing.