We were in the home stretch, with a target date to be back in the Bay Area but flexibility on how to get there. We decided that traveling south down the entire Oregon Coast would be something beautiful and new, so we headed west out of Portland toward Astoria, the northernmost point on the coast.

We stopped in Astoria at Fort George Brewery for lunch. The town was cute, and due to our Sunday visit was also packed with tourists –  lots of folks arriving as others headed home. The Brewery was one of our favorite restaurants on the trip – but we tend to love a place with craft beers, fresh salads and great pizza.

The drive south was very slow as we competed for space on the narrow stretches of coastal road. It took us until about 6:00p to find a place to camp – the Sea and Sand RV Park in Depoe Bay, Oregon. The spot we got at that late hour was less than ideal, at the top of a long steep hill leading to the beach, heavily wooded and about 50 yards from the freeway. Fortunately there was a beachfront slot available the next day, and although it meant breaking and setting camp again, it gave us a prime spot to see and hear the Pacific Ocean.

That morning I made pancakes for the boys to motivate them for the coach relo. The move was only a couple hundred yards, but it was down a steep drive and into a really narrow spot. I had to put the truck’s front right wheel about six inches from a twenty foot drop-off to line it up, but we wedged in without issue. We worked on some school lessons – Angela taught Asher writing and grammar while I worked with Ronan on grammar and art – and helped them craft their school project proposals for our Europe travels. Angela and the boys took Timber down to the beach while I made homemade spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, and we hunkered down in the cool and foggy weather – a nice change after several weeks of 95+ degrees.

The next morning we headed further south. Overall, the coastal drive was a bit disappointing, likely due to our high expectations and the fact that much of our time was spent in awful traffic that detracted from the beautiful scenery.  That said, it is a testament to Oregon’s superior road planning and management that the coastal highway is set back from the ocean, making the roads better quality and the beaches less trod upon.

We pulled out briefly at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, grabbed Wendy’s in some little touristy town, and finally crossed back into California. We hadn’t been in our home state for nearly two months. Angela worked the phones in search of a campground with decent wi-fi and eventually found the Crescent City KOA, which had open only one spot for one night. While Mark ran into town to buy firewood and dinner, the boys played in an enormous redwood tree stump at our campsite.