Please help me decide - Oregon or Canada?

[mermaidwannabe]

I posted about going to Banff/Calgary/Jasper a month ago and received several glowing responses. My problem is we live right next to the Rockies in Montana and we do the camping/hiking thing in the summers already. For the same amount of money (since we were going to camp part of the time) we could go back to the Newport/Lincoln City, Oregon area where there would be a beach, albeit a cold one! My three DDs are 10, 7 and 4, and I'm not sure if they would be sick and tired of driving so much through Canada and doing another hike and seeing another lake. Any opinions? I'm torn!

 

[Chickysmom]

Great shopping there and the Newport Aquarium is neat!

You could also come further south and got through Bandon and even Brookings. The further south you go the nicer it seems to get. Brookings is considered th "Banana Belt". Chetco River dumps out to the ocean in Brookings too and just a little upriver is super warm!

 

[Chickysmom]

You could also take a Mail Boat run up the Rogue River from Gold Beach...SUPER FUN!!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Anything warm would be great since my kids are all about swimming! Thanks for the info!

 

[GIGI&MIMI]

The best state parks on the OR coast are:
Ft. Stevens between Astoria and Seaside. Lots of paved bike trails, historical sites, lake and ocean access.
Honeyman south of Florence. Dunes, lake, and ocean.
Sunset Bay south of Coos Bay. Beautiful protected ocean "bay" for safe ocean swimming.
They all have great Jr. Ranger programs during the summer and all have yurts ($40-60 nt.) in case you don't want to ruff it.
For hotel stays I like the smaller coastal towns of Manzinita, Rockaway, and Yachats. Less people and better beaches.
We moved from W.Montana and our kids do great on the drive if we stopped every 2.5 hours. I would take us 9-10 hrs. to the coast give or take.
The weather is a little more predictable in July-Aug., but usually upper 60-70's in summer.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

The best state parks on the OR coast are:
Ft. Stevens between Astoria and Seaside. Lots of paved bike trails, historical sites, lake and ocean access.
Honeyman south of Florence. Dunes, lake, and ocean.
Sunset Bay south of Coos Bay. Beautiful protected ocean "bay" for safe ocean swimming.
They all have great Jr. Ranger programs during the summer and all have yurts ($40-60 nt.) in case you don't want to ruff it.
For hotel stays I like the smaller coastal towns of Manzinita, Rockaway, and Yachats. Less people and better beaches.
We moved from W.Montana and our kids do great on the drive if we stopped every 2.5 hours. I would take us 9-10 hrs. to the coast give or take.
The weather is a little more predictable in July-Aug., but usually upper 60-70's in summer.

I will definitely check out those areas, and those yurts could be fun and economical for part of it if we decide to go that route. It would be less driving for sure if we go to Oregon. I live in Bozeman and am just curious if you miss living here?

 

[GIGI&MIMI]

Umm, No. I'm not a cold weather person. My husband and daughter love the snow, but I'm a wimp, 40 now seems freezing cold. It's a beautiful place and we had a great time living there, but were glad to be back closer to our families. We on the other hand, are headed to BC and back down through Glacier this summer. My daughter can't wait to get back to the Museum of the Rockies for the dinos.

 

[Stein]

I would go for the ocean, but I am an ocean guy. Ft Stevens is great, I go there in the fall to fish and stay at the KOA. They have Kamping Kabins that make "camping" pretty easy.

I lived in Bozo for 6 years and miss the lifestyle, but love being near the salt.

 

[tink2dw]

All these are great suggestions, but a couple of my favorites were missed!

Seaside with it's Promenade and walkway right on the Beach and there are some fun shops, too. The Dollar Store there is fabulous!! It has great scrapbooking supplies!

Just South of Seaside is Cannon Beach it is a little more up scale and more artsy, but a very good Bakery. The Beach has Haystack Rock National Park with wonderful tide pools to explore when the tide is out. You can see star fish, and other sea creatures.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

I love the ocean too. Thank goodness my grandparents take pity on me and fly me to visit them in Carmel for a few days each year! Thanks for the great camping sites, but I'm not sure we'd camp if we went there. I've heard you can get some motel rooms right on the ocean for a pretty fair price. This morning in the car I asked the kids whether they'd rather camp, hike and see beautiful mountains and lakes or go to the ocean even though it would be too cold for them to swim in it. They practically screamed ocean. It seems our summer trip is quickly changing.

Thank you to the person who told me about the tide pools!! My oldest daughter remembers when we visited Lincoln City and she saw a starfish and that was when she was 5 (four years ago). Looks like it's Oregon! Thanks to the helpful replies! If there are other activities that are a must, please let me know as my DH needs something to do each day or every other as he is not a relaxing kind of guy. Also, if anyone knows of moderately priced motels or condos, I'd sure appreciate it!

Oh and to the person going to BC and then to Glacier: if you stay in or near Kalispell, there is a "city pool" there now that has a regular pool, two small waterslides, a lazy river and then this incredible fountain area...all for something like $6pp. I can get you the name of it. It's not huge or incredible, but my girls wanted that to be part of our trip. Also, you've probably been to Glacier and I don't know the ages of your kids but there is a really easy "hike" (really a walk on a boardwalk) on The Trail of The Cedars that takes you to some falls. My DD3 did it last year. You walk through the shaded trail next to a stream through these big beautiful cedars. I can get you more info on that too if you want.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

GIGI & MIMI - I almost forgot ( and again, forgive me if you already know all of this), but in Apgar (right at the west entrance of Glacier), there is a little restaurant there that has pretty good burgers. Then we get a huckleberry ice cream from the place right next to it and walk down to Lake McDonald to eat them. The girls have a ball throwing rocks into the water and even though it's FREEZING, they've waded in a few times.