We have enjoyed visiting the many towns along the Oregon coast so much that we decided to take a 4 day trip and visit as many of them as possible. I went through Pinterest and found TONS of stuff to do with kids on the coast, then I chose what I thought my kids would enjoy the most. Our 16 year old daughter, 11year old daughter and 3 year old son had an absolute blast and I couldn’t believe how much we got to see in such a short time. We started in Southern Oregon and headed North along the Pacific Coast Highway.
I have heard about the Treesort many times located in Cave Junction. It has been featured in several travel and family magazines. Six years ago I looked up the web site and had been put off by how far out you have to book a stay and how expensive it is. Finally I decided It was something my kids would always remember and we would just go for one night. Im so glad we went because we all loved it, but Im also glad we only stayed ONE night. If you go here you need to visit the Oregon Caves, we have been there before and loved it, but skipped it this time. You will also want to eat at Taylor’s Sausage. If you can get past all the glass counters full of raw meat their cooked food is amazing!
There are several tree houses you can choose from. Some have full bathrooms, others do not. Some are only 12 feet off the ground and others are 47 feet off the ground with rope bridges to get to the entrance. They are all furnished comfortably and have fun quirky architecture and windows. You can check out the Treesort website here.
The next day we drove to Bandon, probably my favorite city on the coast. They have great beaches, quaint shopping and lots to do with kids.
While shopping we discovered a store/museum called Washed Ashore. This was so fascinating my kids did not want to leave. The entire gallery is filled with items made from plastic pulled from the sea! Click here for a link to their web site.
Another must stop in Bandon is Face Rock Creamery. Great food, great ice cream and tons of cheese and cheese curd samples. My kids LOVE This place.
Most of our time we spent at the beach. We stayed at the Best Western Inn at Face Rock. This was a perfect hotel for kids. heated pool, breakfast and an easy walk to the beach. Our favorite thing to do here was explore the tide pools around the base of some of the large rocks.
The next morning we headed up to the Sea Lion Caves in Florence. My three year old boy did not want to leave. I though it was super cool and loved all the sea lion sounds. There is a long walk down to the elevator, but we got to see a whale breach which was awesome!!!
We spent the night at Inn at Arch Rock in Depoe Bay. I was a little worried to stay here because the hotel is on the edge of a cliff and i have a little boy who likes to run, but we actually loved this hotel. Our room was so nice and our balcony had such a great view we did not want to leave. The room even had a great pair of binoculars for my whale loving daughter to clock in some whale watching.
We drove to Lincoln city to do the “Finders Keepers” glass ball hunt. You can read about it here. We were not lucky enough to find a float, but we had fun trying.
Our next stop was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. My friends all raved about how amazing this aquarium was, my family all loved it but when all was said and done it was very expensive and much smaller then we expected. Having said that I would still go back.
After the aquarium we drove up to Tillamook to visit the Cheese factory, take a tour and have dinner. The tour is self guided and not that long, but the grilled cheese sandwiches alone were worth the visit! We also stopped and visited with the Tillamook cows a couple of blocks away. We could drive right up to them since they were eating and roll down our windows. We love black and white moo moos!
After Dinner we drove to Portland and spent the night. In the morning we went to OMSI Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It was the weekend so the place was packed but still tons of fun. I was really impressed with their exhibits they had something for all ages so all of us were entertained. Our son especially loved the toddler room.
Driving back down south we stopped at the Wooden Shoe Festival for their Tulip Festival. I have never seen so many tulips in my life. It was absolutley breathtaking!!!
~The Country Chick
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