Honeymoon Reservations?

Advice to anyone wanting to stay in a lighthouse:  book that part of your trip first.  Because the lighthouse bed & breakfast had limited office hours and no online reservations system, I ended up talking to them last about booking a room...and finding out they were booked on the (week)day we wanted.  I had to reshuffle everything, but we're all set now...

Our brand of travel is pretty relaxed.  There's never a point-to-point itinerary with us.  We just like to pick a town we'd want to check out and try to find unique lodging nearby.  Sometimes we'll come up with a list of activities but part of the adventure is in the exploration.  Anyway, here's what we've got:

Sunday
Portland, OR

We're going to be flying into town pretty late.  We're staying at a pretty interesting hotel (consider this scouting for later vacations), but we're mostly interested in just sleeping.

Lodging:

Edgefield Hotel

Historic landmark with turn of the century decorated European-style guestrooms.

Photo by McD22 (Creative Commons)

Possible Activities:

• Sleep

Monday - Wednesday
Newport, OR

After the whirlwind of the wedding and travel, it's a good idea to just find a place to relax for a few days.  The small town of Newport seems perfect for that, as it offered a uniquely "unplugged" hotel and several activities in the area that struck our fancy.

Lodging:

Sylvia Beach Hotel

A unique hotel with no television, phones or internet.  The rooms are named after authors and the library is purposefully disorganized so that guests may delight in the discovery of a new literary treasure.

Photo By Adam Glasgow (Creative Commons)

Possible Activities:

• Whale Watching
• Oregon Coast Aquarium
• Rent Bikes
• Reading and Relaxing
• ...

Photo by mikebaird (Creative Commons)

Thursday
Yachats, OR

We'll drive down the coast to a haunted lighthouse we'll be spending the night at.  We'll take our time and maybe stop for a picnic on the beach or to see the sea lion caves.  Once there, we'll obviously have to visit the lighthouse's observation area.

Lodging:

Heceta Head Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast

A lightkeeper's cottage that's been turned into a bed & breakfast.  It's also supposed to be haunted.

Photo by NeitherFanboy (Creative Commons)

Possible Activities:

• Picnic on the Beach
• Drive along the Coast
• Visit the Sea Lion Caves
• See the Lighthouse
• ...

Friday

Pacific City, OR

The last full day of our honeymoon, we're going to drive up the coast to Tillamook.  We're planning on spending a "night in" at a little bed and breakfast nearby with a romantic in-room fondue and dinner.

Lodging:

Sandlake Country Inn

Small bed and breakfast near Tillamook that serves breakfast in-suite.

Possible Activities:

• Tour Tillamook Cheese Factory
• In-Room Romantic Dinner
• Drive Along the Coast
• ...

Photo by Wrighteous (Creative Commons)

Saturday

Honeymoon is over (sad face) and we'll be flying home today, hopefully with lots of great memories and plans to return!

It All Started With A Treehouse...

In a bookstore several months ago, I picked up a book about treehouses to page through.  I spent quite some time pouring over it, often pestering Cody, who happened to be deeply engrossed in a Baby Blues comic book, to look at this or that.  One was actually a resort in Oregon.  I love finding unique lodging and thought a treehouse stay sounded awesome.

*****

Since we're doing a honeymoon registry, we figured it would be a good idea to let people know how we'd be spending their money before asking them to contribute.  We started off looking at tropical vacations in exotic countries.  But since we were already flying halfway across the country to the wedding, the extra travel just seemed like too much.  Honestly, the all-inclusive resorts that typical vacationers go for in these locations sound like some kind of hell for my wanderlust.

So we decided to explore our domestic options, instead.  San Francisco was a major contender.  However, considering that we will have just tied the knot, entertained lots of family and friends, and traveled a couple thousand miles...well, the fast pace of a large city didn't sound quite so appealing.

And then there was the treehouse idea.  We did some research and decided that Oregon sounded like fun, even though we wouldn't likely be able to stay at the treehouse on this vacation.  But, other than for competitions, neither of us had ever been to Oregon before.  That seemed like a good reason to go.

So, for our honeymoon, we'll...

• ...fly to Portland, Oregon from the wedding.
• ...rent a car and drive down the coast.
• ...stay in a couple of bed & breakfasts, including a haunted lighthouse.
• ...explore the flavors and oddities of the Oregon coast.
• ...relax and take some time to get used to the idea of being married...yeah, wow.

Heceta Head Lighthouse (Photo by S x 2 - Creative Commons License)