Road Trip to Seattle & Back

I think I mentioned a while ago that Nick and I were planning to drive up to Seattle over the President’s Day weekend (Family Day weekend for those back home). Well, we did it, and survived, and we even had an amazing amount of fun despite being in a car less than a foot away from eachother for at least 7 hours a day. Honestly, I was worried I would not enjoy a road trip (it was my first), but it was SO much fun and I’d definitely do a long drive like that again!

This was our planned round-trip route up the coast along highway 1 on the way there, stopping twice along the way, and then a loooong day of driving home along the I-5 with no stops except for gas & pee breaks (and one unplanned speeding ticket):

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Oakland+Rd&daddr=37.46157,-122.142558+to:37.9105197,-122.658328+to:38.2039883,-122.9224924+to:38.3258366,-123.03978+to:38921+Hwy+1,+Westport,+CA+to:811+SW+12th+St,+Newport,+OR+to:44.7853353,-124.071636+to:45.235514,-123.9690231+to:45.6587803,-123.9293731+to:45.7538252,-123.9635923+to:I-5+N+to:E+Hedding+St&geocode=FfwOOgId0he8-A%3BFUKeOwIdokC4-CkVsScAb7uPgDE5_yIxOWbD5w%3BFfd3QgId6GGw-CmbKFFwlpOFgDFKl33rI82WdQ%3BFVTyRgIdBFqs-CmNfT_U6tKFgDFLenY9GtaqOw%3BFUzOSAId3I-q-CkXdF2XYyiEgDECuKu1mP0m8g%3BFQDRXAIdxjKf-ClttYoyONOBgDHXl0vlNgWoUg%3BFXb4qAIdWgib-Cn3lleqsNfBVDEU8kesJN-NpA%3BFbdeqwIdLNGa-CkXx-hjDX3qVDG2A0bQNJnvyg%3BFTo9sgIdAWKc-ClDf1_6U9zqVDFUFJVv5mThhQ%3BFZyyuAId4_yc-CkDv11bsMuUVDGWP1XfOqxk0g%3BFeElugIdOHec-Cn91Luf8raUVDH3jnEeEXtUBA%3BFdgF2QIdRpS1-A%3BFfwOOgId0he8-A&sll=47.69405,-122.294998&sspn=0.19989,0.445976&hl=en&mra=dme&mrsp=11&sz=12&via=1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=43.866218,-121.860352&spn=15.203928,28.125&z=5&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

We left San Jose around 2pm on Wednesday Feb 13, and drove up across the Golden Gate bridge, through Sausalito, and then out to the coast. After a quick nip through the hills, we were treated to some absolutely stunning views of the Pacific Ocean – just a hint of the hours and hours of amazing scenery ahead of us.

I don’t know how I’ll ever live anywhere without the ocean ever again – I REALLY love the waves crashing against the rocks.

We stopped in tiny Westport (population: about 30) for the night at the Westport Hotel. A half-bottle of wine was waiting in our room along with some delicious little chocolates and the sound of the ocean, which was just across the street from the B&B. There was no cell phone service, no bars, no restaurants (scones & coffee were outside our door when we woke up, though!)…and the only gas station for 50 miles was an old-time pump with gas at $5 a gallon (yes, we filled up – the tank only had about 30 miles left in it!).

After finishing our scones and filling up the car, it was off on the second leg of our trip up to Newport, Oregon. We cut inland after Westport for a bit and drove through a magnificent forest, where we were delayed for about 45 minutes while a tree was being removed from the road. We chatted with the woman who was directing traffic (we were the only traffic), who told us a number of great stories and conspiracy theories about the area – like why there was no cell phone service and a lot of mysterious trucks going in and out of the hills.

Also north of Westport, we drove through a giant Redwood tree – barely – guess the tunnel was made for compact cars – and cut back out to the coast, where we were treated again to absolutely stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

We arrived in Newport OR just in time for Valentine’s Day dinner at a local seafood restaurant (and I do mean local) – Local Ocean Seafoods. It was FANTASTIC. We ordered a bunch of different small plates and a bottle of Chardonnay, and very much enjoyed ourselves. And when we got back to our B&B, the Lightkeeper’s Inn, a delicious dessert, homemade by the owner, was awaiting us in our room!

The next morning, we woke up with the sun. Here’s the view of the Newport harbour at sunrise from our room at the B&B:

After a delicious breakfast of seafood benedict, fresh fruit, and coffee, we were off for the last leg of our journey from Newport to Seattle! We were mostly done with the coast at this point, but the scenery was still beautiful as we drove through Oregon and approached Seattle. We were so lucky with the weather on this trip – normally in mid-February it would be raining, or at the very least, cloudy and cold – but we were actually able to put the top down on the car a few times!  

Once in Seattle, it was time for a very special birthday party of a very special little man:

After a wonderful weekend spent with close friends, eating cake, and playing board & card games, we got back in the car and drove all the way home in just one day, with all kinds of different scenery on the way home. That was one of our favourite things about this trip, I think – we saw almost every type of scenery you can imagine. Ocean, forests, mountains, cities, small towns, and farmland…every time you looked there was something new to see.

Here are some shots from our trip home through three states on I-5S, including SNOW!!!!!! in the mountains (I have acclimated to California so well that the sight of snow had me taking multiple photos).

And that is the end to our road trip recap! Thanks for reading!