Everyone’s ideal honeymoon is likely different when you think about what the average person might want to sight-see or do for activities. Our dream honeymoon location, Greece, has been a place we have dreamt about for years. It was slated to be the trip of a lifetime. Sadly, the COVID pandemic had other plans. Thus we had to pivot to find a way to still celebrate our new marriage. My husband loves the west coast and has always dreamt of moving to California. Also, I hadn’t been to Oregon or Nevada, so I game-planned that we could make a 2-week west coast road trip. I planned it with our current time off and still be within the original budget we originally set aside.  With a little bit of free-wheeling spirit, I threw this trip together quickly. We were off to the races after a wonderful wedding with family and friends in Atlanta!

Day 1: Portland

Starting our trip, we flew into Portland, Oregon. We chose to take a mid afternoon flight the day after our wedding. This was the best decision because it gave us time to get packed and relax briefly before heading out. I am SO thankful we did this instead of leaving right in the morning! We stayed at a very cute and quaint Airbnb in Portland’s Piedmont neighborhood. This AirBnB was also conveniently located as a quick 20 minute drive from the airport. Our hosts were also fantastic and left us with a congratulatory bottle of wine and gourmet chocolates.

Since we arrived post dinner time, we decided to explore the neighborhood by walking around to locate some potential food options. We eventually ended up going to the KPub Grill to order some takeout, where we got an order of dumplings as an appetizer, the yakisoba noodles and the Yang-nyum chicken as entrees. The entrees came with a salad, rice and a set of dumplings. It was excellent food and value together as our first dinner of the trip!

Day 2: Portland

For Day 2, we wanted to focus on exploring the greater city area! Portland was very different during the time we came due to not only the pandemic. This was also due to social unrest stemming from current events at the time. In Portland’s downtown area, we explored for a fair bit. Unfortunately most venues and shops were boarded up to protect their property.

Forest Park

We decided to pivot and head over to Forest Park. Parking at the Upper Macleay Trail parking lot, we descended down into the forest, where we hiked past the Witch’s Castle all the way down to Lower Macleay Park. This area was a great little escape deep within the heart of the city with beautiful trees all around and a creek that runs adjacent to the trail. The trail’s length was 1.4 miles and it took us about 30 minutes to complete; all in all, Forest Park is a very doable trail regardless of your athletic ability.

Downtown Portland

We then headed back towards downtown because I wanted to try Portland staple Voodoo Donuts! I only waited in line for about 10 minutes at the Old Town location. I ordered the fruit pebbles and cookies & cream donuts – very solid, although I recommend exploring Voodoo’s broad menu selection!.

We then discovered the Lau Su Chinese Garden a few blocks away and decided to check it out. This attraction wasn’t crazy expensive to visit and was relatively short. Visitors being able to finish seeing everything in about 30 . The gardens and architecture were beautiful to see, but I do wish there had been a little more historical signage to learn from. Overall, Lau Su’s isn’t a must see when you visit Portland, but it is a nice option for passing the time.

Having some downtime before we met friends local to the area for dinner, we then hopped over to Breakside Brewery, which has great drinks and outdoor seating (which made for the perfect dog-watching location). Finally, we ended our day having an outdoor dinner at City Overlook Park with a friend I studied abroad with back in 2013. To emulate our evening, park on North Freemont Street and go to the nearby picnic tables for excellent views of greater Portland and the river. We ordered take out from Pour Que No, a local Mexican restaurant – talk about awesome fish and carnitas tacos!

Day 3: Portland to Eugene via Astoria

Downtown Astoria

On Day 3 we changed up our plans at the last minute. Originally, Drake and I were supposed to go east then south towards Mt. Hood, but my husband spoke to some co-workers who recommended going up towards Astoria and then south towards Eugene instead. We left early around 7AM and arrived in Astoria after driving a little under 2 hours. We snagged some delicious bagels for breakfast at Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro and then headed over to explore the Columbia River Maritime Museum. The museum was very informative and definitely worth the price of admission. You will learn about the Coast Guard’s operations  in coastal Oregon, the history of the river and the region’s future in a very interactive way. After driving through the quaint neighborhoods of Astoria, we continued our journey south.

Cannon Beach

After another hour of driving, we arrived in downtown Cannon Beach and grabbed an early lunch at Tom’s Fish and Chips, consisting of excellent fish and chips as well as perfectly made clam chowder. Cannon Beach’s downtown area is filled with local shops to explored but we were more excited to see the beach and the famous Haystack Rock. Parking is somewhat scarce, but there are public parking spots on W Chisana St. and W. Susitna Street near the Ocean Lodge. We walked along the beach for over an hour and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the main viewpoints, which offer more beautiful scenery and the chance to see small aquatic ecosystems that exist within the rocks as well!

Moving on from Cannon Beach, we kept driving down the 101 and stopped at Neahkahnie Viewpoint which also has fantastic coastal views. If we had found some extra time in the schedule, I would have loved to visit Tillamook Creamery, where they offer a self guided tour and you can snag both delicious cheeses and ice cream! . Note, you do not need to purchase a ticket ahead of time. Due to us previously booking a hotel in Eugene, we headed back inland from the coast. For any future trip, I would highly recommend staying somewhere along the 101 in Florence.

Downtown Eugene

In Eugene, we were craving Japanese food and grabbed it with an early dinner at Izakaya Meiji! I ordered the organic miso soup as an appetizer and a fried chicken teriyaki burger for my entree, with the latter being a wonderful main course (although I would recommend ordering with less coleslaw) As a refreshment, I ordered a lava salt margarita which was excellent alongside my food. We then spent the night at the Home2 Suites in Eugene, which was very hospitable and made for a great mid-road trip rest stop.

Day 4: Eugene to Eureka

Dune Bugging on Oregon Coast

The next day, we got up bright and early to head back towards the coast for a stop at Spinreel Dune Buggy Rentals. They weren’t offering guided tours when we went, so we decided to rent our own Polaris vehicle and do some exploring. We rented the two-seater RZR-S 900 for 2 hours and it was 100% worth the investment! We arrived at 9AM but didn’t officially get started until 9:30 AM due to some delays in checking in and a training session. In our 2 hours, we drove up and down the beach and saw some stunning wildlife! We then came back and traversed some really impressive dunes for the remainder of our reservation. My husband drove the whole time and I am so thankful because it for sure gives you an adrenaline rush! The property is huge and you could spend many more hours exploring, but 2 hours was the perfect amount of time for us to both efficiently explore nature and get some off-roading in.

Cape Argo and Sunset Bay State Park

Hopping back on the 101, we headed south for about an hour to Cape Argo State Park and Sunset Bay State Park. At Cape Argo , there were stunning views of both the North and South Cove. Sunset Bay seemed more family friendly, with a cute beach area that lends itself to family gatherings or picnics. Afterwards, we decided to head south in search of some delicious seafood. Drake and I stopped in Bandon and grabbed lunch at Tony’s Crab Shack, where I ordered the crab sandwich and a half dozen of the oysters. The wait time was no more than 15 minutes and it was entirely fresh befitting Bandon’s coastal town status!

Port Orford State Park

Heading another hour south, we stopped at Port Orford State Park. Port Orford has some fantastic hiking trails with amazing views of the coast. From the parking lot, we went down the Headland trail and then came back up towards Nellies Cove Trail. We spent around 30 minutes taking in the fantastic views and reading signage to understand more about the history of Port Orford. The park has a museum on site but it was closed due to COVID at the time of our visit.

Enderts Beach

Afterwards, we continued down the 101. It keeps you hugged along the coast for some excellent views of the Pacific Northwest. About 2 hours later, we crossed into northern California. Our first stop in the state, Enderts Beach. For directions, you will proceed down a flat trail about three quarters of a mile. Then heading down the hill to a beautiful sandy beach area. It was a cute stop, but not a must visit on our trip. Eventually it was getting pretty late into our day, so we headed straight to our AirBnB. If we had the time, I would have also loved to visit Fern Canyon, Redwood National Park, and Patrick’s Point State Park!

In Eureka we stayed at a lovely AirBnB and grabbed some delicious Hibachi takeout from Bayfront Restaurant to fill some seasonal seafood and sushi cravings. Make sure to call in and order since Bayfront doesn’t have a direct online website to order from!

Day 5: Eureka to Sonoma

We explored downtown Eureka before heading out to Sonoma. Eureka’s old town area is super cute and I loved driving up and down the neighborhood streets. They are filled with the beautiful historical homes. We headed south for about 3 hours and arrived at our first stop for the day, Glass Beach. Glass Beach has incredibly unique sand, rock formations and tide pools. This is a very popular stop and we spent about 30 minutes exploring the location, which I highly recommend. A quick 30 minute drive south, we arrived at the Point Mendocino Trail. The full trail is 4 miles in total, but we hopped out near Hesser Drive and popped over to see Portuguese Beach. 

In search of both food and some relaxation time, we then headed south towards our hotel. Around 4PM after a quick pit stop at In N’ Out, we made it to The Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa. We were able to check in early to our room. We spent the rest of the evening lounging around the pool area. This was very nice and perfect after several days of continuous travel. The Flamingo Hotel was a fantastic place to stay and we loved the Hotels’ mid century modern decoration style!  Management was completing some renovations during our stay. The hotel most likely looks even grander now than during our visit!

Day 6: Sonoma Wineries

Today was one of the days I was looking forward to the most on our trip! We visited Napa Valley back in 2018 and knew we had to explore Sonoma so we could compare and contrast the differences in each valley. In the morning, we grabbed an amazing breakfast at Hank’s Creekside Restaurant. Their cream cheese omelet was very sizable and came with delicious hash browns and a biscuit.

We picked 4 wineries to visit today and if I had to go back, I think I would revise our schedule to spend more time at 3 wineries instead and help maximize time well spent in Sonoma! .

Winery #1: Paradise Ridge Winery

This winery was a fantastic start to our day! Paradise Ridge set us up with a private tasting on their outdoor patio, which provides a great view of Sonoma Valley. Five wines were provided and paired with an excellent charcuterie plate. We fell in love with the red wine options from this area and ended up buying a bottle to take home for a friend. Our host Scott was fantastic about informing us about each wine and the areas that they originated from. After our tasting, we explored the estate area which contains a large outdoor art gallery!l. Cost: $35 per person for 5 wines

Winery #2: Ledson Winery

Our second winery of the day, Ledson Winery, was situated on one of the most beautiful estates I’ve ever been to! Sadly the indoor space was closed due to COVID. Wee had a lovely table outside in a very nice shaded garden area. Our host was fantastic and well-informed. Although this was more of a regular winery experience given we were not on a private tasting like at Paradise Ridge. Ledson Winery has delicious white wines, which can be for slightly more expensive prices than Paradise with both basic and select tasting packages. We shared each between the two of us and we didn’t notice a huge difference. I definitely would chose the basic package if you visit.  Many small groups of people were here to celebrate life events and hang out. I think is a testament to Ledson’s excellent outdoor area. Cost: $30 for the basic tasting and $50 for the select tasting

Winery #3: St. Francis Tasting Room

I had heard fantastic things about St. Francis Winery and this location did not disappoint. St. Francis is on the more expensive side because there is a food pairing with it. Although the small food served as an excellent compliment to the wines St. Francis has available. St. Francis served us 5 wines with 4 items of food to eat alongside the wine selection. The port dessert wine was my personal favorite along with the rosé. We had a lovely table outside in the courtyard, which made our experience even more special. This winery was not as crowded as Ledson, but also not as secluded as Paradise Ridge. Cost: $60 per person

Winery #4: Ty Caton Tasting Room

Ty Caton was a little different since it was just a tasting room and thus more urban in nature. As mentioned before, this last winery was a lot to absorb since we had already been to three beforehand. Although they had some of the best hospitality! Ty Caton is also very affordable at only $20 for 5 wines. Our host Jennifer was incredibly nice and gave us our tastings for free for our honeymoon, so we made sure to give her a large tip as compensation.

After finishing up at Ty Canton,  we had a long 4 hour drive to Reno. This was one of the hardest days after being outside and tasting wine all day. This made our late evening into nighttime drive fairly exhausting. We chose to go to Reno because we wanted to go to a casino and experience gambling for the first time! However, when we arrived at Peppermill Resort and Casino it was a madhouse. The check-in line was over 40 people long; luckily, we identified a mobile check-in option that allowed us to quickly get situated.

With the line being incredibly long and so many people being in the casino, we were too overwhelmed and uncomfortable to go down to the casino floor and thus decided to retire for the night. The Peppermill upgraded us to a suite, which although spacious felt a bit dated in terms of decor and amenities (such as a hot tub, which although impressive did not look particularly sanitary). The next morning, housekeeping knocked on our door 2 times before 9AM although check-in was not until 11AM. This felt a bit unprofessional and we were quick to leave the Peppermill behind in favor of our next stop, Lake Tahoe.

Day 7: Lake Tahoe

One of the primary reasons we decided to stay in Reno and venture away from the coastal highway system was that I wanted to check Nevada off my list of states to visit!! We have already visited San Francisco in the past, so this seemed like a perfect detour for us. If you haven’t visited San Francisco yet, I would highly recommend substituting this day and taking in everything the Bay Area has to offer!

North Lake Tahoe

We arrived at Lake Tahoe around 10:30 in the morning. All of the public beaches are on the California side of Lake Tahoe and it gets busy quickly! I meant to reserve and rent a kayak & paddle board before we arrived on our trip but it slipped my mind, so I recommend making a reservation at least a month in advance. We rented from Tahoe Multisport, which is a local operation and provided us a great deal at $75 for the day! They were a new company to the area without a permanent brick and mortar location at the time. So we were happy to meet new people native to the area and support local business in the Tahoe region.

Since we didn’t have a kayak holder on our car, we opted for the inflatable kayak option. It was very convenient but proved more difficult to control in rough waters once it was deployed. We kayaked around Speedboat Beach for approximately 1 hour. The area itself is very small, but does offer some great views of North Lake Tahoe and the local neighborhoods. We then snagged lunch at The Grid Bar and Grill near Kings beach before heading out on our next stop, with Grid’s classic burger and onion rings being the perfect meal after tiring ourselves out on the water!

South Lake Tahoe

Heading south on Highway 89, we were privileged to a full panorama of the lake and heavy crowds of tourists mountain biking and hiking all along the main road. We initially stopped at D.L. Bliss State Park. This park costs $10 to get in and can be very crowded during the day. I recommend copying our strategy and going in either early or late. This park was phenomenal and I definitely want to return in the future to camp at it! We parked next to Calawee Cove Beach and started hiking along a steep but relatively quick hike down to a pleasant and beautiful beachfront. Afterwards, we then headed south on the Rubicon Trail and took a right turn up to the Lighthouse Trail before looping back. It was a beautiful day for this beginner level trail. The trail was 1.4 miles and took us around 40 minutes to complete.

Sadly our time at Tahoe was brief, but if you have time to spare I also had on my list to visit Emerald Bay State Park, Vikingsholm, Inspiration Point (at Emerald Bay), Bayview Trail, Cascade Falls View, Kiva Beach, and Pope Beach! However, I would note that there is only one way in and out of Tahoe. Traffic will be pretty heavy during the peak summer season! We drove for about 3 hours through some stunning mountain views to get to Sacramento for the night, snagging our staple Chipotle meals for a quick dinner before staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Rancho Cordova. 

Takeaways:

As you can tell, the first half of our honeymoon was a rapid sprint down PCH. I love trips like this, but I can confidently say it was not our most relaxing trip due to the demanding nature of the schedule. We attempted to cram a lot of things in during a very compressed period. We honestly could have taken way more time through these stops. I hope this post can help guide you in regards to locations worth visiting as well as some other options that are likely better to skip! Stay tuned for the 2nd half of our trip on Teach Travel Tell soon!

Budget:

Item	Cost
Flights	$340 (KLM Voucher)
Rental Car 1 week	$434.05
Portland Airbnb	$229.94
KPub Grill	$36.63
Portland Parking	$2.00
Breakside Brewery	$30.50
VooDoo Donut	$6.50
Lan Su Chinese Garden	$25.90
Maritime Museum	$7.25
Astoria Coffeehouse	$16.20
Izakaya Meiji	$84.00
Gas Station Snacks	$21.10
Gas	$108.07
Tom's Fish and Chips	$32.35
Sprinreel Dunebugging	$312.70
Home2Suites Eugene	$114.55
Tony's Crab Shack	$64.34
Sea Thai Bistro	$52.08
Eureka Airbnb	$134.66
Bayfront Resturant	$101.00
St. Francis Winery	$128.25
Ledson Winery	$101.60
Paradise Ridge Winery	$77.93
Ty Canton Winery	$50.00
Chick-fil -A	$18.04
Hank Creekside	$34.43
Flamingo Hotel	$163.43
In N Out	$18.88
Chipotle	$25.03
Peppermill Resort	$194.20
Tahoe Paddle boarding	$75
Total:	$3,040.61