ON THE WATER

HWY 101

A mile-by-mile guide to secret eats, hikes, and sights on our iconic coastal road

By Kasey Cordell May 1, 2013

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The Barbey Maritime Center, which showcases Astoria’s boatbuilding legacy, debuted in January, just east of where Hwy 101 enters Astoria.  

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Packed with walnuts and loaded with cream cheese frosting, the best carrot cake we’ve ever tasted (sorry, mom) lives at scruffy Peter Pan Market, off Hwy 202. 

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Discover one of the few places where you can drive right onto the sand at Del Rey Beach. 

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Have a beer behind bars at Seaside Brewing Company, a year-old nanobrewery housed in the city’s former jail.

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Sitting gets political at Cannon Beach’s Mariner Market, where you’ll find republican and democrat benches on the porch outside.

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Accessible only at low tide, Hug Point State Recreation site is worth the wait: basalt cliffs, caves, and even its own seaside waterfall.

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You can’t take a spoonful of the cioppino at the Fish Peddler in Bay City without running into a clam, mussel, crab leg, or shrimp. 

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On rainy days, the colorful wooden murals making up the Tillamook Quilt Trail offer a unique driving tour. 

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Uncover four miles of beautiful empty on the Bayocean Spit, a finger of sand and salal near Tillamook. 

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Spy the tallest waterfall on the Oregon Coast (319 feet) at Munson Falls.

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The $59 rate at Lincoln City’s Historic Anchor Inn includes more kitsch on its walls (and ceilings and decks) than you’ll have time to properly take in. 

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Bring an appetite and a framed pic of your pooch to Beach Dog Café, where after you’ve gorged on the famous stuffed french toast, your photo might join the hundreds of others on display.

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Salmon candy from the South Beach Fish Market: get some. 

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The Ya-Hots Video Country Store, a wacky little Yachats shop that has everything from organic honey to seed starts, makes an easy stop for good-for-you-and-the-planet road food. 

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Avoid the hordes huddling over Cape Perpetua’s tide pools at nearby Strawberry Hill State Park, an equally striking but less visited spot.

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Get an up-close view of Heceta Head Lighthouse via the Hobbit Trail, an otherworldly path through giant spruce and rhododendrons. 

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Only open for a few evening hours Thursday through Saturday, Wakonda Brewing’s tasting room warrants a visit. Order the Beachcomber Cream Ale. 

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Florence locals get their coffee at Siuslaw Roasters, right next to the new interpretive center garden. So should you.

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Score an Instagram-able shot of the dunes without getting any sand in your boots at the dunes overlook. 

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Take a 24-mile detour inland and work out the road kinks on a hike to pretty Golden and Silver Falls in Alleghany. 

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Miller’s at the Cove in Charleston boasts some mean clam chowder, and a “bought you a beer board” that lets you leave a pint for a friend the next time they’re in. 

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The stark and stunning contrast between Shore Acres’ formal gardens and the frothy Pacific beating against stone monoliths just steps away makes the side trip worth it. 

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Coos Bay boasts the state’s biggest wine walk. Join in on a first Friday. 

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One of the few structures to survive Bandon’s two massive fires (in 1914 and 1936), the Riverhouse lives on today as a five-bedroom waterfront vacation rental. 

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Ocean debris becomes a masterpiece at Bandon’s Washed Ashore exhibit. 

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$2.50 buys you lunch at Lanlois market, a general store that peddles some damn fine franks made with beef from Pendleton’s Hill Meat Co. 

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Discover a coastal version of Seinfeld’s “soup nazi” at so-worth-it Anna’s by the Sea in Gold Beach.

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Your iphone won’t seem like enough to capture the beauty at Natural Bridge. And it isn’t. Commit it to memory on a hike through the area’s network of trails.   

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Picturesque Harris Beach State Park owns a pretty perspective on Bird Island, Oregon’s largest coastal island.

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Wake up face to face with the Pacific Ocean at Brookings’ by the Sea B&B.

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Housed in an old gas station, Brookings’ Cielito Lindo doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside you’ll find tasty, authentic tacos, warm smiles, and window seats. 

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Alfred A. Loeb State Park holds an opportunity to stand among giants: it’s the only grove of redwoods in Oregon. 

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