Best places on the coast (Portland, Salem: house, tornado, earthquakes)

[DianaJ]

My family and I will be taking a vacation in May or June 2008. We'd love to visit the Coast. I've heard that Seaside and Cannon Beach are beautiful. Would like others opinions on the best places on the Oregon coast. Thank you!

[Elmonellie]

Well, the entire Oregon coast is spectacular. I like the Yachats beach. It is south of Newport, about 20 miles. Very, very pretty.

[pw72]

Agreed...although Coos Bay doesn't feel like a coastal city to me. Newport is probably the hub of the coast, with Lincoln City close behind. In between is a simply beautiful stretch of Oregon Coast.

[mayfair]

The dunes at Florence are nice! The whole coast is amazing.

[Jammie]

What months are you able to be in the ocean? I've heard the Pacific isn't as warm as the Atlantic, is that true?

What do you have for bad weather? I was just thinking the other day that we never hear of Oregon having a tornado or a hurricane or an earthquake. Do you have any catastrophes?

[tiffela74]

well, depends on your cold tolerance. The Pacific Ocean isn't warm water. Its pretty flippin COLD!!! Nice on a hot day, run out there and get cool pretty quick!
Well, Ive lived in Oregon all my life, and have never experienced a tornado. We did have a pretty horrific storm here, what, about 10 or so years ago. Caused some pretty big damage. I can recall everything shutting down as the storm approached, and it was pretty surreal. Honestly though, I cant tell you how high the winds were. Enough to rip off a lot of shingles and anything that was lighter and not tied down went flying!! I dont know anyone personally that had any major damage....although my mom DID lose a huge tree. Thankfully it went into the empty road.
Ummmmm, I remember a couple earthquakes! One woke me up, and as I was sleeping in a waterbed after a bit too much to drink, it was pretty interesting. lol No major damage again though, the second one, I was IMing w/a friend from Cali. when it happened, my chair rolled back, and a picture fell off my wall, scared me to death, I cant recall what the reading was on it, but when I wrote my friend what it was, she laughed and said they dont even count those as earthquakes.
anyhow, Oregon weather is pretty tame for the most part. Tillamook floods pretty good every couple years, and we had a few high wind storms up the coast last winter...i lived right on the beach here in coos bay, and it was pretty lame here, we didnt even lose power for more than an hour or so in any of the storms in the last 4 yrs.
I think its a bit of a shame, i like a good storm. But then again, we just bought a house.....storms might not be so fun now that I have a house of my own to worry over!!!

okay, as for good places along the coast....
pretty much, you cant go wrong. One of my fav. in our area is the little beach cove in Shore Acres State park here in Coos Bay. I also love the beach in Bandon. Yachats is amazing, and pretty close to there is an incredible place called Devils Churn. LOVE IT!!! Cannon Beach is a place I could spend all day w/o every getting bored, Seaside is a fav. among the teen crowds, at Newport we have a wonderful aquariam w/a tube to walk through w/the sharks swimming all around (and UNDER!!) you. Pretty cool.
Enjoy!! and please, after your trip, let us know what you did, where you went, and how it was!!! Always fun to hear about other peoples vacations here!!!
Tiffany

[manzanita]

I have a home in Manzanita and have for nearly 20 years. It is a small town that is growing rapidly. Good beaches, very dog friendly with waste stations at each access point.

Great for camping, with Nehalem Bay State Park offering fishing, crabbing, trails and a walk to the jetty on the Nehalem River. Manzanita Golf Course is an executive course with some very beautiful holes, especially No. 5.

Restaurants in town are so-so, although the town of Nehalem has a couple of good ones.

Northern beaches are less touristed other than Cannon Beach and Seaside.

[pw72]

Windstorms are frequent. Usually not damaging, but in 1962, there was a very bad windstorm (dubbed the Columbus Day Storm) that destroyed strutures and killed many.

Earthquakes in Oregon are infrequent, but the risk is still very real. There are faults all over Portland and Salem and they occasionally come up for air.

The biggest threat is a giant subduction quake off the Pacific Coast, that could reach an 8.0 or higher. According to history, they occur every 300-500 years, with the last one in 1700. Think about those numbers.

[DianaJ]

Thank you all for the replies! We love the ocean and we love the trees!! If a person had a choice, would you choose flying into Portland and head over to Cannon Beach and go from there down the coast? Or fly into Medford and drive to the coast? We love really scenic drives! I'm a picture fanatic especially with trees. Why I mentioned flying into Medford is that we're hoping to relocate there. I'm just so overwhelmed right now with planning this trip. We only have about 5 days to spend. Is May or June better to visit?

[Jammie]

Diana, I just wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to jump in and hijack your thread. I hope you have a wonderful vacation and enjoy your new location when you move.

To the Oregonians, thanks for the good info. We've never been there and I was just curious about your state. We've heard it's beautiful there.