Camping in Astoria, Oregon

Eager to see Grant and escape the southwest heat, I drove to Oregon for another camping trip.

This time, outside Astoria, Oregon in Fort Stevens State Park.

First, I arrived at Grant’s house in Newport for a few days before camping. We hit the bayfront for some exploring and the aquarium. The aquarium took great measures for COVID with a unidirectional exhibit flow and limited capacity. Grant also used to volunteer there so it was like getting a private tour! It was great to catch up with his family after a rough few months.

The handsome Mr. Kiwi

Then, we were off north to the KOA site in Warrenton, just across the street from Fort Stevens State Park! We chose a tent site that was in a small forest patch and we had to walk a minute or two to the site but it was so worth the privacy and sense of being in nature. Unfortunately, most of the amenities were closed at KOA but we didn’t mind too much.

We paid a quick visit to Astoria where we had dinner at Astoria Brewing Co. and ice cream at Schwietert’s. The view was lovely but the town was really quiet so we didn’t hang around too much.

We also spent a day in Cannon Beach doing the things we most enjoyed during our last visit: Seasons Cafe, Cannon Beach Book Co. and hanging out on the beach.

Around KOA, we went to Fort Stevens most everyday, spending time at Coffenbury Lake, hitting the bike trails and seeing the various historic sites. We even had a few elk follow us around! At the campsite, we enjoyed Monopoly, reading by the fire, mini golf and having a pizza delivered right to our tent site.

The day we checked out, we took a detour to Portland for the Body Worlds exhibit. Like the aquarium in Newport, the exhibit was very COVID-friendly with limited capacity even with workers telling you when it was safe to enter the next space. We’ve both been wanting to see the exhibit for a while now and it was so worth the wait!

After one more night in Newport and amazing Thai food, I drove back to Southern California. Camping is starting to grow on me and have a wonderful sunburn to remember this trip by for weeks to come.