How much do I love the PNW coast, you ask?! Infinity on infinity. We took a trip up to Long Beach, WA for a fun weekend with friends at the Inn at Discovery Coast! Matt and I have been photographing local area resorts + hotels for about a year now which means we have the inside scoop on some pretty out of this world places in Oregon and Washington. No complaints here.
I love trips with Matt but there’s also something special about traveling with friends. We were excited to have our buddies Candace and Maynard along for the ride this time. They’re both super talented photographers in Portland which made it even more fun when we all took turns shooting photos without being super annoying to each other. Bloggers, amiright?!
Long Beach is about 2.5 hours from Portland and there was a storm brewing the entire time! Winters on the coast can be pretty gnarly and the wind over the weekend was INSANE! It reached over 30 mph and was howling through the nights. I grew up in the land of tornadoes so high wind gives me the freak-outs. Our first night, we met up with our buddies and played games for a while. Laughed ourself silly (sorry room #17 in the middle of us)! We went to sleep around midnight and the wind was howling SO WILDLY that I legit could not sleep until 5 am or so. The ocean waves were said to be reaching 35-40 feet and the tide was scary! But we survived the night and awarded ourself with breakfast in bed. Yes, please! At 11 am! EVEN BETTER! I always will be and always have been a later sleeper. Just let me be, people. Just let me be.
Even though the weather was wild, we saw a pocket of sunshine in the afternoon and leaped on it to explore nearby Cape Disappointment State Park! Yall…..this place is a MUST SEE! Add it to your travel list. She’s a beauty! Matt and I have been a few times and each time I’m in awe. Good grief I love the Pacific Northwest. But I bet you didn’t know that, eh?
The hike to the lighthouse is a little over half a mile and we BARELY missed a downpour. But never fear! The best part about winter coast trips (besides less people) is the saunas + hot tubs + heated pools at a lot of the resorts. The sauna at The Inn was so cool!! And the pool was hot and divine! It was slightly cooler than a hot tub which made it perfect for a winter dip. How do I get one in my house?!
After that, we returned to the room for a hot bath in the jacuzzi tub before dinner at the onsite restaurant, Pickled Fish! IT WAS SO YUMMY! Clam chowder, sausage pizza with peppers, fish + chips (obviously!) and a couple of cocktails later had us drowsy and feeling so comfie. We ran back to the room in the rain but cuddled up in bed and fell asleep around 8:30 pm to Earth documentaries playing on the TV above our bed. Have you seen Our Planet?! IT IS DIVINE! One of the most amazing things I’ve seen! It will bring you to tears at the beauty of this amazing world. And the walrus episode will break your heart in a million pieces. Oh man. It’s good, ya’ll. So good.
Much thanks to the team at Adrift Hotel + The Inn at Discovery Coast for having us! We were gifted a stay in exchange for photos + sharing our experience and it was a great one! We also recorded our very first Youtube vlog during our visit and plan to keep this going with travels, reviews of things we love, marriage adventures and all the lifestyle goodness!
Check it out below!
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