So my boyfriend works for this great vacation rentals company called Vacasa Rentals. You can rent amazing vacation homes, often for the same price (or less) as a hotel, but with a lot more space and privacy! And if you’re a homeowner, Vacasa manages your property and takes care of housecleaning, so you can easily make some extra cash when you’re not using it!
Well, obviously since he works for a vacation rentals company, we wanted to utilize this great service and take a vacation ourselves! So… Right before Halloween, Daniel took me to the Oregon Coast in Rockaway Beach, OR for a romantic getaway. Lucky girl, right?!
We were super excited to finally see the coast, but we were also excited to make some stops along the way. A friend of ours gave us the idea to stop and do some wine tasting, which was right up our alley. When we used to live in LA our weekend getaway spot was Santa Barbara, and our favorite activity was bicycle wine tasting! I had heard that Oregon had great wine and vineyards, but I had no idea HOW MANY! Seriously, go to Google Maps and search “vineyards near Portland, OR” and then zoom out a bit… I was not expecting all of those red dots! We stopped in Forest Grove because it was the closest to our route to Rockaway. You can read about the vineyards we stopped at here.
Side note: while on the way to the vineyards, I totally saw a sign for Roloff Farms! Umm, has anyone else watched Little People, Big World?! I used to watch that show when I was younger, and I maybe got a little too excited when I saw that…
Ahem, anyway, another stop we made on the way was at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. This is a must! If you love all things dairy, this is heaven. Read about what we did in Tillamook and the cheese factory here.
After our last stop we finished our journey to Rockaway, which is about 20-30 minutes away. This is when we finally started to see the coast, and there was a great viewing area along the way. Perfect for picture taking – take a look!
We stayed at the Rockaway Beach Villa, which in the off-season is basically the same price as a nice hotel… except way more awesome! Check out the photos of the house below!
This kitchen was beautiful, and had pretty much any cooking accessory you could possibly think of.
Rockaway Beach is a really small town, so there isn’t necessarily a whole lot to do, especially in the off-season. What was great about this house was that it had some fun amenities to keep us entertained. As you can see from the picture below there is a foosball table, which we played many a game on. There is also cable with movie channels, so we were able to watch some new movies we hadn’t seen before! Not sure if you can tell, but there’s a fireplace below the TV. So cozy at night with a bowl of popcorn!
Here are a few pictures of the master suite, which has a great view of the ocean from the balcony! This house has probably THE best views of the beach, and there are huge windows everywhere showcasing that. I was even more in awe of this house after seeing the master!
Here is a picture of the huge jetted bathtub in the master suite bathroom.
This is the view of the back of the house, where you can literally step right onto the beach. This house was the closest to the beach out of all the other vacation properties we saw around the area. It was such a treat to stay here… I didn’t want to leave at the end of our getaway!
As I mentioned, there aren’t a lot of attractions in Rockaway other than the beach, which is definitely the draw in the summer months. Even though it was a little cold, we managed to sneak in the last bit of Oregon sun and enjoy the beach in warmer ways. Our favorite way was watching amazing sunsets! Check out these photos!
The total view!
Oh, did I mention there’s a hot tub? Specifically, a hot tub on the beach with the most amazing view of the sunset? Well, there is! This was definitely our favorite activity during the whole trip!
Even after the sun went down it was gorgeous. We wanted to stay out all night because of this view! And when the sun went fully down, there is a great view of the stars! There is very little light pollution in Rockaway, so be sure to do some star gazing!
We also enjoyed the beach during the day. If it had been summer, I probably would have been out on the beach all day long. But because it was pretty cold out, we enjoyed shorter walks along the beach instead. I mean, with these views, we had to brave the cold for daily walks!
This is the complete view from the master suite balcony!
Now, where to eat during this getaway? There’s not that many restaurant options in Rockaway, and during the off-season a lot of the restaurants close early. We were able to try a couple of places out though. We had lunch at The Beach Bite, where we tried the clam chowder, fish ‘n chips, and the beach burger. Everything was really good and they appeared to be one of the few places that stayed open late for dinner.
We also tried out the Cow Belle Cafe for breakfast. Pretty standard diner fare, and the portions were huge. I forget exactly what we had, but I know everything was tasty. The service was also very fast and friendly!
We personally chose to spend more time in the house and cook in the beautiful kitchen. We brought some groceries from home, and we also bought some things at a local grocery store in town. The store itself was pretty small, so it didn’t have that much variety. The prices were also a bit higher than larger stores. Tip: If you’re looking for more options, Tillamook is only about a 20-minute drive away. There you will find a Fred Meyer grocery store, as well as a lot more restaurant choices.
As I mentioned before, the kitchen is stocked with all your cooking needs, including an outdoor grill. We decided to take advantage of the grilling opportunity, and made a delicious BBQ meal the first night we were there.
There’s even a waffle maker in the house!
There is also a fire pit outside, so be sure to bring all the fixings for s’mores! Tip: We bought firewood at the local grocery store, but the house didn’t have an ax. My boyfriend had trouble keeping the fire going since we couldn’t make smaller pieces. I’d suggest either chopping your firewood at home or bring your own ax. I also suggest bringing some sort of fire starter. The wind from the ocean made it pretty difficult to get the fire started!
While the beach is the main attraction in Rockaway during the summer months, we were going in the fall, so beach activities were a little limited for us. I wanted to find some other activities for us to do, but there wasn’t a whole lot of information on things to do in Rockaway. But after thoroughly researching for a few hours, here are a few things I found:
We love nature and hiking, and since Oregon is known for both, I’ve gotten in the habit of searching for trails whenever we go out of town. And while researching I found out about the Old-Growth Cedar Wetlands Preserve. This is definitely a MUST DO! Read more about it and how to get there here.
Another activity I found was the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, and there’s a station right in Rockaway! We’ve been on a scenic train ride before and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to ride the train during this trip, but I have a feeling it’s pretty awesome. We think we saw the route it takes while we were driving. If we were right, the views would be amazing! They also sometimes have dinner trains that serve a four-course meal! That will be number one on my list next time we visit Rockaway.
I had never stayed in a vacation home before, but I have to say I absolutely loved it! We had a wonderful time seeing the coast for the first time, and getting the chance to stay in a beautiful home during our romantic getaway. Staying in a vacation home allowed us to really relax, since we often wanted to stay in and enjoy the house itself. It also helped us to connect and really spend quality time together, free from distractions. I would highly recommend visiting Rockaway Beach and staying in a vacation rental! Vacasa Rentals has homes in California, Idaho, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington – so check them out!
