Susan Stephens

Disclosure: The owners of the Florentine Waterfront Hotel hosted me for a complimentary two-night stay, however, every opinion here is my own.

The Oregon Coast is wildly romantic right up until you realize the “ocean view” room you booked overlooks a parking lot, the town is packed with families on spring break, and you just spent four hours in the car arguing about whether Highway 101 counts as scenic when it’s raining sideways.

The temptation is real. You open a map, see 363 miles of Oregon coastline, and think you can do it all in a long weekend. You can’t. Well, you can, but you’ll spend most of it staring at the bumper in front of you on Highway 101. I spent more than 20 years living in Oregon, and this is the coast trip I give friends when they only have three days. Two towns, Newport and Florence. One lakeside cabin.