We haven’t been to the Oregon Coast in a few years. And that doesn’t mean we don’t love it, we just usually head up north to BC to see family and it’s about the same distance from Seattle to Vancouver as it is from Seattle to Portland or Seattle to Cannon Beach. But this year we are heading everywhere in the radius of three hours from Seattle and because that (hopefully not for long) currently excludes BC we decided to spend a few days in Cannon Beach and Portland. Not only do we need to find things to do in Cannon beach with kids, but with Scout our yorkie poo in tow we also needed to find dog friendly Oregon hotels.
The Surfsand Cannon beach with kids and a pup
We had the loveliest trip to the Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach years ago for my hubby’s birthday where we could see Haystack Rock from our room and we enjoyed our meal at the Wayfarer Restaurant too. When I found out that the Surfsand is also a dog-friendly hotel, it seemed like a perfect choice for our current travel situations. I had to call about a dog friendly room and ended up with a very spacious suite with a giant bathtub that had an ocean view and a patio where we could drink coffee and look at Haystack Rock. The kids were really excited to go to the pool here as well-the pool is open but was limiting guests to reserved time slots which made it feel pretty safe and the kids swam in a pool for the first time in a year.
What to eat and where to get takeout near the Surfsand Cannon Beach
Unlike our usual trips, we spent most of our time lounging in our room or on the beach. We phoned in our order and walked to get takeout from the Seasons Cafe and Pizza A’fetta. Because our room had a small fridge, we picked up yogurt, pastries and fruit for breakfasts from the Costco in Tumwater. This was our only stop for bathroom and snacks between Seattle and Cannon Beach too.
We also ordered room service from the Wayfarer Restaurant and had a spectacular dinner. After not eating in restaurants for nearly a year it was so nice to have dinner on real plates in our hotel room and the food was delicious. (A friend had given us a really nice bottle of wine so it made the meal even more special.)
When we were there, the Surfsand Resort also had cookies in the lobby around 3pm everyday. And on the weekends their activity sheet said that they were still hosting their usual ice cream social and beer/root beer tasting but as a socially distanced one where you picked up these things to enjoy in your room or on the beach.
And Cannon Beach in the winter time?
The biggest reason for going to Cannon Beach was Scout’s birthday. We wanted to take him to the beach because he loves to dig and run in the sand and we are so thankful for all the joy he has brought to our lives this past year. I was worried that maybe it would be too stormy or wet in the wintertime, but we had one really gorgeous sunny day and Scout had the best time. We brought games and movies and books and it was so peaceful to just lounge in a comfortable room together even if we all were doing different things.
The Kimpton River Place, another dog friendly hotel in Oregon
I wanted to break up our drive back from the coast and I looked at the Kimpton River Place and it is not a very tall hotel (it looked like maybe 3 floors high in the pictures and I don’t want to take elevators that far right now and have the risk of people trying to share) and you do not have to pay any additional fees for dogs at Kimpton hotels. Before having a pup I didn’t realize how beneficial this is because all the other hotels and places we’ve been with Scout have charged an additional pet fee for him to tag along this year. Scout doesn’t shed and he’s barely 5 pounds so it’s nice not to have to pay these fees at Kimpton hotels.
Our room had cool decor and a wood-burning fire place and it overlooked the river and Scout seemed to feel really at home in this place. At night every crow in Portland came to roost near our windows and it reminded me a little of a scary bird movie I saw as a kid but they weren’t loud or annoying so it was mostly just entertaining for everyone else.
Do dogs like elevators?
We found out that Scout does not like elevators because we ended up on the 2nd floor and there was no stair access at the Kimpton Riverplace. We brought his Fresh Patch grass (I think Fresh Patch grass is the best invention for teeny tiny dogs!) so we didn’t have to go up and down a whole lot with him, but every time we did he turned into a pancake.
Mochi donuts in Portland?
Normally we can’t visit Portland without stopping at VooDoo donuts but this time we weren’t doing a lot of sight-seeing so I thought we’d change things up. We’ve been obsessed with the mochi donut places popping up in and around Seattle lately so naturally I had a mochi donut place pinned in Portland too. We ordered donut delivery from CoCo donuts and tried four different kinds of mochi donuts and they were pretty reasonably priced compared to donuts in Seattle, and they were also very delicious.
Where to get pupcakes in Portland
This trip was all about Scout’s birthday so we needed a pupcake to celebrate and we got the absolute cutest one from Puppernickel in Hillsboro that I pre-ordered the day before we arrived. It even had Scout’s name on it! I wish I got a better picture of the pupcake before we wrecked the icing-our room was not ready when we arrived so this pupcake accompanied us on a journey to Bob’s Red Mill Factory and to Powell’s Books so it ended up getting a little melty. Scout didn’t mind at all. He thought it was delicious and we rationed it a bit because this pupcake was nearly as big as he is.
And how did we do coffee on this trip?
On last year’s trip to the Olympic Peninsula we brought our Nespresso machine along and even used it on the beach in the back of our Toyota Highlander. This time we wanted to make hot chocolate and maybe Cup Noodles so I brought our kettle from home and the Pourigami portable travel dripper we got from a Seattle company called Miir in our recent Trove Box . It was nice to have good fresh coffee every morning (we brought along some Boon Boona beans) and usually I love going to coffee shops but didn’t feel like to doing our usual coffee touring this time. In our room at the Surfsand there was a Keurig maker with pods filled with Sleepy Monk, a local Cannon Beach coffee company so that was a really nice touch too.
And if you are looking for other dog-friendly places near Seattle that we’ve loved:
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)