There are many places to stay on the coast - bed & breakfasts, local motels, and chain motels scattered all along the coastal towns and oceanfront. Since we were only staying one night at each place, we had to find several places to stay, so it took some time to get all our lodging lined up. We were looking for places spread evenly apart so that we would have a relatively consistent amount of driving to do each day. We also wanted these places to not be expensive (under $100) but not be dumpy, and to be near the beach, if possible.

It seems that a lot of places aren't easily found on the internet, so sometimes our options for booking online seemed fairly limited. That was the case with our lodging the first night in Astoria. We just needed a place to stay for the night and we ended up at the Lamplighter Motel, which was the most inexpensive place we stayed on the whole trip. It offered pretty basic accommodations with no frills. Fortunately the only superficial complaints I would have would be that the carpet and furnishings in the room just looked a little worn - it seemed clean enough - and it was still a satisfactory place to stay, though we might look for something a little nicer if we were to go back.

Our next night we stayed in Rockaway Beach, a tiny town of less than 2,000. Our lodging that night at the Silver Sands was expensive at $126, but it was right on the beach and we had a view from our window. The room was nice and it was very nice to be able to get to the beach with just a short walk. We were again on the 2nd floor and we slept with the windows open until a bird woke us up. We would look for a better deal next time, but it was a good place to stay.

Our final night on the coast was near the town of Yachats. Deane's Oceanfront Lodge was actually a few miles from the center of town and though it was just off the main highway, it felt rather isolated. When booking our room, the owner was nice enough to give us the off-season rate, though he wondered why he did that when we checked in. Our room had cable TV, a fridge, an electric fireplace heater, and a DVD player (which I never could get to work). The bed and pillows were also the most comfortable we had on the trip. There were games and DVDs to borrow in the office as well as coffee and doughnuts in the morning. They were even thoughtful enough to include a mini-flashlight with the room key so that we could walk down to the beach at night (which we did and loved). The building was old, but it was decorated nicely in a beach theme. We never could get our keys lock the rooms and the hot water didn't work during my shower, but somehow despite those big drawbacks, we both really liked staying here.

The final night of our trip was different from the others as we were staying in a large Doubletree hotel in the middle of Portland. This meant we parked in a garage and used an elevator to get to our room instead of parking right outside our room and walking just a few feet. We happened to find a pretty good rate on this place, as it would normally cost more than we'd like to pay. This hotel is geared more for the business traveler than the couple on a road trip, so it was the only hotel on our trip not to have a mini-fridge and microwave. It was also the only place we stayed that didn't offer free Wi-Fi. Yep, in the year 2010, the cost for internet at the Doubletree hotel is like $10/day. It worked out okay, though, because instead of looking online for somewhere nearby to eat, we went down to the concierge to get recommendations. We also got a free breakfast with a full menu or breakfast buffet. Our room was pretty nice too, maybe a little too elegant for my taste, but past the view of the monstrously drab roof of the hotel's conference area, we had a nice view of the Portland skyline. I liked staying here pretty well, though I wouldn't be likely to pay much more than we did this time.

Since we were out doing things so much of the time, we didn't spend much time actually inside our hotels/motels. None of the places we stayed were really remarkable, but they were all fine.