Oregon and Calfifornia by camper

The largest city in Oregon, famous for rose cultivation, is surrounded by spectacular landscapes: the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, waterfalls, forests, ski slopes, and streams. It is also a vibrant city, rich in culture and art, with excellent bars, microbreweries, restaurants, and many green areas.

The town of Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, located on a hill sloping towards the wide estuary of the Columbia River, a picturesque location beloved by Hollywood filmmakers. Once, Astoria's wealth was based on fishing; today, the main source of income is tourism.

Newport is known for its beautiful nearby beaches, first and foremost the popular Nye Beach, and for its aquarium, the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Bend, at the foot of the Cascade Ranges, is famous for its dry and sunny climate and is an excellent base for exploring the natural attractions of the area.

In Oregon, at the southern end of the Cascade Range and the Pacific Crest Scenic Trail, you will find Crater Lake National Park, home to Crater Lake. Formed over 7,000 years ago as a result of a volcanic eruption and the collapse of the volcano, the lake is the deepest in the United States and one of the deepest in the world, famous for its intensely blue waters.

In less than two hours you’ll reach one California’s crown jewels, Redwood National Park, a World Heritage Site protecting nearly half of the world’s world’s tallest trees. This spectacular network of national and state parks has dozens of soft paths letting you walk among soaring coast redwoods, which grow over 350 feet/107 meters high. Learn more about the region, and get great tips from knowledgeable rangers, by starting your visit with a stop at the outstanding Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center, on a sandy bluff on the south end of the parkland. Ask about ranger-led walks through emerald-green Fern Canyon, or where to see majestic (and big) Roosevelt elk graze in grassy prairies. (Our tip: head to appropriately named Elk Meadow, or to the dunes of Gold Bluffs Beach, both in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. For a novel way to explore, consider a guided horseback ride with the Redwood Creek Buckarettes, or ride mountain bikes with Redwood Adventures. Camping is popular here, especially in summer, with sites in lush groves, sheltered bluffs, or wild beaches; reservations strongly advised. Insider tip: The region is green for a reason: annual rainfall, which normally falls from October through April, averages 60 to 80 inches/152 to 203 centimeters, so bring raingear and sturdy, nonslip shoes.

The coastal Sonoma County villages of Bodega and Bodega Bay exude a sense of lonely isolation—and that’s part of the reason Alfred Hitchcock liked them. When he filmed 1963’s The Birds, based on Daphne du Maurier’s gothic tale, the towns stood in for a few scenes in the English village besieged by the film’s namesake feathered tormentors. As it turns out, Bodega is indeed a natural bird magnet that regularly makes Audubon Society rankings for great bird-watching, thanks to the plethora of hawks, egrets, herons, and pelicans to be seen there. While much of the area was re-created for filming in a studio, a few physical locations remain. In Bodega, for instance, you can see the two-story Potter Schoolhouse, where the birds first menaced the town’s children (though you can see it only from the outside—it’s now a private residence). To get inside a location from the movie, book a table at The Tides Wharf Restaurant, part of Bodega Bay’s The Inn at the Tides. Come for the Dungeness crab and views over the water—featuring happy (and non-homicidal) shore birds.