Astoria, Oregon in the Suzuki SX4

For my wife's birthday, we drove to the cool city of Astoria, Oregon. This maritime city is rich in history and is near the mouth of the the Columbia River. The drive on US30 from Portland is beautiful, although more entertaining driving routes exist through the hills of the Coast Range. We simply wanted to get there quickly, so HWY 30 it was.

Once in Astoria, we visited Fort George Brewery and Public House for some fantastic beer and great food. We got the beer taster, which included 10 beers. Our favorite was the Cavatica Stout, which was outstanding. I had a good burger, Mercedes had albacore fish and chips—super delicious.

After leaving the brewery, we visited the Astoria Column, then headed down US 101 towards Warrenton, OR. FYI, there's a Suzuki dealership in Astoria, and we saw quite a few Suzukis, mostly SX4s. I think we counted about five or six within about 10 minutes!

Once in Warrenton, we headed to Sunset Beach. This is one of our favorite places to go, and you can drive along the beach, as seen in the video below. In fact, you can actually drive this beach all the way to Seaside, OR, which is about 13 miles via HWY 101, but a bit less on the beach. Due to the high tide, we just drove north a bit, and turned around. The SX4 did great; we were able to use the AWD "lock" model, which splits the power 50/50 to the front/rear wheels.




Before returning to Portland, we stopped in Seaside and Cannon Beach. We did stop at Ecola State Park, which is a gorgeous ocean-side place to relax and take in the Oregon coast.

Finally, it was back to Portland via US 26. A great day trip—Subcompact Culture style.

LINKS
Fort George Brewery and Public House