The Oregon coast is one of my favorite places in the world -- and my passport has a few stamps in it. My wife Rosalie and I love getting away to the beach, but we're both in our early twenties, just finished school and are working our first career-oriented jobs. Extra money and time are always at a premium. High-priced resorts and expensive food can dampen our plans faster than a high tide puts out the campfire, so I figured out how we can hit the beach at Pacific City, Oregon on the weekend for under $100.

Here's the deal. We drive our own car, camp, pack our own food, and bring our wetsuits and surfboards to surf some of our favorite waves in Oregon. We live in Corvallis, Oregon, so our 74 mile drive takes about an hour and fifty minutes.

I drive a black 1994 Toyota 4Runner 4WD with silver pinstripes -- it looks cool, but only gets about 15 miles per gallon, so gas costs about $40 roundtrip (we could take Rosalie's 1998 Honda Accord and only spend about $26). Driving the 4Runner instead of Rosalie's Honda allows us to drive on the beach by Cape Kiwanda and gives us space to gather wood for our fire. It's illegal to camp on the beach, but it is okay to have a bonfire and stay up late -- as long as we're not sleeping.

Since sleeping on the beach isn't an option, we go to one of the campsites in the area that range from $10 to $15 a night. We bring a tent, tarp, sleeping bags, portable grill, propane stove, one pot, one frying pan, two bowls, two cups and silverware. For food, we pack a cooler full of drinks and cheap food -- hot dogs, chips, canned chili, bagels, mustard, ketchup and eggs. We can usually keep the food bill under $20. Our camping gear is a combination of gifts from friends and what we salvaged from my parents' old stash. If you need gear, check out campmor.com and sierratradingpost.com for discounts and low prices.

We get our surf wax and other surf accessories at Seven Surfboards in Pacific City -- I even bought a longboard from them last summer. Some people get lessons and rent boards and wetsuits from Seven Surfboards or the Kiwanda Surf Co., but renting a board, wetsuit, and neoprene booties costs around $50 per person for 24 hours, which would blow the budget. If you need surf gear, try borrowing some from a friend or check at an inland surf shop like Pura Vida in Philomath, Oregon where you can rent a surf package at $25 for 24 hours.

Another option is renting a sandboard from the Cape Kiwanda R.V. Resort store for $10 for 4 hours or $16 for 8 hours. Quite a few people sandboard down the dunes of Cape Kiwanda. For others, riding the dunes under their own power isn't their bag-of-tricks, and they take their ATVs and other off-road vehicles six miles north of Pacific City to the Sand Lake Recreation Area and spend their days driving around the massive dunes.

Rosalie and I stick to surfing, hiking the dunes and napping on the beach. Pacific City is our summer-long, go-to destination for getting away and enjoying the outdoors and the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

Depending on our choice of campsite and activities, at the end of our trip we have about $30 extra. We take the money and splurge on dinner at the Pelican Pub & Brewery -- our favorite spot. I get the Northwest Fish & Chips made with fish bought from the local Dory fishermen. Rosalie gets a Jimmy the Greek personal pizza and a homebrewed root-beer. Where you spend your extra savings is up to you.
 

Sources:

pacificcity.org; fueleconomy.gov; autos.msn.com; beachconnection.net; sevensurfboards.com; kiwandasurfco.com; capekiwandarvresort.com; fs.fed.us; pelicanbrewery.com; innatcapekiwanda.com; pvsurfshop.com