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The Oregon Hotel Trail: Inn of the Beachcomber

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 29266 Ellensburg Ave [map], Gold Beach, OR, United States, 97444

October 15, 2007 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

HotelChatter Maven Annie0007 recently wrapped up a two-week jaunt through Oregon, taking her from the mountains and high desert to the lakes and coast. Along with the terrain variety, she stayed in a wide array of accommodations, from a 50s-style campground setting along a starlit lake, to a luxury cottage surrounded by deer and wildflowers, and a 1930s mountain lodge made famous in a classic horror movie. This week we'll be running her exclusive hotel reviews. If you have any questions, hit us on the tipline.

From the fishing lodge-turned-inn, first made famous by Clark Gable, we shoved off for the Oregon coast. As we made our way south, inching toward Northern California, the forest trees began to get thicker and taller, finally blotting out the sky. Then, a sign: Redwood National Park. We saw a bunch of cars and RVs pulled off on the roadside, next to a trailhead, and walked, literally agog, among the giants, unchanged for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

The backdrops changed quickly, from forest to highway, then long sloping fields finally giving us a sweet first gulp of ocean air. We had finally made it to US Highway 101, on our way north to Gold Beach's Inn of the Beachcomber.

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Hotel websites are not always right
The hotel website gave me the impression that it was going to be a sort of hand-made, quirky, log-cabin-y type of place, loaded with charm. Why did I think that? Maybe it was the Arts-and-Crafts font on the postcard, maybe the description and ambiance of the place that they so eloquently conveyed on their website.

Therefore, when we pulled into town and saw a sign for the Beachcomber, I experienced what can only be termed cognitive dissonance. It looked like a Holiday Inn. The marquee was dated. It said "Beachcomber Inn," not the retro-groovy "Inn of the Beachcomber." It was only when I went through the lobby door and saw a stack of the same postcards that I'd seen before that it occurred to me that we were in the right place. Only it wasn't the place I'd envisioned in my mind.

It turns out, reading The Tripadvisor Reviews, that my cognitive short circuit has been a frequent experience for other travelers heading to this destination. Truth in advertising, people!

Room reaction
That said, our room had a monster bed so high off the ground it should have had footstools on either side. The room had a balcony with table and chairs, facing straight out to the Pacific. The roar of the ocean and the cries of seagulls saturated the room. The lobby had free internet access, a wine shop, and a pretty good selection of movies you could have for free - although we never got to watch The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance because there was some glitch between the plasma TV and the DVD player.

Inn of the Beachcomber does have an indoor pool (tiny), and yes, it has a hot tub, but it smelled heavily chlorinated and had a whipped-cream froth that didn't appeal to me. The room fee did come with a free breakfast: a waffle maker, breakfast bars, muffins, bagels, orange juice, the whole nine yards.

What's nearby
The Beachcomber is a five-minute drive from one of the main attractions of Gold Beach, besides the beach: The jet boat tours up the mighty Rogue. Harbor seals, dozens of fishermen pulling sizeable Chinook salmon up from the water, canyons, 360s in the boats, incredible scenery, and views you'll take with you to your grave, make this an Oregon rite of passage. We saw brochures for the jet boats literally all over the state.

Who's Chuck?
Back in our room, we watched the sun set into the water. A trio of deer walked through the bushes just feet away from a couple strolling down the beach path. We asked ourselves, who was Chuck, the mysterious owner of the SUV out in the lot with the plates "Chuck's Wagon"? Lights came on at the adjacent RV park. We thought back to the rock monoliths on the giant beaches, about the river otters we'd seen on the jet boat ride, and the fresh salmon we'd had for dinner.

Retro or not, this place is ok. It's just not the one you see on their website.

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Author Photo: annie0007 by annie0007

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