La Push Beach, La Push, Washington
A Pacific Northwest adventure from Portland to Forks
There are some trips where the destination is the main event. And then there are trips where the drive itself becomes part of the adventure.
Our trip to Oregon and Washington was definitely the second kind.
My friend Hannah and I wanted to make our way from Portland through the Oregon coast and into Forks, Washington, for the Forever Twilight in Forks Festival that occurs every September. We knew we wanted to visit some of the filming locations and iconic spots along the way, but we also wanted to make the most of our points and miles.
So we put together a road trip that included waterfalls, tiny coastal towns, Twilight locations, beaches, mountain roads, deer encounters, and one very important question:
How cheaply could we actually do it with points?
Pretty cheaply, as it turns out!
✈️ Getting to Oregon with Southwest Points
We flew Southwest from Nashville to Portland, with a layover in San Diego on the way there and Phoenix on the way back.
For my ticket, I used:
7,500 Southwest points one way
6,500 Southwest points on the way home
And because Hannah was traveling with me as my companion, we were able to get her flights for just the required taxes and fees.
That brought our airfare cost to only $11.20 per person round-trip in taxes and fees, plus the Southwest points.
Not bad for getting two people across the country!
This is one of my favorite things about the Companion Pass strategy. When you combine points with a Companion Pass, your points can stretch much farther because you're essentially getting a second ticket for the cost of the taxes and fees.
And this trip was a perfect example of why I love using points for experiences rather than just accumulating them in an account.
As of October 15, 2026, Southwest has announced that the Companion Pass will no longer be obtained through welcome offers or referral points…RIP! This is such sad news, but you can still get it for all of 2027 if you open a card before Dec. 2nd, 2026. You can read more about it here.
🏨 Our IHG Hotel Strategy
Once we landed in Portland, we had several different stops planned, which meant we needed several different hotels. When I’m with my family of 6, we never hotel hop unless we have to, but when it’s just me or I’m with a friend, I don’t mind it as much.
Thankfully, IHG had us covered.
One of the things I really like about IHG is the variety of properties available. Depending on where you're going, you can find everything from extended-stay properties like Staybridge Suites to Holiday Inn Expresses and boutique hotels.
For this trip, we used a combination of IHG points and a free night certificate. Here's what our hotel stays looked like:
Total: 70,000 points + 1 Free Night Certificate
That's four nights of lodging without paying the regular cash rate for any of them. I was able to gain the points for all of these nights from the welcome offers on the IHG Premier Personal credit card and the IHG Premier Business credit card.
Now we didn’t stay in one hotel for the entire trip. We were using points strategically along our route.
🚗 Rental Car
This time, the rental car was covered with cash at around $400. Sometimes we cover this expense with points, but other times, it comes out-of-pocket, but that’s okay!
Wahkeena Falls, Oregon
🌿 Part One: Waterfalls, Coffee & the Twilight Swan House
After landing in Portland, we picked up our rental car and started our adventure. Our first stop was Wahkeena Falls, one of the beautiful waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge. This is next to the famous Multnomah Falls, another gorgeous waterfall about .25 miles down the road and used in the background of the infamous baseball scene in Twilight. Multnomah Falls now requires you to pay for parking when before it did not..however, Wahkeena Falls is free to park nearby and hike.
After spending some time exploring, we made our way to one of our next stops: Carver Cafe. If you're a Twilight fan, you probably recognize the name. This little cafe is one of those places that makes a Twilight road trip feel even more fun. Keep in mind,
Afterward, we headed to St. Helens, Oregon, and this was where the Twilight portion of the trip really started.
Bella Swan’s House from the Twilight Saga, St. Helens, Oregon
We went to see the famous Swan house—the home used as Bella's house in Twilight. This house is located in St. Helens, Oregon, about thirty minutes from the Staybridge Suites Hillsboro. We stopped at a coffee place called Longbottom Coffee & Tea nearby that was delicious, so we highly recommend it!
But we weren't done with St. Helens yet. We also visited the alley and bookstore locations associated with the scene where Edward saves Bella before taking her to dinner in “Port Angeles.” The bookstore is now an abandoned building, and this is when we had one of the coolest (and unexpected) moments of the trip!
🦌 Near the bookstore location, we spotted four deer, including a baby. And these deer did not seemed fazed by us at all. They just stood there and kept eating the grass, unbothered by our presence, which made it all the more peaceful and sweet!
Just four deer casually hanging out like they had better things to do.
Honestly, it was one of those little travel moments that wasn't on our itinerary but ended up being a sweet memory!
Looking out onto the after stopping by a library. What a view!
🌊 Day Two: Oregon Coast Road Trip
The next morning, we headed north and started making our way toward Washington. We drove up the Oregon coast, stopping at some of the little seaside towns along the way, which included Tunnel Beach in Oceanside and Cannon Beach.
Our first major stop was Oceanside Beach. The man-made tunnel here is pretty interesting and very easy to find. Once you park at the Oceanside Beach (which you need to pay to park at the kiosk), head down the stairs to the beach, and you’ll see the tunnel on the right side of the rocks’ edge.
Side note: If you are claustrophobic, this may be difficult for you…
So we made our way through the famous tunnel that leads down toward the other side of the beach.
There's something about walking through a little tunnel and suddenly emerging onto the Pacific Ocean that makes the Oregon coast feel almost magical! I’m telling you, it’s an amazing view! The weather in mid-September was sunny and 70, making this perfect for lounging around on the beach to read for the day.
And then we continued on to one of Oregon's most recognizable coastal landmarks: 🪨 Cannon Beach & Haystack Rock
Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon
We didn’t actually step onto Cannon Beach, but we saw Haystack Rock from a distance, because we needed to make it to Ecola State Park for Sunset. We did spend some time wandering around tow.
And I'm glad we did.
Cannon Beach is exactly the kind of little coastal town you want to stop and explore during a road trip.
We grabbed souvenirs, found a slice of pizza for dinner, and wandered around before heading back toward the coast.
Sometimes the unplanned stops end up being just as memorable as the things you specifically put on the itinerary!
Ecola State Park looking on to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
🌅 Sunset at Ecola State Park
Before leaving the Cannon Beach area, we made our way to Ecola State Park.
And this was one of the highlights of the entire trip.
We arrived in time to catch the sunset, and the view was incredible! From the park, we could look out over the Pacific and see Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock from above.
It was one of those moments where you just stop for a minute and think: Yep. This is why we travel.
Not everything has to be a major attraction. Sometimes it's just standing somewhere beautiful at the right time of day.
After taking a ton of beautiful pictures, we headed to our hotel at Holiday Inn Express & Suites Seaside-Convention Center that we booked with IHG points accrued from these cards. These cards have since been revamped, but I used my Free Night Certificate for this stay.
Tree of Life, Kalaloch Beach, Washington
🌲 Day Three: The Drive to Forks
The next morning, we continued north toward Washington and eventually Forks. We did make a quick stop at Kalaloch Beach to see the famous Tree of Life, where the tree's roots seem to stretch across the rocky ground above the beach. Unfortunately, it seems this tree is continuing to sink, so it was lower than when I originally saw it in September of 2020.
We continued through the Pacific Northwest, including the long bridge and Astoria, where we stopped for coffee before continuing north.
From there, it was miles of coastal scenery and small towns before eventually making our way through places like Aberdeen and toward Forks. This drive in itself was an adventure. Though Forks is not close to either Seattle or Portland where you’d fly in from, both routes are worth the drive!
Once we reached Forks, we checked into our hotel and then decided to head toward La Push. We had planned to eat at River's Edge Restaurant on the Quileute Reservation, but unfortunately…It was closed for reconstruction.
Travel lesson #1:
Always have a backup plan. 😂
Instead of dinner at River's Edge, we headed back toward Forks and called it a night.
Me with Erik Odom who played Peter in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. He was very kind, and his mom took this picture 😅
🍎 Day Four: Forever Twilight in Forks
The next day was the festival: Forever Twilight in Forks. My friends the last couple of years have been gracious enough to carve out a day of this trip so I can be a vendor at this event, which always makes this trip special when I get to meet everyone who attends!
Instead of just attending as a fan, I was able to be there doing what I love; creating and selling items for Twilight fans and authors. I figured, since I’m able to make my way and back from Nashville for a whopping $11 plus get my hotel stays for $0, why not be involved in this fun activity as well!
There's something really fun about watching a fictional place become a real community and an annual destination for people from all over the country.
We spent the day at the event, enjoying the atmosphere, seeing familiar faces, and doing our vendor thing. Then, at 3:00 p.m., it was time to pack everything up…Because we still had one more drive ahead of us.
🚗 Back to Portland
After the festival, we loaded everything into the car and started the long drive back toward Portland. We stayed one final night at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Portland Airport, using 25,000 IHG points. then we headed to the airport the next morning to drop off the rental car and head home.
Our flight home left at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning, with a layover in Phoenix before continuing home.
And just like that, our Pacific Northwest adventure was over.
💳 So What Did This Trip Actually Cost Us?
When we look at the trip as a whole, we covered a LOT of travel with points. We love it!
Flights
Southwest:
7,500 points for the outbound flight
6,500 points for the return
Hannah traveled as my Companion, which meant we didn’t have to use points here
$11.20 per person round-trip in taxes and fees
Hotels
IHG:
Staybridge Suites Hillsboro North — 23,000 points
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Seaside — Free Night Certificate
Forks Motel — 22,000 points
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Portland Airport — 25,000 points
Total points:
70,000 IHG points + 1 free night certificate, which gave us lodging for the entire trip + 14k Southwest points for round-trip flights for two from Nashville to Portland! I still can’t believe we were able to get those flights for as cheap as we did! It always benefits you to see if flights go down in price, then you can cancel and rebook to get the better rate.
Ruby Beach, Washington
💡 What I Love About This Trip
This is exactly why I talk about using points to subsidize travel. We got so much value from our points without needing to spend them on a luxurious vacation (though those are great also!). That's what I want people to understand about points. Sometimes the best redemption is simply the one that helps you take the trip you really want to take.
We used them for something we actually wanted to do.
We got to:
🌊 Explore the Oregon coast
🌲 Drive through parts of the Pacific Northwest
🪨 See Haystack Rock
🌅 Watch the sunset at Ecola State Park
💦 Visit Wahkeena Falls
☕ Stop at Carver Cafe
🏠 See the Twilight Swan house
🦌 Have an unexpected deer encounter
🌳 See the Tree of Life
🍎 Spend time in Forks
Mt. Hood from a distance
🧳 Would We Do It Again?
Absolutely! I highly suggest this route in the Pacific Northwest, but especially for Twilight fans attending the festival. If you are just going to visit the area, there are definitely a lot more stops you could make to see more incredible parts of the Olympic National Park. If you want to know our route from Seattle, see this post.
Definitely give yourself time to explore the areas of this beautiful part of the country. Honestly, I love that this trip wasn't perfectly planned. We found deer we weren't expecting and a cute little town that we stopped for pizza. We watched an incredible sunset and drove through tiny coastal towns. We drank coffee along the way.
And we got to experience a place that has become a pretty special part of my life.
That's the thing about travel with points:
The points get you there, but the memories are what make the trip worth it!
