Oceanfront Marvels of Lincoln City's Pelican Shores Inn - Central Oregon Coast

Published 11/16/21 at 5:28 AM PST
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Lincoln City, Oregon) – From an oceanfront perch that's surrounded by soft wooden tones and bordered by a metal rail, there's a raucous sea raging out there, with angry wave after wave pounding an increasingly-shrinking beach. A hot toddy in one hand and the other clutching the rail before the next fierce wind gust hits, it's both exhilarating and calming at the same time. Take a sip, sigh with awed introspection, then giggle a bit at yourself at this kooky endeavor as the crazed air of the Oregon coast tries to suddnely push you around. Tempestuousness never seemed so utterly comfortable.

For a few minutes (all you could really manage without spilling your drink), time seemed to stand still in a new way. It was glorious while it lasted, but it's time to slink back to your room. So you take a few steps backward, open the glass sliding door, and you're back next to the fire.

Oregon coast storm season at Lincoln City's Pelican Shores Inn: one of the fireplace suites on top. You're back in the warmth and comfort of the modern world and done playing Lewis & Clark for awhile. Well, at least until you get up the gumption to hit the beach at night when the winds have calmed.

Pelican Shores Inn is one of those somewhat secret hotel hangouts that don't seem to get gobs of attention, but they've got one heck of a loyal following, often one that started about 20 years ago when the place descended on Lincoln City's already-crowded hotel scene. Looking at random review sites one thing stands out: guests often gush how true the Pelican's website photos are to reality. Not like many other hotels, they say, where you get there and it's not really like how it's depicted online. Pelican Shores Inn has a reputation for showing off – but deservedly so. With each room hosting a killer view of the surf, the cedar-shingled oceanfront hotel means what it says when those photos start speaking “a thousand words.”

Pelican Shores Inn does not allow pets, but there is an elevator to the top, a guest laundry, and the suites are all quite spacious. You also get a complimentary continental breakfast – and then there's that oh-so-tempting indoor pool. During nicer times of the year, they break out the barbecues, or you can grab a kitchen unit and cook yourself a more gourmet experience.

Rooms on the ground level have patios, while the upstairs units have the balconies. Some have fireplaces, some are larger units with more than one bed, while others are perfect for one or two.

Half the fun of staying here – well, way over half – is that you're on the Oregon coast itself, and these beaches in particular. This northern end of Lincoln City by the NW 26th access is a bit on the unpopulated side, as it's a ways off the beaten path from most of the visitors in the area.

Of particular fun is the NW 26th access in its own right, where a sizable walkway descends down onto the beach – but not as strenuous a walk as the somewhat daunting stairway at NW 21st. Once you get down onto this beach, there's a a curiosity here: a chunk of a stairway that once existed here. It's like a bit of a castle ruin, simply a partial few steps that abruptly end in jagged shapes where it was sheared off at one point in time. Apparently, another set of steps stretched downward and it appears as if they were ripped apart by a storm. Oregon Coast Beach Connection has attempted to find out the story from the city of Lincoln City, but no one knew.

Summer brings an expansion of the sands: calmer seas typically add more sands to a beach than they take away. So you get higher sand levels and some slight dune effects as well as the beach stretching out farther to the west than it does in other seasons.

Come winter, this place is prime for storms, which can under extreme circumstance run right up against that small rise above the beach. Maybe some mammoth waves will even splash the manicured lawn of Pelican Shores Inn.

Afterwards it's not a bad place to look for agates. Lincoln City is well known for its agate hunting possibilities, which can often depend on sand levels getting lower, as they do in winter. But even summer can produce those surprise gravel beds on a whim, and this length of beach is not off limits to that pleasantry.

There are actually more than one giant vein of agate-producing rock around Lincoln City, which often pop when sand levels get low enough in winter. This doesn't hurt the proliferation of the esteemed, colorful find at all.  2645 NW Inlet Ave. 800-705-5505. www.pelicanshores.com 

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