Thanks to Kia for providing the Kia Niro PHEV for the week for our adventures. However, all thoughts and images are 100% my own. Links below may contain affiliate links, which if you buy anything through the link could provide a kickback to the blog.
When we first got the yes to get the Kia for our adventure to Cascade Locks, Oregon for the wedding. That is mainly where we planned to stay and explore. Finding a hotel was troublesome and expensive though, so we opted for the quick day trip to Cascade Locks for the wedding and ended up running to the coast in a plugin hybrid for the other half. Because you all know us and the coast, we can’t resist when given the chance.
It was a quick overnight trip but was so nice and relaxing at the same time. We didn’t do a lot but never feels like we have to do a lot while on the coast.
Getting to the Coast in a Plugin Hybrid
Sunday, October 7th
We got into Lincoln City, Oregon in the late afternoon. When we went to check in at Chinook Winds Casino Resort, I happened to catch this little dog flying up the road from the beach area. It’s little leash flapping on the ground and him sprinting full speed. I turned quickly and didn’t even think what I was doing but went to chase after him. Seeing his owners coming as fast they could from the beach too.
He happened to slow down once reaching the grass area and came right to me, thank goodness. My mind only went to him sprinting full speed into the road and getting run over, my heart couldn’t take that. Needless to say, my heart took a bit to slow down after that little adventure, and my hands were a bit shaky as we were checking in. What a way to start an overnight adventure though.
Getting all of us into our room for the evening and watching the beach waves, Roxy and I cuddled into the bed. My hip for some reason was really aching, and so curled onto the bed and relaxing some greatly helped.
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After a bit of a rest, we headed next door to Chinook’s Seafood Grill for some dinner. Enjoying the view before the darkness settled in on the ocean.
After we finished eating we headed over to the casino for a bit to play some slots. Which finished up our evening out and settled back into our room for a bit of Don’t You Forget It by Pressman Toys – which we truly enjoyed. Was our first time to play it and we liked it. Easy to learn and easy to play.
Monday, October 8th
Our day to truly explore before we headed back home. Stopping at Lil Sambos for some breakfast before setting out. Personally, I had never been there and for Jason, it had been years since he had. We had a huge breakfast and it was perfectly filling and good. Being the blogger that I am, we stopped to take photos in the photo opt provided by Lil Sambos.
Even our little Kia Niro PHEV wanted to get into the photo prop action but she couldn’t figure out how to transfer herself over, so here she is smiling at the Lil Sambos sign and us as we took our photos.
Charging the Kia Niro PHEV
After our filling breakfast, we headed out to the Taft District of Lincoln City to try and plug in the Kia Niro. We had tried previously to plug in at one of our free stations in Vancouver but couldn’t figure it out and didn’t seem the hose fit into the Niro. And sadly, we couldn’t figure out this one either. We even were going to pay but nothing would happen.
At least this gives you an idea of how it looks when plugged in, even if we couldn’t figure it out ourselves.
Walking the Beach
After trying and failing at plugging in the Kia Niro PHEV, we parked elsewhere in the Historic Taft District and walked the beach area. Located where the Schooner Creek and the Siletz Bay feed into the Pacific Ocean. It’s one of our favorite areas to walk in Lincoln City. This day it was super foggy but made for some fun photos.
See that shadow out there above? At first, we thought it was a rock but reminded us of an old time boat. Which come to find out it was an actual boat!
Do you spot those little sea lions? It was a little seek and find in the foggy day. Several photos we have you have to really look for them in the fog. This was one of the better photos of seeing their little heads.
The Kia Niro PHEV in silky silver really blended in with the gray foggy day. She was ready for us to drive up the coast for our drive home and hope to find some pretty fall colors along the way.
Drive up the Coast
Loading back up in the Kia Niro PHEV, turning on the heated seats and the heated steering wheel, to get ourselves warm from the foggy and misty rain. We started to make our way up the coast for our drive back home.
Lucky for us we did find some pretty fall colors. On the flip side, we never found any to pull over and take photos with the car, just the side of the roads. Still, some pretty scenes were found and I was happy!
And so was Roxy!
End of our Adventure
We had a great weekend in the Kia Niro PHEV and got some good adventures in. It’s to be noted we only filled up a tiny bit once in Astoria, Oregon. And never once plugged in because we couldn’t figure it out and never found the right one when we did try. Our house isn’t set up to be really plug in a car either.
Otherwise, the Kia Niro PHEV was the perfect companion to our adventures this go around. Perfect size and good get up and go for a hybrid model. Was sad never found the right fall colors to take photos with the car for like I had envisioned for it but still, a great time was had and some good photos found.
I plan to do a post in the next few weeks comparing for us a hybrid vs a plugin hybrid. So stay tuned for that!
