Every vegan has experienced the anxiety of wondering if there are any food options while traveling, and every dog owner has gone through the hassle of finding dog friendly hotels and restaurants along a road trip. Add these together and you get a fun double whammy of road trip planning. So here we will be sharing our trip and stops on our road trip from Los Angeles, California to Portland, Oregon, as two vegans with a dog.
The reality is not all vegan friendly restaurants will have outdoor seating or welcome our furry friends. While it is easy enough to order takeout and find a nearby park to enjoy an impromptu picnic, sometimes it might be too hot, too cold or too rainy to eat outside. With proper planning, in car dining can be a very viable and even enjoyable option in these situations. We have done lots of in car dining since the COVID pandemic and here are a few tips:
- Have a small container with extra utensils. We have a small storage container full of plastic utensils, sauce packets and extra napkins in the footwell of the back seats. Most of the utensils were extras from other in car dining sessions. Not all restaurants will automatically provide utensils or the right amount, and you might forget to check.
- Be very familiar with the slopes on your dash, nothing is worse than seeing your food slide off the dash.
- Have easily accessible napkin holders. It’s not great if you are fumbling around your car with greasy fingers looking for something to wipe it with. We recently added visor mounted napkin holders that have been a game changer.
- Prevent messes, bring the food container up to your chin.
- If it is hot, sunshades can really help reduce the heat. We have been able to purchase custom fit shades for two different cars off Amazon, highly recommend.
- For super long trips it might be a good idea to have a refrigerated cooler. We do tend to bring fruits and other veggies for us and doggo. This way there is no ice needed, less mess and plugs into the car. We also brought a small battery pack to run the cooler when the car is off for an extended time. The downside is it takes up a bit of space, and can be a pain to lug in and out of the car.
- Bonus: one little added feature that can be helpful in certain situations is a table. We use a table whose leg fits into the cup holders, and while its not the most stable, it is enough to hold sauces, salsas, and appetizers.
The journey started off with lunch at Green Table Cafe in Los Angeles, unfortunately I neglected to take pictures of the food. That being said, plenty of vegan options to choose from in LA. We kept the breakfast light because our first stop was Vegan Planet in Fresno, CA.
Full review of the restaurants will be posted and linked *eventually*. Vegan Planet is a delicious vegan fast food place in Fresno, California.
Saturn Burger.
Galaxy Fries.
Yes the food is a bit on the heavy side for a long road trip, but delicious is delicious, not going to turn down good food. There was outdoor seating, and the restroom was clean. From there the plan was to reach Redding, CA, but we got hungry since we split the burger and made a pitstop in Elk Grove, CA.
At first we weren’t too confident we would find vegan options, but just as we exited the freeway, we saw Hidden Dumpling House. A quick tip is restaurants specializing in Chinese dumplings are popping up everywhere, at least in California, and most dumpling places will have vegan/vegetarian dumplings. Side note, I am not sure I agree with their name, as it was quite easy to find and literally the first place we saw off the freeway.
We got an order of veggie dumplings, which I verified with the staff was vegan, veggie buns, and salt and pepper tofu. Food was good, and we packed two buns for our breakfast the next day.
Dumplings.
Buns.
Salt and Pepper Tofu.
From there it was off to Redding, CA.
Nothing much to say about Redding, CA. Really it was just a place to stop and sleep. We stayed at Towne Place Suites by Marriott. They are dog friendly, and have a kitchenette. There are plenty of dog friendly options in Redding, so I am not going to talk more about that. The pet fee for this hotel was $25 per day, I think they said with a max $150, and a bonus was no parking fee.
In the morning we had our leftover buns for breakfast and headed towards the coast on the 299, preparing to stop in Arcata, CA.
The drive to Arcata was nice, the scenery is very different from the dreary I5 or I99. Some of the towns like Weaverville looked like they were stuck in time, if you had extra time it would probably be a nice stroll through the town, but we had to press on to get to our ultimate destination for the day. Once we arrived at Arcata, we stopped at Cafe Phoenix for lunch. Food was not bad, staff was very friendly and nice. We got a breakfast burrito and tofu scramble plate.
Burrito.
Burrito insides.
Tofu scramble.
Now the real trip begins as we head north up the coast, to hopefully see the iconic Oregon coast. Our last stop of the day will be Florence, OR.
As we make this drive, everything changes. I don’t know exactly when we took this dashcam pic, but everywhere we look are beautiful green trees. For us tree huggers, it doesn’t get any better.
The coast line was just beautiful. There were a few view points off the freeway, and I cannot remember what this one is called, but it was stunning. These pictures absolutely do not capture the feeling of being there.
We passed by a few coastal towns on our way to the hotel. They seemed very quiet and quaint, with some good coastal elements, but also rougher elements as well. On the way to Florence, we passed by the Oregon Dunes, which were huge, and reminded me of the New Mexico White Sands Dunes.
Our hotel was the Florentine Waterfront Hotel (https://hotelflorentine.com/about-us), which is family run lodging right on the lake (I know I said Florence, but the hotel is technically in Dunes City, OR). Each room is unique and dog friendly complete with a kitchenette, we had the sage room. We booked on Airbnb and there was no additional pet fee. The staff that we ran into were friendly and warm, the unit was pretty clean. The provided kitchen equipment left a lot to be desired, so if you go, don’t expect to make full meals there. Most importantly, however, is the view.
Living room.
Kitchenette. Is that a ghost in the background?
Bathroom.
Bedroom.
Fun decor.
View from the porch.
Oregon has blackberries everywhere, mostly because it’s an invasive species, but we were able to reach some of the berries off this porch. They were sweet and flavorful. If we had more time I would have liked to stay another day to enjoy the lake, but we had to press on to reach our first major destination: Eugene, OR. But first, Organic Noodles.
Veganized asparagus fries.
Veganized sesame yakisoba.
Before completing the drive to Eugene, we stopped by the Sweet Creek Falls trail for a little hike. The trail was well shaded and relatively easy, also dog friendly of course. The trail mostly followed Sweet Creek and was just gorgeous the whole way. We are not sure if we made it to the end of the trail or not, but we had turn around and head on to Eugene.
Once we arrived at Eugene, we checked in to our Airbnb. Since there are plenty of lodging options, I am not going to get into specifics. The first place we hit was Jade Dumpling & Noodle House.
Vegetarian buns.
Bun insides.
Vegetarian dumplings.
Dumpling insides.
Spicy and sour cucumber salad.
Sichuan spicy dry noodles.
Even though I won’t do a full review here, just a fair warning, the Sichuan Spicy Dry Noodles are VERY SPICY.
For breakfast the next day, we stopped by Morning Glory Cafe for breakfast, and it was pretty decent.
Pesto omelette (vegan option).
Bomblette vegan option.
We decided to visit Crescent Lake. which was about one and a half hours from Eugene. You have to stop by the Middle Fork Ranger station right before Oakridge to get a parking pass for the lake. The lake itself is calm with a beach and tree lined. There weren’t that many people there.
Tried a panoramic shot, which really doesn’t do the lake justice. From the lake, we headed back, making a few stops along the way.
This is the majestic Salt Creek Falls, where enjoyed some pastries from Morning Glory Cafe.
Strawberry cinnamon roll.
Blueberry scone.
Last stop was Salmon Creek.
Dinner was at Tasty Thai Campus, which was…fine.
Drunken nooles (veganized).
Spicy basil fried rice (veganized).
Took a stroll though the University of Oregon. Just a nice town.
Probably could have taken more pictures, but really trying to be in the moment. Next day we had a foraging tour with Jeffery Morel (foragingformore.substack.com), at Shotgun Creek Trail. The price was very reasonable, and although we weren’t able to find many edible mushrooms, we learned a lot. Jeffery is a great guide, unfortunately he will be moving to Portland. So look him up there if you are visiting Portland.
Some kind of mushroom.
Beautiful trail.
Shotgun Creek.
We stopped by The Garden on Friendly, which is a food truck pod with a dining room. There were many options to choose from, we tried Silva’s Taqueria and Louka’s Bistro.
Tlayudas veganized. Silva’s Taqueria.
Blanda veganized. Silva’s Taqueria.
Fritter Sando with Fries. Louka’s Bistro.
The rest of our time in Eugene was spent driving through the neighborhoods, and checking out local businesses. Also, had the chance to visit their Saturday farmer’s market, which was amazing. A couple notable businesses we visited in Eugene are:
- Oregon Tea Traders – great local teas
- Voohoo Doughnuts – has good vegan options
- Sundance Market – a vegetarian market with great prepared foods
- Eugene Asian Market – nice little Asian market in downtown (let us bring our dog in)
- Mountain Rose Herbs – great shop for medicinal herbs
Ok this post has gotten long enough. The rest of the trip will be Part II. To Portland and back home.
Let us know how these travel blogs can be more helpful!
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