By Bill Morton

On Travel

My wife, the smart and fun-loving one of us, drives convertibles. Her first car, purchased at age 23 before she had taken her first driving lesson or had a license, was an MG Midget.

Her latest version is the can’t-help-but-smile VW Beetle, a cream-colored cupcake with a black ragtop, usually open.

I mention our convertible because we are heading to central Oregon for a long summer weekend, and the Beaver State was made for convertibles. Whether we are motoring Highway 101 along Oregon’s jewel-like coastline, or gliding past Mount Hood en route to the high desert, the views are amazing, convertible or not.

Oregon is larger than Washington, with a third less people. Its coastline goes forever. Its interior is almost empty.

No wonder travel writers love Oregon. One of my favorite travel writers, David Vokac, and his co-author wife, Joan, just published a superb guide to Oregon.

The Vokacs share a bias of mine. Great vacations, especially family vacations, are found in small towns. Forget expensive cities with pricey restaurants, parking meters, and commuter clogs. The best small towns increasingly are home to excellent dining, just-so inns, upscale bed & breakfasts, beaches to clam, rivers to run, and culture. Oregon is Exhibit “A”.

The Vokac’s “The Great Towns of Oregon” features 18 winners. Since I’ve visited every one of their 18 favorites, I must report: these towns are the cream of the crop.

Oregon has extraordinary beach towns, and nine are singled out in the guide. From Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River to Brookings 300 miles south near the California border, this book highlights the weather (both inches of rain and sunny-day likelihood) on a week-by-week basis. The Vokacs also offer an analysis of demographics, housing costs, livability factors, and even town political persuasions. They mostly keep their analysis to towns under 50,000 people, although they make an exception for Bend at nearly 53,000. This book joins their previous guidebooks of the great towns of Northern California and Southern California in serving as great travel planners and resources for finding that perfect retirement home or a pied-a- terre.

Here are several of my favorites, which the Vokacs have identified as the great towns:

Astoria: Lewis & Clark’s West Coast home at Fort Clatsop National Memorial, the newly-remodeled Hotel Elliott, Oregon’s top aquatic center, and the waterfront streetcar trolley are all reasons to visit here. Plus, Astoria is second only to Ashland for having lots of quality B&Bs.

Cannon Beach: An artist’s dreamscape with magical Haystack Rock peeking out of the mist is best enjoyed from a room at romantic Stephanie Inn. Cannon Beach is tops for art galleries among the Oregon coastal towns.

Lincoln City: Ignore the clap-trap along Highway 101 and dine at The Bay House, in the Vokacs’ opinion, the “Northwest’s finest coastal dinner house.” A few miles farther south, you’ll want to stop at picturesque Depoe Bay.

Newport: Home to not one, but two aquariums, both must-visits. I also smile whenever I think of the quirky, literary Sylvia Beach Hotel, in which every room is decorated in remembrance of an author and his or her writings. I also appreciate the hotel’s family style dinner experience, poetically called The Table of Contents.

Bandon: Golf at Bandon Dunes Resort has put this classy town on the radar screen. The three 18-hole courses are classic Scottish links with dunes and heather everywhere, and no motorized golf carts anywhere. Very authentic. Another find: The Bandon Glass Art Studio, the best in southern Oregon.

McMinnville: Oregon’s finest wine appellation is here at Yamhill County. That, along with wine touring, exquisite dining (The Joel Palmer House, Tina’s, and Nick’s Italian Café top the list), and an art stop at the Lawrence Gallery make this town of 26,000 a cultural highlight, one hour southwest of Portland.

Ashland & Jacksonville: separated by 20 miles, but I lump these towns together whenever I visit. Jacksonville is home to the Peter Britt Festival, which features almost-nightly outdoor performances of jazz, folk, and classical music from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Ashland is Shakespeare Country from March through October. As important, Ashland has a collection of B&Bs that surpass Carmel-Monterey in number and match it in quality. Hotel fans will applaud the newly-refurbished Ashland Springs Hotel very near the Shakespeare Festival campus.

Hood River: It is eye-poppingly scenic with snow-topped Mount Adams on the Washington side and snaggletoothed Mount Hood on the Oregon side, and 500 wind-surfers in between. I enjoy the fruit stands that trail up the road above Hood River. Beer lovers will be very comfortable in Full Sail Brewing Company’s tasting room and pub with picture windows and a deck over the river. At least I was very comfortable there.

Joseph: Tucked into the extreme northeast corner of Oregon, this birthplace of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce today is America’s epicenter of bronze art. Why is world-class bronze sculpture in Joseph? The Wallowa Mountains, with their 9,000-foot peaks, inspire everyone who visits, especially artists. Plus, since 1982 Joseph has built a number of forges for casting the bronze pieces.

For each of the 18 towns described in “The Great Towns of Oregon,” you’ll learn the percentage of citizens who are over 65 and other facts, such as how many of the citizens own homes or have a college degree. You’ll also learn about the risk of a violent crime in the towns as compared to Portland or nationwide. All the good and average restaurants and cafes are identified, as well as overnight accommodations, state parks, and other recreational offerings.

“Great Towns” also provides toll-free telephone numbers for chambers of commerce and visitor centers, e-mail addresses, and essential information such as the town’s population and elevation, and the distance to the nearest airport with regularly scheduled flights.

For more information about the Vokacs’ newest book, visit the www.greattowns.com Web site.