There are so many world-traveling women out there now and in history that I’d love to write about. But I am lucky to know personally one woman that travels more than anyone I know! Tyler Burgess has retired from years of leading walking tours around the world and teaching fitness walking classes in Eugene, but she still travels to amazing places and shares them with us in a variety of artistic media.
Tyler grew up on a ranch in Wyoming, attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and then lived in Montana before moving to Oregon. I’m sure the epic beauty of those states impacted her wanderlust, but she told me she was inspired to travel from hearing her mother’s stories of travel (her father who was stationed in the Pacific Islands during the war).
She founded her business “Walk With Me” in 2000. For many years, she gave walking tours in 10 different countries, taught fitness walking classes at the UofO and LCC in Eugene, coached marathon walking training, and directed four marathons.
Now she is officially retired from all that, but she is nowhere near done traveling. She packs a fold-up bicycle into her luggage for many of her trips so she can travel by bike across places like Sri Lanka. In Europe, she’s done a few different pilgrimages on the Way of St. James. She says she loves those because the local churches have been praying for the pilgrims for over 1,000 years, and the hospitality is amazing. Her son lives in Ecuador, so she has a good excuse to travel around South America, too. She says her favorite specific place to travel to is Venice. The destination isn’t the goal; she loves meeting interesting people on the way. Her most recent trip (as of the time of this writing; I started this post a while ago but she keeps going places!) was to bike across New England.
Fun fact: Tyler played a part in my going to Afghanistan before I even met her. My mom had met her years ago through the singles group at her church. When I was looking for a teaching job, Mom ran into Tyler and told her that I’d been offered a job in South Korea and one in Afghanistan, but was leaning toward Afghanistan. Despite having joined the army and going to live in Germany during the Cold War when she was half the age that I was when I went to Afghanistan (see my previous article about her journeys), Mom was understandably anxious about my decision. She asked Tyler what she thought I should do. Tyler said something like, “Oh, she should go to Kabul! What an opportunity!” Mom felt that was confirmation from God that I would be okay or at least was making the right decision. That helped me feel better about it, too, because I didn’t want to cause emotional distress for my family.
Years later, after I had returned to the U.S. and was teaching and living in the Eugene area, I found a couple of her Oregon walking guidebooks in local bookstores. One of them was about Eugene walks, complete with sketches of things she’d seen along the way. I did some of the walks from the book and loved them.
Now Tyler attends the church I do, so I am getting to know her myself! And I get invited to her travel talks. I’ve been to a few of them. It’s so neat to hear about her trips and look through her watercolor hand-painted travel journals. She also puts together fast-paced Youtube videos and writes about her trips on her blog. You can find links to those on her website https://walk-with-me.com/, but here are a couple photos I’ve taken of the pages in her travel journals. Postcards of her Oregon-themed sketches can be found in the Eugene Cascades to Coast (Travel Lane County) visitor’s center in downtown Eugene. And you can find lots of her books on Amazon, including city walk guidebooks and sketchbook diaries for some of her bigger walks like the Way of St. James in Europe.
If you’re in the Eugene area, I hope you get to meet Tyler! And if not, you can buy her books on Amazon.
Mom and Tyler at her book booth in 2024 when Mom and I did the Springfield Art Walk
My husband and I celebrated our 3-year wedding anniversary last month, with our first kid-free overnight trip! We stayed a night at the Wolf Creek Inn, an historic site in the Oregon State Parks system. More about that later, as well as the White Wolf Sanctuary trip that we and the kids took in August. But first, a big announcement.
If you’re friends with me in the real world or Facebook, you may know this already, but I thought I’d make it official on here, too. I went back to teaching! In my “Quick Update” post this spring, I talked about getting promoted to an account manager position at the insurance brokerage firm USI. There were some aspects of that position that I really liked, but it hit me all of a sudden that I really missed teaching after three years away from it, and I’d better get back into it before it was too late.
Fortunately, one of the schools I taught at before had a position come open for this school year. Now I’m teaching two classes each of 8th & 9th grade math, one high school math support class, and a credit-recovery World Geography class for 12th graders. I’m exhausted already from trying to get back into teaching and find my groove after three years out of it (and six years out of teaching regular ed classes). But also energized by getting to work with kids again! They are so fun! I’ve already gotten a drawing from one kid, and another kid and her mom donated a neat map-themed trunk to my classroom. There are tough days, but I feel more like myself now that I’m back in the career I trained for. Chris says I come home with more interesting stories. Certainly it’s more fun (and easier on my ADHD than sitting in a cubicle). I’m very grateful.
I’m also thankful to my husband for supporting my move back to teaching. It won’t be easy for me to balance work with family, but he will help. He is so great! We enjoyed taking time out of our busy lives for our little anniversary overnight trip to Southern Oregon a few weeks ago.
Wolf Creek Inn started out as a stagecoach stop on the Applegate Trail in the 1800s. Over the years, famous visitors have included Clark Gable and Jack London. The latter wrote a short story here, and they preserved his little room as a museum piece as well as named a the peak just south of town after him. We hiked it and enjoyed the views, although it looked like the Smoky Mountains due to the Moon Fire complex. The next day, we visited the nearby ghost town of Golden (also a State Heritage park in the Oregon State Parks system) on our way out. Speaking of ghosts, Wolf Creek Inn has embraced their alleged haunted status, so they have gone all out on Halloween decor. We even found Jack London, or at least a skeleton on the bed in his museum room! It was a little overwhelming. But the place kept its charm. The ballroom upstairs wasn’t decorated as Halloween-ish, and had big tables to spread out on, so we hung out up there to work on our writing and art.
Wolf Creek Inn in SeptemberView from London Peak with wildfire nearbyMe, “teaching” in the Golden school; photo by Chris
Wolf Creek Inn is also an interpretive site along the Applegate Trail, complete with covered wagon and informational signs and a picnic table. A great spot to stop for a break on a road trip. We also visited a different Applegate Trail site in Myrtle Creek on the way down that was really neat. When I lived in Myrtle Creek many years ago, I didn’t know there was a hike you could do along the ruts of the trail! It goes up a bluff with great views of the valley and South Umpqua River below. In that area, we also stopped at Pizza Palace in Tri-City so Chris could see why his pizza restaurant reminds me of it, and ate lunch at Ken’s Sidewalk Café in Canyonville. I’ve shown Chris and the kids some of my old haunts in this area before, but it was fun to show him around a bit more without the kids. Wolf Creek Inn makes a great weekend getaway!
Speaking of wolves, on my birthday in August, we got to go to the White Wolf Sanctuary in Tidewater, Oregon. It’s up in the mountains near Waldport. The trip was thanks to the Summit Award I earned at USI. We made a loop of the trip, stopping to eat at a fisherman’s market in Newport and see the giant rock formations in the ocean at Seal Rock. We arrived at the meeting spot to get to the wolf sanctuary a little late, but fortunately they waited for us. It was a very educational and neat place. One of the wolves, Nukka , was the most friendly, letting us see her up close in her giant pen. She was beautiful. And she knew it. She would strut around and pose for us to admire her, reminding us of my cat Arwen. So cute! Thanks to USI for this experience!
Seal Rock State ParkOur youngest kid and NukkaNukka knows she’s beautiful!
This new (school!) year will be busy, so I may not get to write as much for a while. I’ve got a couple articles drafted and will get one of them out very soon (see below for preview). If you’re wanting some fall scenery ideas in the Eugene/Springfield area, be sure to check out my post of autumn photos from this past winter, a few posts ago.
Recently I’ve discovered a couple blogs that I think you’d enjoy. I’ll list them here along with websites and blogs from two very interesting local friends of mine.
http://www.walk-with-me.com – my friend Tyler’s website (with link to her blog on it). My next post is complete, and it’s about her fascinating life! She is an author and artist and led walking tours around the world for years. Stay tuned in a day or two for more about her, but if you can’t wait, check out her website.
jeromycilley.com – my former coworker at USI has had a very interesting life, too. He has some unique hobbies that he shares on his website/blog, including making music and hunting for animal skulls.
Notes: For this post, NP = National Park, NM = National Monument, SP = State Park, NRA = National Recreation Area, and BLM = Bureau of Land Management. All photos were taken by me. I’ve been working on this article for months, and am saddened by the recent news in Grand Canyon National Park. My condolences to all who are affected by the wildfire destruction at the North Rim. Donating to the Grand Canyon Conservancy is one way to help. I’ll list the link at the bottom of this post. I’ve also been deeply saddened by many other things impacting people in the national and world news lately. Please join me in praying for these situations to get betterand/or helping out in any way you can.
Recently I saw a photo of Grand Canyon NP, and it got my brain gears turning. I remembered having seen other gorges with the title “Grand Canyon” in them, such as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone [River] in Yellowstone NP, or having Grand Canyon as a nickname, like Breaks Interstate Park, dubbed “the Grand Canyon of the South.” Could the U.S. national park one then be called “The Grand Canyon of the United States”? Or just the very literal “Grand Canyon of the Colorado River”? Or is “the Grand Canyon” enough to denote the big one in GCNP?
Being the information nerd that I am, I decided to look up Grand Canyons for every region and state in the USA as well as any I could find in other countries. Here’s a fun list of what I found. I’ll try to add photos for any that I’ve seen myself if I can find them in my old photo folders. Links to references and websites with multiple “grand canyon” locations will be listed at the end.
I had fun looking at canyons ranging from epically grand to small-but-scenic. Some are noteworthy for their width and others for their depth. Being from the state of Oregon with fairly dramatic topography thanks to volcanic activity, my definition of a canyon may be different than some people’s definition of a canyon. One time I was driving through Nebraska to visit family and came across a place called “Massacre Canyon.” While it had an interesting human history, I thought it was only a slight dip in the road compared to gorges we have back home. For many of the states, I could only find a “Little Grand Canyon” of some sort which resembled the scale and scenery of the many waterfall canyons we have here in Oregon. But I will happily let these states and regions lovingly nickname their local scenery as Grand Canyons, because, why not? Everyone needs one, evidently. You’ll notice that many of these are in national parks, state parks, preserves, and national geologic areas.
Cool fact: for Nebraska’s entry below (which is not the aforementioned canyon), I learned a bit of neat family history on my dad’s side! Also, for educational purposes, check out this description of the difference between a canyon and a gorge, although we use them somewhat interchangeably around here: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-difference-between-a-canyon-and-a-gorge.html
Enjoy this list, and please comment about any you’ve been to or any you know of that I missed.
By U.S. regions, these are known as “The Grand Canyon of the…”:
Midwest: Turkey Run SP in Indiana – deep sandstone ravines carved by glacial action and later wind and water
North: Hull Rust Mahoning Mine in Minnesota (human made, so less interesting to me, but still looks pretty)
Pacific: Waimea Canyon, Waimea Canyon SP in Hawaii – formed by erosion as well as the collapse of the volcano that created the island, more than 10 miles long and 3,000 feet deep!
Northwest: the Columbia River Gorge on the border of Oregon & Washington, or Hells Canyon on the border of Oregon & Idaho. I’ve been to the Columbia Gorge many times to hike to the many waterfalls or gaze out from the Crown Point Vista House, and even went on a short river cruise with my husband Chris on our honeymoon. It is beautiful! Haven’t been to Hells Canyon yet, though. By some measurements, it’s the deepest gorge in the world. I’ll make it there someday.
East: Pine Creek Gorge in Pennsylvania or Letchworth SP in New York – explained more below.
West: Couldn’t find a definitive answer for this (or “Grand Canyon of the Rockies” online, but I’m voting for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Wyoming. I loved seeing the canyon at Lower Falls even more than seeing the geysers! So big and beautiful. There are several other canyons in national parks that could vie for this title that will be mentioned in the U.S. States section below.
South: Providence Canyon SP, Georgia, or Breaks Interstate Park on the border of Kentucky & Virginia – I saw the latter with my ex-husband when we drove an hour or two from his parents’ house in Eastern Kentucky to see fall foliage there. The leaves hadn’t turned yet due to lack of rain, but I got a neat photo of a lady painting the lush green gorge. The ironic thing about this one is that it’s technically farther north than Grand Canyon NP!
Southwest: the Grand Canyon [of the ColoradoRiver] in Arizona – I haven’t been to the national park side of it yet, but years ago I got to fly over it in a small jet and stop at the Hualapai tribe side of it with my ex-husband’s family who were living in Las Vegas at the time. It was spectacular, but in some ways so grand that I couldn’t even comprehend it. Can’t find my old photos, sadly. Someday, I’d like to hike down into it, at least a bit.
The Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneCrown Point at the Columbia Gorge
By continent/world region:
South/Central Asia: Band-e-Amir NP in Afghanistan – Okay, I am spoiled. I’ve flown over this one in a 10-seater jet, as well. When I was a teacher at the International School of Kabul, some colleagues and I organized a trip with a pilot friend who worked for an organization that flew people who worked for NGOs around the country. It was a day trip to see the Buddha Caves and other wonders in the Bamiyan area. They flew us over Band-e-Amir so we could see Afganistan’s Grand Canyon on the way there. It was so beautiful! I managed to get a photo or two over the wings of the little King-Air jet.
Central Asia: Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan – the “Valley of the Castles” portion of it looks fantastic, literally.
Western Europe: High Cup and Cheddar Gorge in the United Kingdom, Cruz du Van in Switzerland, and the Bastei Rocks in Saxon Switzerland NP in Germany – This last one isn’t on the compilation websites below, but when I googled Grand Canyon of Germany, it showed up on the blog https://www.girllightning.com/2017/08/grand-canyon-germany-bastei-rocks.html I was excited because I’ve been there! I hiked to the beautiful stone Bastei Bridge in the snow once while on vacation from teaching overseas. A scene from the Han Solo movie was filmed there.
Eastern Europe: Vikos Gorge in Greece (listed as world’s “deepest compared to its width” by Guinness Book of Records), Tara River Canyon in Montenegro (over 40 waterfalls pour into it!), and Sulak Canyon in Russia (deepest in Europe)
Southern Africa: Fish River Canyon in Namibia – the largest canyon in Africa, one of the most popular hiking trails in Southern Africa
East Asia: Yarlung Tsangpo (or Zangbo) Grand Canyon in Tibet/China – the deepest canyon in the world according to Wikipedia
South America: Colca Canyon in Peru – home of the Andean Condor
Australia: Cappertee Valley in, well, Australia (that one continent that’s just one country) – the widest canyon in the world, according to Wikipedia
Northern North America: the aforementioned GCNP is of course the main contender for North America’s Grand Canyon, but Canada has one, too: the Grand Canyon of the Fraser in British Columbia (not to be confused with nearby Fraser Canyon, which looks even more epic to me in the photos)
Mexico: When I published this post, I just listed Copper Canyon (Barrancas del Cobre in Spanish) in the state of Chihuahua, México, because it looks amazing and has tall waterfalls and a fascinating history. However, my husband and I recently got to video chat with my ex-husband and his partner in México, and they told us about Cañón del Sumidero in the state of Chiapas. It looks amazing, too! Hopefully someday, I’ll get to visit both of these.
Central America: Pacuare River in Costa Rica is famous for whitewater rafting through rainforested gorges.
Oceania/Pacific: Waimea Canyon in Waimea Canyon SP, Hawaii, USA (see description in U.S. regions above)
By every U.S. State: (some of these may be repeats from the U.S. regions list). Note: I couldn’t find any feature referred to as a “grand canyon” for a few states. Any guesses? Read on to find out! If you’re from those states, please tell me if there’s a “grand canyon” of any sort there!
Alabama – Little River CanyonNational Preserve in the Southern Appalachians has waterfalls, sandstone cliffs, and forested vistas
Alaska – Grand Canyon of the Noatak River, in Noatak National Preserve – people float the river in the summer to see more of the canyon in a short amount of time
Arizona – Grand Canyon of the Colorado River (aka GCNP) of course, but don’t miss Walnut Canyon NM. I stopped there on a road trip and loved the history (the cliff dwellings from the Ancestral Puebloans as well as the visits and quotes from legendary author Willa Cather). And the canyon itself may not be as big as at GCNP, but it was beautiful.
Arkansas – Vendor Valley – the deepest canyon in the Ozarks was labeled “Arkansas’ Grand Canyon in a marketing campaign by the owners of Cliff House Inn. Works for me! I’d stop there, based on the photos I see!
California – Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne[River] in Yosemite NP, or Kings Canyon in Kings Canyon NP – these both look beautiful in pictures, and are in national parks, so of course I want to go to both of them. I’ve been to Yosemite Valley in Yosemite NP, and it is a pretty impressive glacier-cut gorge, too! (Yes, that’s a huge understatement)
Colorado – Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP – this one looks so deep and epic in the photos I’ve seen! Black because it’s in the shade most of the day.
Connecticut – some random chasm made by installing a pipeline, according to Reddit. That’s all I could find. Sorry, Connecticut!
Delaware – Delaware Water Gap NRA – a dramatic mountain pass in the Appalachians
Florida – ????? couldn’t find one
Georgia – Providence Canyon – human-made from mining but still looks neat, or Tallulah GorgeSP – Tallulah Falls looks awesome in the photos!
Hawaii – Waimea Canyon (see above in Regions section) – I mean hey, I’ll use an excuse to go to Hawaii. This one of course looks epic in the photos.
Idaho – Bruneau Canyon on BLM land (not to be confused with Bruneau Dunes SP) – deep and wide, it looks like a NW-style geologic version of the Arizona GC but without the crowds. In fact, very few people make their way out there. Hells Canyon, where the Snake River runs between Oregon and Idaho, is by some accounts the deepest canyon in the world (if you use the top of mountains in the calculations).
Illinois – the Little Grand Canyon Trail in Shawnee Forest – compared to some of the others, the 100 foot sandstone cliffs may not sound huge. But for Illinois, that is pretty deep! And it has a neat natural staircase carved by water that you can climb.
Indiana – Turkey Run SP (description above in the Regions section)
Iowa – Lost Canyon in Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area is “Iowa’s Little Grand Canyon”, aka “Midwest’s Little Grand Canyon” – 200-foot cliffs believed to be formed by a collapsed ancient cave system
Kansas –Arikaree Breaks – ravines and canyons in a badlands area, a nice break from cornfields! I feel like I saw topography that looked like this when I drove through Kansas from Colorado to Oklahoma.
Kentucky – Red River GorgeGeologic Area – Red River Gorge in the Daniel Boone National Forest boasts 41 natural bridges, according to the NPS. Kentucky also shares Breaks Interstate Park with Virginia.
Louisiana – Longleaf Vista RecreationArea in Kisatchie National Forest is “Louisiana’s Little Grand Canyon” – doesn’t look like a canyon or even a valley to me, but one website says “the topography is rugged by Louisiana standards” so we’ll let it slide.
Maine – Gulf Hagas – has multiple waterfalls gushing out of stone cliffs very near the Appalachian Trail
Maryland – Swallow Falls SP had some famous historical figures as visitors over 100 years ago! Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone camped there in 1921, according to the state park website.
Massachusetts – Chesterfield Gorge – a pretty hiking area with small waterfalls and 70-foot rock walls
Michigan – Canyon Falls is “the Grand Canyon of the UP [Upper Peninsula]” – the river falls 30 feet into a box canyon
Minnesota – Hull Rust Mahoming Mine (human-made from mining)
Mississippi – Red Bluff – an exposure of red clay, soil, and sand sloping into the Pearl River floodplain
Missouri – Grand Canyon ofCharrette Creek has high vertical walls on either side of a wide floodplain, or Grand Gulf SP is considered one of the natural wonders of the Ozarks and “Missouri’s Little Grand Canyon”
Montana – Gates of the MountainsWilderness Area was named by Lewis & Clark for how the cliffs seem to open up like gates as you traverse the Missouri River, or Bighorn CanyonNRA which looks more like the big Grand Canyon and is of course epic since it’s in Montana
Nebraska – Frenchman Creek Valley is “Nebraska’s Little Grand Canyon” or “Wauneta’s Little Grand Canyon” according to a local sign. It looks badlands-esque and also looked to be very close to where my Dad grew up. I sent him a screenshot of the webpage, and he says he would see it weekly when he rode along with his dad (the grandpa that died before I was born) to a job he did for the state, which was observing and recording which farmers were irrigating because the state was monitoring water usage.
Nevada – Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas – I couldn’t find a reference to a Grand Canyon in Nevada because every search for Nevada led me to tours of GCNP from Las Vegas. But I’ve been to Red Rock Canyon (on BLM land) with my ex-husband and his family, and it was stunning. Pink and red colors swirling everywhere. Absolutely otherwordly. Can’t find my photos of it, sorry!
New Hampshire – Sculptured Rocks Natural Area is a geology-oriented nature preserve with impressive rock formations surrounding a popular swimming hole
New Jersey – Palisades Interstate Park (geologic site) – a 12-mile long and 1/2 mile wide area of cliffs and uplands just minutes from Manhattan – I had no idea that New Jersey has scenery like this!
New Mexico – Rio Grande Gorge – the Rio Grande’s “grand canyon” follows an eroded chasm in northern New Mexico. I crossed over the Rio Grande much farther south in New Mexico, so I didn’t see this beautiful stretch of it, but even the part I saw was sure grand!
New York –Letchworth SP “the Grand Canyon of the East” – follows the Genesee River over several large waterfalls
North Carolina – Linville Gorge – earns its nickname as “the Grand Canyon of North Carolina” as one of only two official wilderness gorges in the South, with the Linville River 1400 feet below the ridge and having one of the few old growth forests in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
North Dakota – Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt NP aka “Grand Canyon of North Dakota” – named for its colorful rocks, it reminds me a bit of the Painted Desert in Arizona’s Petrified Forest NP.
Ohio – Conkle’s HollowState Nature Preserve in the Hocking Hills region – I’d go see this one just for the name. But it also has 200-foot Black Hand sandstone cliffs that look amazing.
Oklahoma – Red Rock Canyon Camping & Adventure Park – formerly known as Red Rock Canyon SP as well as Kiwanis Canyon Park – its red rock cliffs now offer activities run by a private company since the state ceased operating it and some other parks to balance the budget. But before it was a state park, it had plenty of history – Native Americans used it as a winter camp, and was later a rest stop for pioneers on the California trail (you can still see wagon ruts).
Oregon – Owyhee River Canyon /Canyonlands in SE Oregon/SW Idaho is the main contender for the title according to the internet, with breathtaking scenery in every direction. Also shared with Idaho, Hells Canyon could count (see description in Idaho above). And the Columbia River Gorge, shared with Washington, is full of activities (see description in U.S. Regions above). For smaller ones only in Oregon, visit Crooked River Gorge for Central Oregon with the spectacular Smith Rock SP and other viewpoints, and Silver Falls SP with its dramatic waterfall canyons. And my friend Natasha says to make sure to include Crack in the Ground as a “Little Grand Canyon” in South-Central Oregon, which is a small but amazing slot canyon from a volcanic fissure. I’ve been to all of these except Owyhee and Hells Canyon.
Pennsylvania – Pine Creek Gorge, called “the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania” – a perfect V-shaped gorge that is included in a state natural area and contains a state park
Rhode Island – No real canyons that I could find. My husband tried to help and found Cranston Canyon, a road construction project. That’s it.
South Carolina – Jones Gap SP or Jocassee Gorges – Jones Gap is part of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area on the Blue Ridge Escarpment and has waterfalls. Jocassee Gorges has waterfall canyons and a beautiful lake.
South Dakota – Spearfish Canyon “Grand Canyon of the Black Hills” – a long, narrow canyon of limestone palisades and waterfalls
Tennessee – Tennessee River Gorge – formerly known as Walden Gorge, is the 4th largest largest river gorge in the eastern U.S.
Texas – Palo Duro Canyon SP – the 2nd largest canyon in the country, according to the Texas State Parks website. Looks like some beautiful places I’ve seen in Arizona. Caprock Canyons SP was also mentioned on some sites, and has the bonus of bison herds.
Utah – San Rafael Swell, Zion NP, or Canyonlands NP – any of these 3 would qualify! And probably others, too, since Utah is chock-full of epic parks. Does Bryce Canyon NP count, too? The only one of these I’ve been to is Zion NP. Y’all probably already know about the NP sites, so I looked up San Rafael Swell. It’s a large dome-shaped geologic feature carved by flash foods into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, buttes, and badlands, according to Wikipedia.
Vermont – Quechee Gorge in Quechee SP is Vermont’s deepest gorge, formed by glacial activity
Virginia – Breaks Interstate Park – “the Grand Canyon of the South” (also in Kentucky) – description in U.S. regions section above
Washington – Grand Canyon of the Elwha or Palouse River Canyon – I’ve seen the Elwha River in Olympic NP, but I don’t think I saw this section of it, or the nearby section called Goblin’s Gate, which looks amazing.
West Virginia – New River Gorge NP is one of the USA’s newest national parks, and ironically the New River is one of the oldest rivers in the nation. The Endless Wall trail zig-zags along a cliff edge nearly 1,000 feet above the river. The park is also famous for rock climbing. I think my ex-husband and I drove over the landmark New River Gorge Bridge once.
Wisconsin – has many small canyons and no consensus on a “grand” one, but the Dells of the Wisconsin River is a 5 mile gorge with Cambrian sandstone rock formations and tributary canyons, and Devils Lake State Park has 500-foot bluffs above the lake.
Wyoming – the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – description in U.S. Regions section above
Walnut Canyon NM, AZYosemite Valley, Yosemite NP, CACrooked River Gorge, ORZion NP, UT
Compilation websites (for photos of some of the places listed above):
Okay, so I know this isn’t the time of year everyone is thinking of autumn. It’s January. If we’re daydreaming about a different season, it’s probably spring or summer. But I found some neat places nearby in the last year or two for viewing fall colors that I haven’t gotten to share yet. Besides, it’s January. The bleakest time of the year in many parts of the country and the Northern Hemisphere. My nation has a new president who is making sweeping changes, many of which are impacting people I know and populations I care about, like Afghan refugees that were promised to settle here and now can’t. I think we could all use some vibrant color right now; a bit of hope for the future. Read on for some photos and local destinations, and check back here in October or November for ideas of places to visit!
Mt. Baldy trail summitSequoias, Willamalane ParkOakmont Park
Eugene and Springfield have some beautiful places to see fall foliage, often mixed with evergreens. The sunny summit of the Mt. Baldy trail (one of the Ridgeline Trails in South Eugene) has epic views and great trees, doable for all ages with its 1/2 mile trails to the top. Willamalane Park in Springfield has a great playground, but my kids love to play below the giant sequoias and deciduous trees near the runner’s track just as much. Oakmont Park in Eugene has flowers and foliage to spare.
Linslaw ParkSecret Garden, Belknap SpringsJapanese-American Art Memorial
How many Eugenians have heard of Linslaw Park? I’d driven by it a million times on my way to the coast, but never stopped. Last fall, my Central Oregon friend Tracey treated me to an overnight trip to Florence while she was in Western Oregon for a conference. We stopped on the way for a picnic lunch at this Siuslaw River wayside in the Lane County Parks system. It had a pit toilet, a small boat ramp, a couple picnic tables, and a sign with only the last letter of the park name still on it. But I loved it! Subtle fall foliage stood under evergreens and along the river. I’d been to the coast enough that month to not have an agenda of my own this trip. After that wayside stop, I decided I’d be along for the ride to any other places Tracey suggested. It was so much fun to see places I’d never thought to stop at! This included a coffeeshop in Mapleton that had kittens on the back patio and a Mexican restaurant on the bayfront in Old Town Florence.
The next place I found with great fall colors was up the McKenzie River. The drive along the way was devastated by the 2020 fire, but fall foliage is growing underneath the burned evergreens for a stark contrast and a visual of new hope. My friend Jas and my mom came with me for that day trip. We saw some blue sky (and slackliners) over Sahalie Falls, which was beautiful. But the visual highlight of the trip was the Secret Garden at Belknap Springs, which we walked to after soaking in the pools. The autumn splendor was all around the garden, and so gorgeous! I’d never been there that time of year. It was perfect. We finished off that trip with a stop for dinner at my family’s new favorite road trip restaurant, Takoda’s in the town of Rainbow.
The last new bit of fall foliage I discovered last year was at the Eugene Japanese-American Art Memorial. This is a tiny park tucked behind the Hult Center (performance hall). I’d been there before, but not in autumn. The Japanese maple tree was in full color, and the fallen leaves of other trees blanketed the ground with gold. The memorial honors the American people who were sent to internment camps during WWII just for being Japanese immigrants or American-born of Japanese descent. I hope and pray that we are not entering that dark of a time now.
It’s 2025! I can’t believe it. This summer will be 30 years since I graduated from high school; 25 since graduating college. But mostly I’m excited for a new year of life and adventures. And I’ll be praying for our country and world.
The last few months were fast and furious due to work (we call it “Busy Season” or 4th quarter) and holidays. We got to do some fun things, though.
I’ll try to do a fuller post soon with some trips and tips from the rest of the year. But for now, family photos from the year. Our Christmas card photo was from playing in the mountain snow way back in February, because it’s not easy to get 5 kids in a picture at a time with no one scowling. Next, the only other family pic with all of us (not scowling) for the year, which took place in October at the coast right after my previous blog post. That was a nice day trip with the kids’ relatives on their mom’s side. We went to the beach that I’d tried to take them to on 4th of July weekend but was too packed then, the Heceta Head Lighthouse beach. They loved it! It’s small, which is nice so our teens don’t disappear 2 miles down the beach like they usually do at the South Jetty Beach. And it’s small because it’s surrounded by cliffs and a lighthouse. Beautiful! Lastly, our fun new experience for Christmas 2024 was to go see the film “Elf” at the historic Elsinore Theatre in Salem. I’ve been there before, but Chris and the kids hadn’t, and I knew they’d love it. It’s the most beautiful theater I’ve ever seen, built nearly 100 years ago in a Gothic style. Our family photo is from a high walkway in the lobby by stained glass (the artwork is all Shakespeare-themed). One kiddo isn’t in the picture because she wasn’t feeling well that day, but she is off to the side and enjoyed seeing the theater.
It’s getting late and I need to work in the morning, so I’ll leave off with a list of 10 (plus one I added later) things I hope to do in this new year:
Travel & hike more. 2024 was busy with fixing up and selling the old house; plus we couldn’t go far since we’re stuck driving two vehicles to fit everyone.
Buy a new house and van (okay, then we’ll be fixing up that house, so we’ll see how much traveling & hiking I get to do)
Take Chris & the kids to Crater Lake National Park for their first time
Host a monthly write-in with friends
Work out more. I got a small stair-stepper for Christmas so I can watch hiking videos and pretend I’m hiking while it’s raining outside! Not nearly as fun, but helpful in Western Oregon, which has been extra grey and rainy this year.
Take the kids to visit relatives in Idaho while Chris and I (and my Dad if I can get him to come) visit my relatives in Utah and Nebraska
Get back into practicing my guitar
Hike Broken Top with friend Jas, plus places she hasn’t hiked yet like Smith Rock
Finish reading some books I started about step-parenting and other needed themes
Play video games with the kids more because they love it
Adding this one late because I forgot it: Take the family to Portland by train and visit Powell’s! We can do this one even before we get a new vehicle that fits us all, which is another goal for the year. Oh, and maybe go ice skating this winter? Our oldest loves it.
What do you hope to do in 2025? I’d love to hear your ideas, dreams, and resolutions in the comments! I hope you all have a good 2025, despite the difficulties and challenges of life and in our world.
Autumn is upon us! It’s been a busy year with trying to fix up our old house to sell. It finally sold this month! Writing-wise, I’ve been working to update the structure of this site, and working on this post. I keep trying to publish it but not getting to it, so now it will be a compilation of many of our little adventures from the spring to early fall seasons. Feel free to skim/skip ahead to things that look promising to you as future trips or ideas!
This year’s adventures were almost all afternoon or day trips. In fact, the only overnight/over-the-big-mountains trip was for my job. (That was fun, though; more on that later!) We had reservations for a campground on a lake at the coast this summer, but they were canceled due to impending road construction. Fortunately, the house we’re renting now has a nice backyard and patio where we’ve been able to have s’mores in our little metal fire pit. And we live in a part of the state/country/world where potential adventures are close by for quick trips.
During spring break, we went to the coast for a day and to Wildlife Safari in Southern Oregon. Our middle kid was the only one that had been to Cape Perpetua before, so we took them all up there to see it. No whale sightings that time, but the kids were fascinated with the Spouting Horn and Thor’s Well at Cook’s Chasm. Then we tried to find a beach to play on since Cape Perpetua is mostly rocky basalt flows. We found a small parking lot for one right along Highway 101 called “Ocean Beach Day Use Area” that worked for our Northwest Forest Pass (which was also useful at Cape Perpetua, so both places were free). We ate at Mo’s in Old Town Florence and finished the day with a rainbow over the dunes and sunset over the horizon at South Jetty Beach (also on our NW Forest Pass). Our other spring break activity was going to Wildlife Safari in Winston with my stepkids’ cousins from their birth mom’s side of the family, who happen to be part of my good friend Jas’ extended family. Chris had to work, but I took a day off, and most of our kids came to hang out with their cousins at the free Village area which I wrote about last summer. We splurged on the little train ride that goes around some of the animal areas.
Spouting Horn at Cook’s ChasmOur kids at”Ocean Beach” beachDunes at South Jetty, Florence
Our next trip out of town that spring was a family trip to a wildlife refuge. We met my stepsister and her family at Paddington’s Pizza in Salem to celebrate my nephew’s late birthday, and then all drove to the Ankeny Hill Wildlife Refuge to explore. It was really pretty! Ponds, wildflowers, and wildlife. And some cool hands-on nature exhibits for the kids to play on.
Accessible walksPretty pondsPlaying with nature and cousins
In May, my colleague Ashley and I were stationed at a table at an employee benefits event for one of our clients in Redmond. We drove there the night before and stayed at a hotel. But first, we drove up to Smith Rock State Park near Terrebonne since she’d never seen it. We were there right as the sun dipped behind the rocks. Then we ate out at the Pump House Bar & Grill in Terrebonne. I had a shrimp & cheese grits dinner that was delicious. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a local brewery/outdoor concert venue in Redmond to meet up with her sister and brother-in-law who live in Bend. It was a quick trip for work, but it was the only time I got to go to the other side of the Cascades this year, and my soul needed it.
The High Cascades on our driveThe Crooked River, Smith Rock Wildflowers at Smith Rock
Weekends for the rest of the spring and part of summer were spent painting and other projects on the house, so the majority of my travel/outdoors trips were to local hikes and walks in the Eugene/Springfield area on Tuesday nights with some friends from church. My sort-of-cousins Terry and Colby revived these “Walk & Talk” nights from 2021, and this year my oldest stepdaughter often came with me if I had time to pick her up after work. Sometimes we walked through pretty neighborhoods, on riverfront paths or through parks, and other times we hiked the Ridgeline Trails of South Eugene. One of the first walks ended at the home of a lady named Tyler who leads walks around the world professionally. She just came back from a few months walking the Way of St. James in France, and I hope to write a Journeys of Women post about her soon. Our last official Walk & Talk night was to a sunset hike to Swing Hill on the north flank of Mt. Pisgah a few weeks ago. The last time we did that, in 2021, Terry got a photo of me on the rope swing that is now on his travel/photography website. You can see it at https://www.gobedo-journey.com/venture-out/
Our summer family adventure trips consisted of playing in the Willamette River or local parks, a day at the coast, a hike from Alsea Falls to Green Peak Falls, peach picking with my mom, and best of all, a whitewater rafting trip. We took the kids to the river in the Eugene/Springfield area a couple times on hot days because it’s a quick drive away and free to park. The coast trip was a bit of a bummer because we went on the 5th of July which was extremely hot inland, so nearly every Oregon resident was at the coast. We drove up and down it trying to find a place to park near a beach, and ended up at Cape Perpetua again. The waterfall hike only had three of the kids because the 12 & 13-year-olds decided we took them to too many waterfalls in 2023 and they refused to go. The rest of us had a blast. The oldest one climbed up the rope with me to get to the top of Green Peak Falls, and all three kids had fun splashing in the pool below it. Along the hike back we stopped at a rope swing along the river.
Playing at Cape Perpetua near Thor’s WellClimbing around Alsea FallsSplashing in Green Peak Falls
Rafting was probably the highlight of our family summer trips, although our 13-year-old refused to go, citing her fear of deep water. The rest of the kids had a blast, though. At my job, I won the Summit Award, which earned me an “experience” through a vendor company. Ideally it’s supposed to be something you’ve never done before. I’ve been lucky enough to have rafted both the McKenzie and the Deschutes before. But of the choices on the vendor website with the points I had, that was the only one that our whole family could do. And I really wanted to take everyone. I’m so glad I did! We rafted the beautiful McKenzie River with Horse Creek Lodge & Outfitters. Our guide was very nice. The McKenzie is my favorite river in the world because it is so clear and blue. The kids were nervous about the rapids at first, but quickly gained confidence, and our youngest two rode in front for the rest of the way! Our sometimes-sulky teens & tweens were giggling the whole time. The water was very shallow in most places (and since it’s so pure, you can see the bottom except in the rapids), so our 13yo probably would have been just fine. I’m sad that she missed it. Our youngest kid asked me that night if we could go again the next day. I informed him that it costs a fair amount of money and we can’t do it all the time. But I’m so glad we went. Afterward we ate at Takoda’s in Rainbow, and discovered they have a lovely landscaped outdoor seating area, complete with koi pond and waterfall. The previous day had been stormy and cold, but we lucked out for our rafting day!
Our 1st time rafting togetherOldest kiddo with our guideGoodpasture Covered Bridge
Want to leave the country (or time travel) but can’t afford it? Visit cultural fairs! We went to three this year. My youngest stepdaughter and I went to the Scottish Festival just north of Eugene, where we met up with my friend Sarah and some of my cousins. Bagpipes make me really sentimental because they were played at my high school’s graduation every year, and the parade through the event did not disappoint. At one point they stopped right in front of us for a ceremony, and a lady with a big drum let my girl and my cousin Josh’s twins try it out. The Enchanted Forest band that I’ve mentioned before, Possibly Irish, played a concert with some Scottish tunes. The kids got free prizes for filling a “passport” with stamps from visiting every clan’s table, so we had a great time hearing stories of family history from various clans and trying to figure out where exactly my ancestors came from. And I tried haggis for the first time! Later in the summer, the same friend Sarah took our whole family to one of the Renaissance fairs, the Canterbury Faire in Silverton. My cousin Josh took his twins and his stepsister and her kids to it, too. The line to get in was long (even with pre-purchased tickets) and my kids were hot because of their costumes, so they didn’t last long. But we enjoyed the jousting tournament and a juggling / acrobatics / comedy show before Chris left with all the kids that would fit in our car (we’d carpooled with Sarah’s friends). Our youngest girl got stuck with me, but we got to walk around with Josh and his kids, eat ice cream, and play at various booths and activities before riding home with him. Lastly, I took our 13yo, 9yo, and 7yo to the “Noche Cultural” in Springfield. This was a celebration of Méxican culture and heritage. We ate delicious food, watched performances, and the 9yo learned from a caballero how to rope a cow. And the kids played in the bouncy castle, of course. ¡Muy divertido!
Eugene Highlanders Pipe BandOur “elf” watching the joust¡Ella tiene éxito!
The last family trip we did was to my friend’s daughter’s wedding in the Myrtle Creek area. The wedding was beautiful at a private park by the river owned by the local Native American tribe, and the food was delicious thanks to the culinary skills of the father of the groom. We took the two oldest girls with us for the day and promised them ice cream at Sherm’s Thunderbird store in Roseburg on our way back up. But we found something even cooler on the drive home that I’d never noticed the whole time I lived in that part of the state for a while. Chris is fascinated with dams and other hydroelectric features. Driving north out of Roseburg, something caught his eye. Seeing a big dam, we pulled off at the Winchester exit, ignored the sign for a “fish viewing area,” drove across a beautiful 100-year-old bridge to river day use area with no views of the dam, drove back across the bridge and this time heeded the fish viewing area sign, and found the viewpoint for the dam. What’s better, it had a staircase down the side of the cliff to an interpretive area with windows into the side of a fish ladder. Chris was giddy. I was impressed, but even more with the bridge. This website tells a bit more about it: https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=oregon/winchesterbridge/
Dam! and Fish Ladder Fish Ladder Viewing CaveWinchester Bridge
Chris and I got in a couple of small mountain hikes just the two of us this year at the end of summer, mainly to appease my summer FOMO and need for exploring new places. We’d heard about Horse Rock Ridge from the couple that runs the children’s ministry at our church. It’s in the mountains up past the Shotgun Creek park near Marcola, so it’s not too far away for an afternoon hike. The trailhead isn’t marked and we drove past it at first, but we eventually figured it out from the cars parked along the road. The first part of the trail was easy and forested; I think it followed an old defunct logging road. Then it opens up to rocky outcrops and meadows, the trail alternating between the two types of terrain. It’s really neat! I think the trees have grown up to where you can no longer see the high Cascade mountains off to the east, but it was a beautiful trail nonetheless. We followed the rocky parts of the trail all the way up to the radio tower, passing a rocky cave. That part of the hike would have been tough for the kids, but it was neat.
Horse Rock Ridge trailChris looking epicA cave in the rock outcrops
Our other hike was on our second wedding anniversary in late September, to Castle Rock in the Cascade foothills near the town of Rainbow on the McKenzie River. It took us over an hour to get there, but that’s not bad for the views we got at the top. The majority of the trail was a nice forest trail, steep but not difficult footing. Closer to the top, you can see huge cliffs and crags that give the hill its name. When you get to the top, it was rocky and challenging terrain, with no good place to sit for a picnic. The views were fantastic, though. You could see the McKenzie Valley way down below you, including the golf course, and I believe you could see a bit of Cougar Reservoir. But the best part was off to the east. The eastern horizon looked cloudy and hazy for most of our drive, so we weren’t sure if we’d be able to see the High Cascades. Arriving at the top, we found clear blue sky, walked over to the far side, and there were all three Sisters volcanoes! And Mount Washington! And others. We celebrated the rest of our anniversary by checking out the dam at Cougar Reservoir (Chris loved the tall structure that moderates the water temperature) and eating at Takoda’s restaurant in Rainbow. I mentioned the side patio of it above in the rafting paragraph, but guess what else it has a view of? You guessed it… Castle Rock! They even have a burger named after it, which I of course ate. Chris had the ribs. Our server said we lucked out with the views from the top of the mountain because the whole area had been socked in with wildfire smoke most of the day, explaining the haze we’d seen on the way up. It cleared up just in time for our hike. It was a lovely anniversary.
3 Sisters seen from Castle RockCougar ReservoirCastle Rock (from Takoda’s)
I took a solo trip after that to the coast for a memorial service for an old friend’s husband. The day was sad, but also sweet, because I got to see her and other friends from the early days of my first marriage, including longtime friend Rainie. She and I met up before the service at the Blue Heron Bistro, a German/BBQ restaurant in Coos Bay that was a fun odd mix of German and American country decor and food. She had lived in Germany for a few years, and I was born there, so we love to meet for German food wherever we can. At the service, we got to visit with the couple that I lived with in the months before my ex and I married. On the way home, I stopped at one of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area hikes that I hadn’t done before. The sky was crystal clear and I could see the ocean over the dunes. I reflected on the day and prayed for my friend and her teenage son as they go through the waves of grief.
Lastly, to celebrate selling our house, we splurged last weekend on a fall farm day. I’d been to Johnson Farms once before with girlfriends, but this time my mom and brother met Chris and the kids and me there. We went on the “wild hayride” that involves throwing mini-pumpkins at scarecrows on the ride and using up the rest of your bucket’s worth at a slingshot gallery by the pumpkin patch. All 5 kids loved it! And we almost got a perfect family photo, until someone knocked the stem off the 9-year-old’s pumpkin she’d picked from the patch and she started crying. It’s a near-impossible task with 5 kids to get a picture with everyone looking at camera and hopefully not scowling! There was also a covered hay maze and slide area as well as goats to pet. Our 16-year-old loved the big black goat, which was the largest domestic goat we’ve ever seen! It was a great way to enjoy the warm autumn days before my job gets too busy with overtime and the weather gets too cold and wet. Tonight we celebrated a clear fall day with relatives and friends by a campfire in our backyard and s’mores. In September I’m always sad to leave summer behind, but this has been a beautiful October, and I’m grateful!
Mom and bro Ben on the rideFlinging pumpkinsPumpkin patch and Coburg Hills
Sorry for the super-long post, but hopefully this gives you some ideas for day trips if you live in the area, or makes you want to come visit if you don’t. Plus it takes the pressure off of me a bit at the end of the year to catch up on everything for a Christmas newsletter. If I don’t write much in the next few months, it will be because I’m out enjoying life with my family and friends in this beautiful state whenever I’m not working overtime. Happy fall, y’all!
This Christmas vacation, we had hoped to go sledding up in the mountains. I even found snow pants for the kids at Costco and snow boots at BiMart. But El Niño is making us wait till later in the winter. For that and some other personal reasons, we decided to make our last family trip of the year be a low-key local one.
Where to go locally that wouldn’t involve a lot of walking, being outside in the cold rain, or a long drive, that we hadn’t already been to? Brownsville! Today we went to the Living Rock Studios and Kirk’s Ferry restaurant in the small town about a half hour away from the Eugene/Springfield area. We all enjoyed them, even our teens and our littles!
I’m actually surprised I’d never been to Living Rock Studios. If you know me well, you know I love rocks! I think I assumed it was a cheesy tourist trap, but I’m not sure why I thought that. It is very Christian-owned and oriented. There are Biblical scenes made out of rocks, backlit for spectacular effect, and there are Bible verses everywhere. But they are all very focused on love, and it had a positive vibe, so it did not feel dogmatic or pushy in any way. Howard Taylor, the man who built it, was a conservationist, and lobbied on behalf of one of the birds on the tapestries hanging on the wall, according to his daughter-docent. The family didn’t seem concerned with how old the Earth is, but just wanted to acknowledge what a beautiful world God created.
The building itself is fantastic. The stone structure is round, with a wheelchair-accessible ramp going up around the edge of it to the upper floor. There are all kind of rocks to see along the way and at the top, including many from various parts of Oregon as well as from around the world. Some you can light up with your phone flashlight to great effect. Others you just admire. There are historical items, too, including the pump organ that the docent’s ancestors played on when they were homesteaders in an old community that is now at the bottom of Cottage Grove Reservoir. Despite being a history teacher, I can get a little bored in museums of local history sometimes. But this place was very interesting, and our tour guide/docent was as much fun as the docent at the Municipal Elevator in Oregon City! Chris plied her with questions about historical events and practices, and happily soaked up her stories.
The admission price is donations only. We put some in the jar, and the kids loved buying beautiful rocks in the gift shop. Everything was very reasonably priced. We got there before noon, thinking we’d only spend a half hour there, but I think we spent an hour and a half! The kids got restless toward the end, but Chris and I could have looked at things and listened to her stories for much longer. She took a family photo of us, and with the Christmas decorations in the background, it’s now our official Christmas family photo! With no kids kicking each other! Here’s the website if you would like to check it out.
After exploring the rock studio, we were famished. We headed to Kirks Ferry Trading Post to eat. The restaurant was built around Alexander Kirk’s cabin from the 1800s. He operated a ferry across the river nearby. The restaurant’s website says it is the “oldest standing building in the state of Oregon,” but I can’t verify that elsewhere on the internet. Regardless, it is really cool! The cabin has been preserved (without the roof) and houses antiques, some of them for sale. The tables of the restaurant surround it. Our table was right next to one of the cabin windows. The food was reasonably priced (a perk for our family of 7) and delicious. I recommend the Broken Top Bourbon Burger, and dipping the sweet potato fries into their bleu cheese dressing. (For those of you not from Oregon, Broken Top is one of our picturesque volcanoes making up the Central Oregon skyline) Here is their website if you want to visit:
The last thing I’ll leave you with in the year 2023 is an artist I enjoy and purchased things from this year. I discovered her art a few years ago from an article I’d seen online. But this year I went to her website to see the rest of her art, and happily bought a calendar and a puzzle gift for fellow National Park nerd friends the Sheldons. If I’ve written about artist Amber Share before, I apologize for the repeat. But I love her art! She had the brilliant idea of taking one-star reviews of national parks from TripAdvisor or wherever, and making vintage-style art posters based on them. I love the look of the old WPA travel posters, and I love Amber’s sense of humor! She picked the most ridiculous one-liners from people who obviously missed the point of the park they were at. Her art shows how beautiful and pristine the park is despite the review. Check them out here:
With that, I say good-bye to 2023 and look forward to new adventures in 2024. I may write some reflections on Monday, but until then, have a happy new year’s eve!
Hi all! I’ve been writing this post since September. Busy season is just now subsiding at my office, so I’ll finally finish it! Especially since I just wrote our family Christmas newsletter! (Okay, officially, my cat Arwen “wrote” it again, but I helped) It focuses more on what we’re all up to and into rather than our travels, so I’ll keep this post as a recap and highlights of our trips and activities since the last one. It will probably be the final travel post of 2023. I hope you get some travel ideas and tips to enjoy them! If you know me personally and want a copy of our family newsletter, send me a text/email/Facebook message with your email address. And I’d love to hear in your comments what were your favorite adventures of 2023.
After the Redwoods/Oregon Caves trip I talked about in my last travel post, we went to a few more places in Western Oregon as well as driving north to Washington State. So now our kids have been to two states outside of Oregon! Without further ado, here’s the rest of our adventures from the sunny seasons and into the holiday season. Feel free to skim through them to a place you want to go, or just look at the photos!
Enchanted Forest
The first place we went away from home after the Redwoods trip was The Enchanted Forest. That’s where Chris and I got engaged last year, at the end of a day of theme park fun with the kids. I won’t cover the whole day from this year since I wrote about the place last year, but we had some notable new experiences. We met up there with the kids’ cousins, who happen to be directly related to good friends of mine, because that’s my soap opera life now. Last year we went to the park on a Saturday, but ran out of time to do everything. So this time we went on Monday. It was great! No long lines for rides. We did everything, some things more than once. We saw the summer theatre play this time. “Snow White and the Seven Dorks” has been making kids laugh for decades, and it still does! Some jokes were updated and some were old, but the nostalgia and nerdiness worked for me. Our favorite show, however, was the live band Possibly Irish. We discovered their existence last year but missed the show, and thought “I’m sure it would be neat but it’s fine we missed it.”
This was not the case. The band was way beyond “neat”. They were fantastic! The members may not all be ethnically Celtic and are definitely American, but they are great musicians. The traditional Celtic songs were fun, the instruments played fast and furious, and the harmonies were tight. At one point in the concert (held in a room decked out to look like an Irish pub), every one of our kids was singing along to an old Irish tune that was recently popularized on YouTube. Our oldest two girls bought band tee-shirts, and Chris and I both bought CDs. Here are links to one of the band’s music videos, starring various members of the band at different times, and filmed at The Enchanted Forest. If you like them, they play regularly at the Irish pub in Silverton and occasionally at other venues around Willamette Valley.
Our kids and their cousins watching the fountains at the Jolly RogerSnow White and the Seven Dorks at the Summer TheatrePossibly Irish! Definitely entertaining!
Oregon Coast Camping
Our next trip took us to the coast west of us. We camped with Chris’ parents in the Florence area for 4th of July weekend. That’s the coastal town we’ve all spent the most time in, so I won’t go into detail about it. But after dropping most of the kids off to hang out with grandparents, Chris and I (and the 11-year-old who wanted to go with us) headed north to Cape Perpetua. We wanted to visit Cook’s Chasm. Stopping first at the visitor’s center, we discovered that it was whale season. We walked out onto the observation deck, and guess what? We saw a whale! In all the times I’ve visited the coast, I’ve never seen one, even during high whale season. It was awesome! Chris and kiddo and I were so excited. We saw it come up a few times. After we went back to Florence, we spent the rest of the weekend bumming around with relatives at the campground, the dunes at South Jetty Beach, and Old Town Florence. We ate at Mo’s, of course! And got stamps in our passports. (They have a passport flyer where you earn stuff if you go to all the Mo’s restaurants). Even though it’s just our coastal town that we visit every year, it was a fun trip!
Whale watching at Cape Perpetua Dunes at the South Jetty The bay bridge in Old Town
Mount Hood: Alpine Slides and Timberline Lodge
The next adventure we went on was a day trip to Mount Hood up by Portland. Oregon’s highest mountain, at 11,239 feet/3,425 meters high, has lots of fun things to do in the summer! We went specifically for the alpine slides at Ski-Bowl Adventure Park in Government Camp. Chris wisely convinced me to pre-purchase the pass where we each got two trips down the slides, instead of the pass where we each got one trip and then got to do some things at the other side of the park. This worked out well, because most of the things we could have done with the second pass were things we could do around home. And after the first run down the mountain, we were glad of the opportunity to do it again, because you had a feel for it and could go faster that time. The alpine slides are just what they sound like: long slides down the side of the hill that you go down on little sleds you can control the speed on. To get up the hill, your tickets include the ski lift. We all paired off and enjoyed the scenic ride. It was our kids’ first time on a ski lift. Our 6-year-old, was nervous the first ride up. But then on the second ride up, he kept saying “This is so relaxing!” It was adorable. And speaking of him, his ticket was free! He was just small enough to ride for free with an adult. So he rode down the first time with Chris, and then with me. The rest of the kids had their own sled ride. My favorite part was that on the way down, you’re facing the top part of Mt. Hood, and it was gorgeous in the sunshine! Plus we passed wildflowers in the meadow as we cruised.
But the day didn’t end there. We drove up to Timberline Lodge, a stately CCC-era structure high up on Mt. Hood where the trees stop growing. The older girls bummed around in the large game room with Chris while the younger two kids wanted to “hike” with me up higher. We walked a little ways on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and then doubled back to a little glacial valley with snow in it. The kids saw some nice international tourists playing in the snow and joined in, making snow angels and snowmen. Soon we realized that was part of the ski run, and had to watch for snowboarders coming down the mountain. Yes, you can ski year-round here! Chris and I want to go back sometime and spend a whole day writing and hanging out in the big room in the lodge with the center fireplace. Mount Hood is a magical place! We ended the day by eating out at the Tollgate Inn in Sandy, a touristy but affordable, family-friendly eatery/bakery/gift shop (with built-in saloon, too).
Riding the Ski Lift for the SlidesPlaying in Timberline LodgeSnow in summer? Watch out for skis!
Seattle
Our next trip was another overnighter: Seattle! Our youngest had been begging us to see the Space Needle all year. And Chris found out about a free art show for pop culture and anime art. So we decided to go. Finding a place to stay was tricky, because we are a big family and hotels are expensive. I found a couple state park campgrounds with spots, and almost reserved them. But then my cousin James and his wife offered for us to stay with them at their home on the JBLM base south of Tacoma. It was right off of I-5! It was fun to visit them, and kind of neat to go onto the military base. Chris and I had been on one before, but it was new for the kids. And we heard an Apache helicopter fly right over us in the middle of the night!
In the morning, we headed north to Seattle. We got our tickets to go up the Space Needle and then played a bit in the Seattle Center. When I was a kid, the Space Needle was the most touristy thing that my parents ever took us to. They didn’t have much money, but splurged on tickets to the top. So we had to take our kids, too. The wait for our allotted time was fun! There is now a really neat playground under the Space Needle. The kids played there for a long time, climbing and swinging and spinning. We also rode the monorail and ate at a Mod Pizza in the old Armory building. But then our time finally came. We got in the waiting line, which takes a while to inch our way through. Fortunately, there are fun exhibits along the walls on the way, and a great view of a 10-foot-high Lego model Space Needle down below in the gift shop, complete with Lego characters all around the observation deck. We saw Batman and the Joker and many others. This made Chris very happy. Eventually we got to the elevator and rode to the top. The tour guide had a dry humor and had to bellow out information and directions over the crowd, but then we walked out to the observation deck. The experience was overwhelming for some of our kids. The view! The tiny buildings and cars below us! Our usually daredevil 15-year-old realized one of her first limits/fears: heights. After we all went outside to the outdoor deck and then came back in, she and one or two other kids stayed closer to the center while we spun slowly around on glass floors inside. The others laid down on the floor and watched the view change, fascinated. Eventually we left and wandered outside. We found a grassy area with an awesome metal sculpture and settled there to unwind after the exhilarating trip up the structure.
Then we walked to the hotel with the art show. The event was a bit underwhelming for us, who thought there would be more happening. It was really just a venue to buy people’s art, which was cool, but not much to do other than look at art. One guest came dressed up in cosplay, and the event sold expensive bartender-made Butterbeers, but other than that, we just looked at art. There were paintings featuring Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, Marvel comics, anime movies, and shows, Alice in Wonderland, and others. One artist drew them all sitting on the toilet. We did each get a free small print, so that was cool!
From there, we thought about driving north to see the Fremont Bridge Troll giant sculpture, but the kids were exhausted, so we headed home. Unfortunately, our car died as we puttered around the Lake Oswego/Tigard exit area trying to find food. We managed to get the car to a nearby hotel after eating at a Subway, and the next day, Chris’ parents came up with a tow truck to get us. Chris and I were bummed to shell out a lot of money for a hotel, but that was some of our kids’ favorite part of the trip! They never get to stay in hotels. We had to get two rooms, so the kids enjoyed us having two bathrooms for once. The worst part was there was a bar next door to my side of the hotel (Chris and some of the kids had a room across the hall) that had crazy drunk people having fights all night. I eventually called the front desk and they got the bar to quiet people down so I could sleep. The kids with me slept through it, thank goodness! In the morning, we tried to eat at a really neat-looking theme restaurant next to the hotel, but it was closed, so we ate breakfast at Carl’s Jr. Eventually we got picked up and made it home. Our SUV was out of commission for a while and a few more times this year, so the rest of our adventures since then have been shorter and had less kids at a time.
Playing before our time to go upLegos! Seen from the waiting areaOur 8yo hanging from a sculpture where we rested afterwardThe MonorailObservation Deck: So high!Family Selfie!
Fort Umpqua and Florence Area (Again)
I took a week of vacation the last week of August. Mostly I painted the house and caught up on other things, but also had some end-of-summer fun with the kids. I took a few of them to swim at the outdoor Amazon pool while Chris worked at the restaurant one sunny day. The tall scary waterslide was open this year! Our 15-year-old and I tried it. The younger kids had fun just wading in the water. While the older two were visiting grandparents on the weekend, Chris and I took the younger three to Elkton. Where (and what) is Elkton, you ask? It’s a tiny town between Drain (another tiny town, a good ways south of Eugene on old Highway 99) and the coastal town of Reedsport. What’s to do there, you ask? The Elkton Community Education Center! Okay, it’s way cooler than it sounds. There’s a butterfly garden with teenage docents, getting their first work experience. And my favorite part? Fort Umpqua! It’s a replica of the old Hudson’s Bay trading post that was there in the 1800s. We timed our trip well. Upon arriving, we discovered it was the weekend of Fort Umpqua Days, a local festival. This meant good food, tents of trinkets to buy and games to play, and the best part: people dressed in 1800s garb leading activities for kids to do. Our 7-year-old is now determined that we buy an apple cider press. Our 8-year-old made a cornhusk doll. Our 11-year-old bought freeze-dried fruit rings. And Chris got a huge kick out of watching the demonstrators light the cannon. It was loud! After filling up on fresh grilled burgers to support a local charity, we let the kids decide if we should drive home or make a loop by going to the coast.
Of course, we went to the coast. Looking at the GPS on my phone, I noticed tiny Carter Lake on Hwy 101. No, not Crater Lake; Carter Lake! We just had to stop and check it out, since we’re the Carters! The campground leading to it seemed very family-friendly, and the lake shore had sand and critters galore to please the kids. We figured it was probably warmer there than the beach itself, so we let the kids play until they got hungry, and then went to Old Town to eat at Mo’s for the second time that summer. The bayfront wasn’t enough coast for the kids, so we made it to North Jetty beach right at dusk. Unlike the blue sky at Elkton earlier in the day, the clouds were thick and heavy over the beach by then, so we didn’t stay long. But we enjoyed the last few minutes of beach in the summer.
Walking around the FortChecking out the CannonCarter kids in Carter Lake
Fall Fun
In September, Chris and I took my car up to Multnomah Falls for our anniversary, where we splurged on a delicious brunch at the lodge there. We had also planned to take the kids up to Mount Angel for their famous Oktoberfest celebration that month. But with both cars acting up, we decided to stay closer to home and find some local little Oktoberfest fun. We tried a couple places one weekend in September: Detering Orchards near Coburg with a few kids and later the Public House in Springfield with some of the others. Neither really had much going on in terms of Oktoberfest. Detering had some Polish sausages and beer, and the rest of the festivities were their normal fall activities. That didn’t bother the kids. They fed goats, picked Asian pears, and rode the cow train. Chris was happy with the fancy jars of treats we bought at the farm stand, like candied jalapeños, pickled quail eggs, and black walnut syrup. The Public House always has good food, but there didn’t seem to be much in the way of German fare by the time we got there. There were a couple menu items with Beer Cheese on them that were tasty. But we still wanted a more authentic Oktoberfest. So when October rolled around, we went to the Bier Stein restaurant in Eugene for their celebration. This one was very festive! They have a little German food on the menu usually, but had a special menu for the day. I had the flamkuchen, a dish that I discovered on my second trip to Germany. It was delicious! Chris joined the Stein Hoist competition (at my urging) and got second place. There were also photo ops and supplies for kids to make a pretzel necklace. We did all this after watching the ceremonial keg tapping by a recently retired politician. We still hope to make it to Mount Angel next year, but we’ll probably go to the Bier Stein, too!
For the rest of the autumn, we’ve taken advantage of the sunshine on busy days by hitting little local trails with some of the kids. I hiked to the top of Skinner’s Butte with the 12-year-old while the rest of the kids played at the park at the base. A week later, Chris and I hiked to the top of Mt. Baldy with the 15, 8, and 6- year olds. They had fun playing in big color-changing trees, and Chris had fun lounging on the bench at the top! The next weekend, I took the 15-year-old and her friend to the ice rink at the fairgrounds to try her hand at ice skating for a birthday present. She did great! I guess that one’s not in the sunshine, but it was a new adventure for one of the kids. She thinks the whole family should go this winter. Other sunny day treks this fall have included walking the Weyerhauser Trail at the Thurston Hills Rec Area with the younger two kids, walking the river bike path in Eugene with a few of the kids and one of their friends, and walks to our local city park to see the fall foliage and play under the evergreen giants.
The kids visit their grandparents on Chris’ side frequently, and love playing in their pool in the summer. In the fall, they like running around my mom’s country property. One weekend we did s’mores and hot dogs outside in the fire pit, and for Thanksgiving my brother brought a golf cart for them to drive around. The kids loved that! And gave us parents a heart attack! And now we’re headed into the Christmas holiday season. This last week, some of us from my office went up to Portland for our work’s big Christmas party at a fancy hotel in Portland. They hired Party Alpacas for photo ops! And the lobby had a Neuschwanstein Castle made out of gingerbread. So much fun!
Multnomah Falls Lodge dining roomOktoberfest at the Bier SteinEugene’s riverfront bikepath parkThanksgiving fun with Uncle BenI’ve been there! Can I eat it?Merry Christmas with my coworkers
What were your favorite outdoorsy or travel activities this year? What are you excited for with the upcoming holiday or winter season? Feel free to post in the comments below! Merry Christmas, if I don’t get a chance to post again before then!
The Compass Rose Queen 