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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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/
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.
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.
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!
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!
The Compass Rose Queen 