#Gates50States

Oregon is a state for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages. Our itinerary for the OR/WA trip started with 10 days beginning in Portland and ending in Seattle. After much research, it morphed into 21 days beginning in San Francisco and ending in Seattle with 7 full days of Oregon sandwiched in between. Sadly, as always, we still missed so much.  We’ve said it before, and we’ll certainly say it again: the hardest part about this whole project is saying, “No,” to things and places in each and every state for lack of time to get it all in. RG and I are already trying to find time to go back and explore.

After leaving Crescent City and the redwoods of northern California behind, we headed to Crater Lake National Park for a whirlwind tour. Usually, I wouldn’t breeze through a national park in 1 day, but this was our only option in the time allotted. It really was stunning but I would definitely advocate sunrise or sunset along with hiking Mt. Scott and the Watchman Trail (at a minimum) to truly appreciate it’s beauty. Retaining a room at Crater Lake Lodge for more than 2 people usually needs to be done around a year in advance. Even camping spots seemed to fill quickly, so plan ahead.

Bend, OR, was the next stop on our roadtrip, specifically the High Desert Museum.  Fabulous rotating and fixed exhibits, plus the Raptor Show, made this an impressive stop.    We had attended an informative raptor show on the Door County peninsula in Wisconsin last summer but this raptor show was more extensive. Beautiful birds swooping overhead close enough for their wings to brush against us was an incredible experience.

Learning specifically about raptors of the high desert environment was just one more way to enhance our understanding of this part of the country, and fit with a goal of making these trips educational for our kids. Budget an entire day’s worth of time if possible and try to time your visit for the working sawmill demonstration at the Miller’s Homestead. They only do live demos a couple weekends in the summer.

We moved on to coastal Oregon, a must-see for families. Our kids could easily spend several weeks building sandcastles and throwing small rocks and shells back into the freezing cold Pacific. Seriously, it’s cold! Did the kids care? Not really. Waves are waves no matter how cold they are.

As parents/grandparents, however, it was the tide pools that drew us in. In fact, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area was our favorite tide pool location between Newport, OR, and Cape Alava, WA. Boasting a beautiful lighthouse, hiking trails and wonderful marine life (including harbor seals, gray whales and tons of birds), this was a fabulous stop.

The America the Beautiful pass covers admission or $7 per car. Sea stars, lemon nudibranch, urchins, anemones, mussels and barnacles galore graced the rocky intertidal zone. Truly an abundance of life waiting to be seen.

When you’re all tide-pooled out, additional fun in Newport may be found at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Primarily a learning/research institution associated with Oregon State University, the Visitor Center portion also provides exhibits and hands-on learning for free to the public.

We scheduled private classes for our family which are usually attended by school groups to make the time even more enriching. Learning about the scientific method through shore crab racing and setting up elements of a healthy marine habitat were some of the highlights of our entire Oregon trip.  (Now the kids are all into setting up habitats at home!)

Glass blowing seems to be quite prevelant on this coast. Even small seaside towns have at least one shop. If the kids were a bit older (I’d say 10 and up) I would have scheduled us all to make our own glass products at The Hot Shop in Newport. Although we didn’t make our own this time, watching multiple pieces being made and hearing about the process was still pretty cool. (My new, gorgeous olive oil bottle will grace the shelves of our soon-to-be remodeled kitchen this fall.)

As we moved up the coast from Depoe Bay to the little community of Sunset Beach, no Gates roadtrip would be complete with out stopping at a few random places along the way. Munson Creek Falls, located down a narrow, pot-hole laden road is the tallest waterfall along the coastal range at 319′.

A short, easy, quarter-mile hike winds along a stream through western red cedar and Sitka spruce ending at a viewing area pretty far back from the base of the falls. A fun, quick and free stop while heading up the coast, good for stretching the legs.

As our journey continued into Tillamook, we opted to stop at The Blue Heron Creamery for lunch. I had read about the Tillamook Creamery and their tours but it sounded way too busy for our enjoyment.

Initially passing Blue Heron, we quickly made the decision to turn around and check it out. What a cute place! We enjoyed samples of various types of brie they produce, selected our favorite, added a fresh baked baguette and headed outside. The adults also shared a tasting flight of select local red wines. The rest of our lunch was already packed, however two restaurants and plenty of goodies were available to choose from if needed. All in all, a good find.

Our final area of exploration included the terminus of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition near Astoria, OR. Staying at Sunset Beach, just south of town allowed us to be close enough to activities and amenities but in a much quieter community. The cute, touristy town of Seaside was only 15 minutes south of us as well, providing more options than needed for our 3 day stay.

A few things we really enjoyed…

• tide pools and spotting Tufted Puffins at Cannon Beach-check their website for the ranger’s schedule;
• exploring Fort Stevens State Park by trying to solve the Quest; and
• just-caught seafood at Northwest Wild for a cook-your-own seafood feast… the Razor Clams are incredible!

Hiking the Fort to Sea Trail from Fort Clatsop to Sunset Beach was also fun, although the middle 2 miles or so were a little drab. Worth it if you enjoy hiking and have the time.

We also wanted to check out Columbia Maritime Museum but ran out of time. According to Frommer’s, it’s the best museum in the state. So much to see and so little time!

Cape Disappointment and Long Beach were suggested by our Airbnb hosts, so we chose to spend a day there instead. Although they’re in Washington, I’m including it with Oregon because it was so easy to explore being just across the river. What a day! We visited both lighthouses at Cape Disappointment but didn’t have time to tour the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. The adults would have no doubt loved learning even more about their journey but the kids were about done. 🙂 Plenty of short hikes were available as well, but we still had cranberry bogs (yes, in WA) to visit and donuts to eat from the fabulous Cottage Bakery in Long Beach.

Take the walking tour of a working cranberry farm just outside of town in Long Beach, WA. It’s a self-guided tour with information provided in the brochure. We all learned a ton about cranberry farming and finished our time with cranberry treats in the museum and gift shop. If you’re in town between April-December and enjoy learning about random information (we do) then definitely check it out. 

Long Beach itself was an adorable little town. We didn’t have time to see too much of it though because we were on a mission to experience donuts from the Cottage Bakery on Pacific Ave. So hard to choose, but we managed:)

Next stop… Washington!