The Explore All 50 States Project
Let's Go!
The Columbia River is home to tons of salmon that swim upstream to spawn and then head back out to the ocean. It is so beautiful and picturesque and we thought one of the best ways to see it was to take a ride on an old fashioned paddle wheel steamboat. Out on the deck we listened to the narrated tour which clued us in to the history of the area and the native wildlife. During the season a limited number of … [Read more...]
Crater Lake is a natural wonder and one of the most interesting and beautiful places I have ever seen. Formed by a volcanic eruption , Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US and the 7 th deepest lake in the world. Standing out on the viewing area on the rim it's pretty crazy to know you are on the top of a dormant volcano. The lake itself is the most incredible sapphire blue because of its depth and the … [Read more...]
Not too far from Crater Lake is Diamond Lake which is home to the Diamond Lake Resort, a really cool recreation area to just hang out, relax, and have some fun on the water. Mind you, we had an RV so we ended up camping here for the night, but you don't need a camper to hang out and enjoy a day out on the water or stay at their lodge-(I didn't stay there so I couldn't tell you what it was like). We rented a pontoon … [Read more...]
Oregon is home to some spectacular sand dunes at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Center and one of the best ways to experience them is in a dune buggy. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun dune buggy racing is in fact I think it's better than any roller coaster. I certainly did not feel brave enough to drive so we hired a driver to take us around and up and down the dunes. We put on our goggles (trust me you … [Read more...]
Mt. Hood is so high up we found ourselves driving though clouds to get to the top. Mt. Hood is a pretty famous ski area, but people don't know it's also the testing grounds for several snowboard companies. The pros come up here and test out the new products during ski season so you'll see tons of crazy ramps and other shapes that they snowboard on like at the X Games. During the summer, the mountain comes alive … [Read more...]
A Jet Boat ride is a fantastic way to break up the museums and educational stuff and one of the best most memorable we've ever done was on the Willamette River in Portland. What starts out as a leisurely cruise on the gorgeous Willamette River gets wild and crazy when the captain goes full throttle. While we were cruising the kids and I were lucky enough to see an eagle which was pretty amazing. We also got a brief … [Read more...]
OMSI is probably the best science museum my kids and I have ever been to. It has tons of terrific, engaging, hands-on exhibits. Unlike most science museums that highlight concepts with a million buttons to push (which don't really engage the kids, all they're interested in is pushing the buttons) the exhibits here really encouraged learning. Lilia sat at an exhibit and learned all about money. The boys enjoyed … [Read more...]
The Oregon State Capitol building is still one we have yet to see. Sadly our travels did not take us through Salem. If you do go, please let me know what it's like. How is the rotunda? Any cool artifacts? I think my kids and I are going to have to do one last roundup to check out all the state capitols we've missed. There aren't that many but they are sure in some far flung places.... … [Read more...]
The Tillamook Creamery was one of the first factory tours we ever did and afterwards we were hooked. Inside you will learn that the Tillamook Creamery is a co-op. What that means is the local dairy farmers pool their resources together to create the finest quality dairy products and then they share the profits. We loved the awesome displays and found out the answers to our "cheesiest" questions. The factory … [Read more...]
I am not sure what we were imagining about Connecticut but it didn't jive with what we saw. I guess when I hear Connecticut I think of Connecticut Yankees, colonial, white picket fences. We were all surprised to find Connecticut very urban and a little gritty. The waterfront is very picturesque, but it's also pretty commercial. We really felt that the Yale campus looked like it had been plunked down in the … [Read more...]
