The Explore All 50 States Project
Let's Go!
As you may already know, I am not a huge fan of zoos. Parts of the Bramble Park Zoo were really great, such as the petting zoo. The kids really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the animals. My youngest son Joel who can at times have a hair trigger temper is also the most loving and emotional of my 3 kids. He is really drawn to animals and when I watch him it's like he has some kind of special … [Read more...]
At the end of a long hot day on the road, The Thunder Road Family Fun Center was the perfect place to indulge in some fun and games. The kids rode the go-karts and then we partook in a game of mini golf. I just love mini golf. Once we get past the chaos of who goes first and the order of turns, I love discovering the cute and wacky scenarios of each hole. When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot so a trip … [Read more...]
Oregon is such a beautiful and peaceful place where one of the few places where man and nature seem to be in harmony. Oregon presented many beautiful sites to take in and many opportunities for learning about things we take for granted in our daily life. One example as we were driving down to Tillamook through the forest, we noticed the abundance of large green Fir trees. These trees are logged for the lumber that is … [Read more...]
The Bonneville Dam was by far one of most fascinating and memorable things on this road trip. This was a super educational stop on two fronts. First we learned all about hydro-electric power, how the power of the rushing water in the river turns the turbines to create electricity for people to use. Secondly, we also learned about salmon, one of our favorite fish to eat. These two things came together here because the … [Read more...]
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...]
