What’s to Love: File this under “MUST VISIT NOW!” This place is AMAZING! Even a week after the visit, our kids were still talking about it, and I’m trying to fully grasp and articulate our experience. I cannot believe we hadn’t visited these incredible museums. Out in what seems like the middle of nowhere, Portlanders have access to aviation and spaces museums that rival anything you’d see at Cape Canaveral or Washington D.C., or anywhere else for that matter. These museums are squeaky clean, full of helpful volunteers, and will literally make you just stare around in awe.
What’s to Love: Are you making your plans for the winter holiday season? Portland Family Adventures highly recommends Black Butte Ranch during the Christmas holiday season. Black Butte Ranch comes alive during the festive holiday season. Close your eyes and imagine their properties and roads lightly dusted with some fluffy dry snow perfect for tooling around the resort on cross-country skis and quite possibly, sledding on some of the golf course hills. Even in winter, Black Butte Ranch delivers the best in family fun. Please check-out this reprinted article from our experience last year.
What’s to Love: This site highlights all kinds of adventures. Granted, sometimes the “adventures” are more like cushy vacations or a walks in nearby parks. However, I want the site to feature a little something for every family. Every once in awhile, we kick it up a notch (e.g., Rock Climbing at Smith Rock, Free Riding near Hood River, Hiking Cooper Spur, etc.). The Tree to Tree Aerial Adventure Park (Gaston, Oregon) brings the level of adventure up SEVERAL notches, especially if you venture off 60 feet in the air to try their black course.
What’s to Love: Sunriver feels like a community built around 30+ miles of paved walking/biking paths. When you’re there, it feels like everything (i.e., the pools, the tennis courts, the homes, condos, etc.) was an afterthought to this incredible network of trails. Most of the time, these paved trails are completely separated from the roads, which adds an element of safety.
What’s to Love: After leaving Sunriver Resort, we decided to stop at the Lava Lands Visitor Center and check-out the awesome cinder cone – Lava Butte. Driving down 97, you cannot miss this 500 foot high volcano, which erupted 7000 years ago and covered 9 square miles with lava. If you want to get your kids’ attention, just say, “We’re going to drive-up a real volcano!”
What’s to Love: I’ve lived in Portland since 1999, and this was my first trip to Henry Hagg Lake. I was always concerned that it would just be a big scene with jet skis, motor boats, and a bunch of yahoos throwing trash all over the place. I was definitely wrong and we had a lovely time. I found the entire recreation area clean and a bargain at $5.00 for a pass. The lake offered up a fairly secluded beach with warm water for swimming and a bunch of activities for the whole family.
What’s to Love: If you’re wondering what “Freeriding” means, you might want to first check-out OPB’s feature from Oregon Field Guide. Basically, it’s riding a mountain bike through “technical features” setup along forest paths. These technical features can be something as innocent as a small bump. However, as one progresses further into freeriding, the “technical features” become narrow balance beams (far off the ground too!), teeter-totters, banked turns, and HUGE drop-offs. This is a popular form of mountain biking, and “Post Canyon” outside Hood River is one of the country’s premiere areas.
Hoodoo ski resort provides an excellent skiing resort for families with small children. There is also a great tubing hill called “The Autobahn.” While skiing at Hoodoo, book a family cabin at the Suttle Lake Resort. If your kids are 14 and older, you can stay in the actual Lodge at Suttle Lake.
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City folks just don’t understand what it takes to run a farm. Where does our food come from anyway? We are all detached from our food sources. Very rarely do city kids get a chance to visit a farm where they can actually feed animals, shovel manure, pick produce, clean stalls, and breath clean fresh air. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to kick back and relax and/or run wild at Leaping Lamb’s “Farm Stay.”
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Just take a look at some of the pictures I posted in this article – this beach speaks for itself. Of course, many amazing beaches can be found throughout the area from Newport to Yahacts. However, Driftwood beach resides close to a beach rental we’ve frequented over the past few years, and it holds sentimental value along with stunning natural beauty. I recommend a visit to this beach whenever you’re in the area.
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Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center is a beautiful nature preserve about 2 hours from Portland. The Center hosts a plethora of educational programs for families.
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Black Butte Ranch is a family resort located 8 miles outside Sisters, Oregon. There are a myriad of activities for the whole family including golf, swimming pools, bike trails and rentals, tennis, spa, fitness classes, and much much more.
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If climbing with kids at Smith Rock, I recommend Jim Albao of Chockstone Climbing Guides. Jim has over 18 years of experience and works well with children.
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Horning’s Hideout is one of the best places to take kids fishing. They have rental gear available and it’s very inexpensive. The property also has some killer disc/frisbee golf and summer music concerts.
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The Children’s Course is located in Gladstone, Oregon and is a non-profit, public course aimed at teaching life skills to disadvantaged children through the game of golf.
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Rent a canoe or kayak at Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe Rentals only 100 yards from the boat launch into the Tualatin River. The river is very mellow and an easy paddle for beginners.
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Ibach Park is located 15-20 miles south of Portland off I-5. It has an award winning playground with some interesting playground gear. The park is super clean and well kept.
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What’s to Love: Beaverton City Park is located right next to the city library. We first visited on a very hot day when my son was around 3 years old. As you can see in the first video clip below, he was pretty spooked-out by the vertical row of spraying jets, so he just hung out on the fringes. I literally had to pick him up and run with him through the spray. This is your basic fountain with nothing too fancy, but it certainly can cool you off on a hot day. Plus, it’s a good fountain for all ages.
Safari Sam’s Jungle of Fun has Oregon’s largest indoor jungle-gym/playstructure. Your kids will have a great time running around in the jungle gym, playing 18 holes of miniature golf, and having fun with arcade-type games. It’s the perfect location for a birthday party. They also have a sports-gym that can be rented out.
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The Dalles, Oregon is located on the east end of the Columbia River Gorge right off highway 84. There are several excellent Museums including Maryhill Museum and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. There is a 9 mile, paved, bike path along the river from the Discovery Center all the way to the Dalles Dam. Portland Family Adventures recommends staying at Cousins Country Inn and eating at Cousins Restaurant.
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