We took a trip over the summer to Oregon, but with the busyness of work and family, I’m just now writing about it over winter break. Hopefully this longer-than-expected write-up will serve someone in their trip planning (in addition to my fleeting memory).

 “You seem like you belong in Oregon” people told me, “You just need more tattoos.” Maybe it’s because I’m odd and nature loving? Who knows. Either way, I’ve wanted to visit Oregon, and cheap flights into Portland convinced us to make it a reality.

Our six-day trip (with a travel day on the front and back) was one of exploring rather than relaxing. I haven’t figured out how to relax yet, to the disappointment of my 10- and 12-year-old. So, take what you want and leave the rest (if you want some rest!).

We rented a Subaru from Turo, which is like AirBnB for cars. It made us fit right in. The owner of the car and my husband communicated over the Turo app and it was dropped off at our hotel for us. Our skeleton itinerary below is followed by the details:

Day 1: Travel to Portland

Day 2: Portland for ½ day, waterfalls on the Columbia River Gorge, stay in Stevenson, WA.

Day 3: Hiking Mt Hood, stay in Bend, OR.

Day 4:  Bend for ½ day, Crater Lake National Park, stay in Florence.

Day 5: Sand dunes on 4-wheelers in Florence, drive up the Pacific Coast, stay in Seaside.

Day 6: Explore Seaside and Cannon Beach, stay in Seaside again.

Day 7: Astoria, Mt. St. Helens. Stay in Portland at a hotel near the airport.

Day 8: Fly home!

Detailed itinerary:

Day 1: Travel to Portland.

We flew into Portland airport in the evening and stayed at a nearby airport hotel to get a free shuttle ride. The hotels in this area felt safe.

Day 2: Explore Portland for ½ day, waterfalls on the Columbia River Gorge, stay in Stevenson, WA. Total drive time: 2 hrs.

Portland. People told us “Portland is not what it used to be”. We weren’t sure what they were talking about so did a little research.

In November 2020, in the most sweeping response to date, Oregon voters passed Measure 110 (M110), making it the first state to de jure decriminalize the possession of all nonprescribed drugs for personal use, while reallocating millions of dollars toward addiction treatment, recovery programs, housing, and harm reduction services.

In 2021, Oregon’s rate of fatal overdose increased by approximately 50% compared to the previous year. In response to these initial outcomes, Oregon’s legislature recriminalized drug possession in March 2024, to take effect in September 2024.

Zoorob, M. J., Park, J. N., Kral, A. H., Lambdin, B. H., & del Pozo, B. (2024). Drug decriminalization, fentanyl, and fatal overdoses in Oregon. JAMA Network Open, 7(9), e2431612

We enjoyed it for half a day and could have spent a full day easily. We drove past the Trailblazers stadium then went to Portland’s Outdoors Store that has classic western workwear and found ourselves trying on fancy cowboy hats and boots. The staff were amused by our amusement and played along.

Powell’s City of Books, the world’s largest new and used independent bookstore that takes up a whole city block, was the next worthy stop. I wanted to stay in this marvelous place for days, but the kids were done in 15 minutes. Stump Town Coffee gave us the needed caffeine boost. I’m a fan of their intricately tiled red bathroom.

We heard that Voodoo Donuts is a tourist trap, so we skipped the long line and were advised to go to Pipps Original Doughnuts. On the way, we drove down SE Hawthorne Blvd – I would have enjoyed exploring unique shops and restaurants with more time. At Pipps, my kids expected something more traditional like long johns and sprinkles but instead they were the kind parents used to make in the 80s with real ingredients, made right in front of you; unique and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. After donuts, I got excited about the surrounding neighborhood with its cute and other-worldly homes.

On the drive to the falls we stopped at Crown Point Vista House – a 360 degree view of the gorge and Columbia River.

Exploring the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge was astonishing.

• Latourell Falls is a tall single waterfall. We could walk as close to the mist of the torrential water as we dared. I took loads of pictures, not knowing the many extraordinary falls to come.
• Bridal Veil Falls is a 2/3-mile hike round trip (a sign was posted that a cougar was seen in this area a few days earlier…!).
• Wahkeena Falls is smaller, but we parked here to walk to Multnomah Falls (since that parking lot was full). The 1/2-mile walk (each way) was magic because of the tiny falls along the way- one being a straight line of water dropping such that it made a literal “shower curtain”.
• Multnomah Falls is glorious, and the crowds are there to prove it.
• I’m glad we stopped at each of these, they were all beautiful in their own way, but if I had to pick one to visit for the day, I’d choose Latourell Falls based on how close you could get to the base of the dramatic falls, the small crowds, ease of parking, and short walk.

We stayed at a motel in Stevenson, WA. I’d recommend booking earlier than one week before the trip (like us), so you have more accommodation options in Stevenson. It’s a sweet town with great views of the Columbia River. If you are willing to wait 30 min to 1 hour, a good place to eat is Clark & Lewie’s. After a full day, we devoured delicious elk burgers and bison stroganoff. Instead of waiting to be seated (which took 45 minutes) order it “to go” and using one of the nearby picnic tables in the gorgeous spots along the river.

This was a lot for one day. The kids were flattened, but that gave them less energy to complain about our dysfunctional motel room. There were a lot of stains and smells, broken things, and odd noises. But hey, it builds character. After all our shock at the shoddy place, my daughter said, “It’s better than sleeping in the car!”

Day 3: Hiking Mt Hood, stay in Bend, OR. Total drive time: 3 hrs. 30 min.

Breakfast at The Cabin in Stevenson, WA was yummy (drive through or outdoor seating only). Our 12-year-old daughter became a grown adult by eating the most mature avocado toast I’ve ever seen. It had legit plants on top and she liked it. The staff were so friendly, I considered moving there so we could be friends.

Driving over the Bridge of the Gods took us from Washington back into Oregon. This bridge is part of the Pacific Crest Trail, you know, that long trail that spans from Mexico to Canada. This bridge is the lowest point on the entire trail.

We stopped by the Bonneville Dam and Hatchery. It was a good learning experience about the life of salmon and the struggle between preserving nature and finding clean energy. Watching the fish swim against the rushing river current, jumping to climb the salmon ladders to get past the dam, made me tired. It also made me have deep thoughts about how our kids need to experience hard work and live through struggle to build perseverance for their lives in the real world. It’s exhausting to watch and tempting to jump in and put them at the top of the ladder. That would be worse for them. They wouldn’t develop those muscles. Ok, back to the itinerary.

If you’re into engineering (which 3/4ths of us are not), you can go see the massive turbines that create hydropower if you wish.

The Bonneville Hatchery was a short drive from the Dam. We saw some big fish. We rushed through this stop in under an hour because we still had a mountain to hike.

For lunch, we stopped at the iconic Sugarpine restaurant in Troutdale (the cuteness of this town melted me). The long line for ordering in the restaurant made us opt for drive through, which, we discovered, offers only ice cream… so that’s what we ate for lunch. My advice is to park your car and wait in that line because the image of that grilled cheese I never got to experience is seared in my memory forever. Instead, we stopped yet again in Sandy, OR at a Thai food truck. The food was delicious and we ate it on the drive to Mt. Hood National Forest. That protein would come in handy.

The Old Salmon River Trail was our first hike. This fairytale-like path, full of ferns and soft earth, was a gorgeous and easy forest walk along the rolling river. We enjoyed rock hopping and finding rock “couches” to lay on. I knew I belonged in Oregon when I wanted to live in a hut in this old growth forest, with its luscious ferns and mossy trees, and be a happy hobbit. There wasn’t a single word of complaint from the youth on this easy hike, only joyful frolicking.

That wasn’t the case for our next hike.

We drove uphill for a while through twisty two-lane roads. We parked at Timberline Lodge, built in the 1930s, to fill up on water and use the bathroom. When we got out of the car, the wind told us we were in the higher elevation of Mt. Hood. The Lodge is a sight to see. Intricately built with huge stones and thick wood beams, it’s nearly as solid as Mt. Hood. We hiked about 5 miles round trip on the Timberline Ridge Trail headed toward Zigzag Canyon. The All Trails app was helpful. This hike was at 7,000 feet of elevation and wasn’t easy, so we had some complaints along the way. But I’d recommend it. The views were spectacular, and we got to see wildflowers and make a few snowballs (in July).

After the hike, we drove to Bend, OR. The drive to Bend passed through Warm Springs Reservation and featured the desert part of the state. The rolling hills of grasses, pastures, and mountains in the distance made for a picturesque sunset. There weren’t a lot of places to stop between Mt. Hood area and Bend, so prepare with food and gas ahead. Bend’s air quality was in the red (unhealthy) zone due to forest fires. Using the Fire and Smoke Map (airnow.gov) was helpful. As advised, we mostly stayed in the hotel where the air was filtered. This was the kids’ favorite part of the trip so far, swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub!

Breakfast at The Cabin in Stevenson, WA was yummy (drive through or outdoor seating only). Our 12-year-old daughter became a grown adult by eating the most mature avocado toast I’ve ever seen. It had legit plants on top and she liked it. The staff were so friendly, I considered moving there so we could be friends.

Driving over the Bridge of the Gods took us from Washington back into Oregon. This bridge is part of the Pacific Crest Trail, you know, that long trail that spans from Mexico to Canada. This bridge is the lowest point on the entire trail.

We stopped by the Bonneville Dam and Hatchery. It was a good learning experience about the life of salmon and the struggle between preserving nature and finding clean energy. Watching the fish swim against the rushing river current, jumping to climb the salmon ladders to get past the dam, made me tired. It also made me have deep thoughts about how our kids need to experience hard work, and live through struggle to build perseverance for their lives in the real world. It’s exhausting to watch and tempting to jump in and put them at the top of the ladder. That would be worse for them. They wouldn’t develop those muscles. Ok, back to the itinerary.

If you’re into engineering (which 3/4ths of us are not), you can go see the massive turbines that create hydropower if you wish.

The Bonneville Hatchery was a short drive from the Dam. We saw some big fish. We rushed through this stop in under an hour because we still had a mountain to hike.

For lunch, we stopped at the iconic Sugarpine restaurant in Troutdale (the cuteness of this town melted me). The long line for ordering in the restaurant made us opt for drive through, which, we discovered, offers only ice cream… so that’s what we ate for lunch. My advice is to park your car and wait in that line because the image of that grilled cheese I never got to experience is seared in my memory forever. Instead, we stopped yet again in Sandy, OR at a Thai food truck. The food was delicious and we ate it on the drive to Mt. Hood National Forest. That protein would come in handy.

The Old Salmon River Trail was our first hike. This fairytale-like path, full of ferns and soft earth, was a gorgeous and easy forest walk along the rolling river. We enjoyed rock hopping and finding rock “couches” to lay on. I knew I belonged in Oregon when I wanted to live in a hut in this old growth forest, with its luscious ferns and mossy trees, and be a happy hobbit. There wasn’t a single word of complaint from the youth on this easy hike, only joyful frolicking.

That wasn’t the case for our next hike.

We drove uphill for a while through twisty two-lane roads. We parked at Timberline Lodge, built in the 1930s, to fill up on water and use the bathroom. When we got out of the car, the wind told us we were at Mt. Hood’s higher elevation. The Lodge is a sight to see. Intricately built with huge stones and thick wood beams, it’s nearly as solid as the mountain. We hiked 5 miles round trip on the Timberline Ridge Trail headed toward Zigzag Canyon. The AllTrails app was helpful. This hike was at 7,000 feet of elevation and wasn’t easy, so we had some complaints en route. But I’d recommend it. The views were spectacular, we got to see wildflowers and make snowballs (in July) along the way.

After the hike, we drove to Bend, OR. The drive to Bend passed through Warm Springs Reservation and featured the desert ecosystem. The rolling hills of grass, pastures, and mountains in the distance absorbed me with a picturesque sunset. There weren’t a lot of places to stop between Mt. Hood area and Bend, so prepare with food and gas ahead. Bend’s air quality was in the red zone (unhealthy) due to forest fires. Using the Fire and Smoke Map (airnow.gov) was helpful. As advised, we mostly stayed in the hotel where the air was filtered. Swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub was the kids’ favorite part of the trip so far (insert eyeroll).

Day 4:  Bend for ½ day, Crater Lake, stay in Florence, OR. Drive time: 6 hrs 30 min.

The kids wanted to go swimming AGAIN in the morning, so we pushed the days’ plans back. Not a great idea in hindsight. After checking out of the hotel, we watched people surfing on the Deschutes River. We drove downtown and I had to limit myself to only going into one cute store. The agenda included a two-hour drive to Crater Lake National Park (and time to hike and enjoy it) then a 4-hour drive to Florence, OR.

The kids didn’t want to go to Crater Lake when they heard there was more hiking. But isn’t a forced visit to a beautiful national park an essential part of childhood?

We didn’t have time, but still stopped at Richard’s Donuts and Pastries, which made everyone happy on the drive. You’ll want to move to Bend for the apple fritter.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It is fed solely by rain and snow (no rivers or streams) and is considered the cleanest large body of water in the world! This clear and intensely blue lake was created when a volcano collapsed after a major eruption.

On the way there we passed Deschutes National Forest and the High Desert Museum. In retrospect, we would have built in time to stop, but we were out of time (darn hotel pool and apple fritter!).

We saw warning signs for wildfire activity and smelled smoke, which was concerning but didn’t impact our day. The kids wanted to go easy on the hiking after they had more than they wanted yesterday. But… then we found out that the Cleetwood Cove Trail is the only one that accesses the water of Crater Lake. It’s 2.2 miles but in the “strenuous” category with 700 ft of elevation gain in one mile. It’s equivalent to walking up 65 flights of stairs. The walk down was easy, and we enjoyed seeing the boats and dipping our toes in. The shoreline was made of big boulders and with enough wind to make some waves, we didn’t take the cold plunge. The lake sits at over 6,000 feet of elevation, so for us flatlanders, this was a factor and kids were spent after this hike. They fell asleep in the car after driving for one literal minute. We reluctantly woke them up after their 5-minute power nap for a forced photo and food at the lodge. All the National Park lodges are sights to see!

They would have rather eaten fish eyes than hike again, but we convinced them to do just one more. Sun Notch Trail is a .8-mile easy hike to see the “sailing ship” rock formation in Crater Lake. This was a gorgeous walk through the forest that reminded me of Switzerland and had stunning views of Crater Lake. If you’re looking for a short, beautiful, and easy, hike, this is a winner. Even the kids enjoyed it. If you have some people in your group who are not into the challenge of hiking, I’d skip Cleetwood Cove Trail and do some of the other hikes that are moderate.

We finished our speedy tour of Crater Lake and headed west to our sleeping destination in Florence, OR. This 4.5-hour drive had no cell service, so it was fortunate that my husband had downloaded this part of Oregon in Google Maps. I felt like we were driving in a car commercial with the towering trees, turns, and mountains. But the turns were a little too much for our 10-year-old. He was cranky and demanded we pull over. Thankfully we listened because he left his “dinner” on the side of the road instead of in our car. He got to ride in the front seat for the first time in his life, which helped. Again, not much for food or gas on this drive.

We passed the huge amounts of driving time by listening to an entertaining audio book, “The Adventures of Coyote Sunrise”. This was vital to making long drives with no cell service tolerable. It features a girl driving across the country with her hippie father (just a heads up, this book is sad at points and YOU WILL CRY). Thankfully it was nighttime, so we could hide our sobbing.

At 10:30 pm we pulled into The River House Inn. The kids were thrilled that this motel wasn’t horrible. We noted how much we appreciate things after experiencing something worse. Right after we arrived, I headed back out in the pouring rain to the almost-closed grocery store. Our skimpy dinner, five hours earlier, wasn’t cutting it. The kids acted like I saved their lives when I returned up with yogurt, chips, goldfish, and peanut butter crackers.

Day 5: Sand dunes on 4-wheelers in Florence, drive up the coast, stay in Seaside, OR. Total drive time 3 hrs. 50 min.

We started to get annoyed with each other. One child wanted to wake up early and eat breakfast immediately while the other wants to sleep in, wake up slowly, but also wanted us to all eat breakfast together. When one kid was pleased the other was mad and hungry. Anyway, The River House Inn had a pancake making machine, so that helped the mood.

Our room had a balcony overlooking the Siuslaw River. While standing out there, my husband saw a seal which made my daughter squint and say, “is that river salt water?” He tested her by saying, “it’s brackish… do you know what that means?”

“Half and half!” She said.

The morning plan was to rent 4-wheelers and let the kids try driving on their own in the sand dunes. From experience, it’s more fun driving yourself than being stuck letting someone else control your fate. We thought it would be a good way for the kids to experience driving with the safety of sand. But we were wrong. We headed to Torax ATV Rentals. After talking to a few employees who kindly answered all my questions, we decided to all ride together. The company had a great safety video (telling us all the ways we could die) and all the gear we needed. In the end, I’m glad we were in the same vehicle to experience the joys and the fears together and keep the children alive. These dunes were no joke. Their massiveness made it so we couldn’t see who might be on the other side, riding right up to us. It’s easy to flip over if driving up sideways rather than straight up. I’m glad we had a safety video about that because I was ready to use the zigzag hiking path method. My husband and I took turns driving (he gave me more than my allotment because of how much fun I was having). We let the kids tell us where to go to give them some sense of control. I wasn’t sure if we should spend the money, but I’m glad we did this. The dunes were a lot more enormous and exciting to 4-wheel on than I imagined.

After hanging up our helmets, we got rolling on our coastal drive heading North. We passed Seal Lion Caves, “America’s Largest Sea Cave,” but viewed them from the pull off (you can pay $16 per person to see them up close).

Our first stop along the Pacific Ocean was Thors Well. The kids heard the word “hike,” and getting them out of the car was going to be like giving the cat a bath. I forced them to put their chips down and get out of the car. This easy 2-mile round-trip trail took us to a huge rocky area where we saw little crabs, crustaceans, and a hole that unpredictably spit water high into the air. We got soaked and it was spectacular. On the hike back to the car I overheard the kids say, “that was cool”. I asked my daughter if it was worth it and she said, “Yeah, because I got to see my brother get splashed!”

We passed a cute coastal town called Yachats and Devil’s Punchbowl (another cool splashy rocky area) and would have stopped with more time. After stopping for lunch in Depoe Bay we had 2.5 more hours to drive, so took the faster, more inland route, and went on the 101 to drive past Tillamook (where the cheese is made). They had a great-looking facility and visitors center that we didn’t stop at.

The drive was long. My son kept pushing the window button up and down. My daughter felt car sick. We pulled over for a moment to settle her stomach and found tons of wild blackberries. My husband couldn’t help himself and ate one. My daughter yelled in fear at him that he would die like Chris McCandless in the book “Into the Wild”. We kept rolling with the most carsick person alternating in the front seat and the audiobook keeping us sane.

The next purposeful stop was Manzanitas, a town of 600 people, for the “must see candy shop”. Well, Manzanita Sweets was closed, but we enjoyed the remote foggy beach. My pale skin likes beaches with no sun.

After a full day, we made it to the Saltline Hotel in Seaside, OR. When we opened the car doors to unload, the seagulls were as loud as sirens. We walked in to the stylish hotel with a fresh modern design. We saw two teenage boys in the pool as we made our way to our room.

“Oh no, it’s crowded,” I said.

My daughter said, “If we want the pool to ourselves this is what we’ve gotta do. We have to be loud and do a cannon ball that splashes everyone. Then we need to swim really close to them and do more splashing.”

I laughed and said, “We sure wouldn’t like it if someone did that to us.”

But ice cream before pool was the plan. We had some failed ice cream attempts (long lines or cash only), so the kids settled for gas station ice cream so they could make it back to the pool before it closed. I stayed to stand in line for Sea Star Gelato which had the highest star rating. I never deny myself good gelato and it was worth the wait. Grapefruit ice cream is unexpectedly good. I took some to my husband; I’m not a monster.

The teen boys were still there and beating my daughter at her own “get the pool to ourselves” game. They hit me with a huge ball, splashed us, and yelled. The adult with them was on his phone paying no attention. At 10:00 the pool closed, and we all walked out together. My daughter said, “Well at least we stayed strong and didn’t give them the satisfaction of us leaving. And if dad’s looks could kill, those boys would be dead buried and buried again.”

We all slept well.

Day 6: Explore Seaside and Cannon Beach, stay in Seaside, OR again.

Parent advice: Rotate taking an hour for yourself in the morning to recharge

The kids wanting the exact opposite things and waiting for each other was exasperating. The hardest and best part of traveling is being together, a lot.

My husband would leave the room in the morning to read, explore, and drink coffee. I expressed my frustration that I was the one stuck in the morning waiting for the last of the kids to get ready. So today, we switched. It was glorious. One hour alone felt like 10. Five stars, highly recommend.

One thing my husband and I wanted to do was go biking on the “Prom” short for promenade. The Seaside Promenade is a 1.5-mile paved walkway along the Pacific, built in 1920. We took up the challenge of the sub-par hotel bikes and found lots of entry points to the beach. After walking through the dry sand, we made it to that perfect spot where the sand was firm enough for riding. The beach was vast, and we had fun in the freedom and fresh air. Of course, one kid wanted to ride over every crunchy object while the other wanted to go as fast as possible, so we split into two groups. My group stopped at the Lewis and Clark monument in Seaside. The bronze statue commemorates Lewis and Clark’s 4,000-mile journey at the Turnaround on Broadway Street.

After a snack at Bagel by The Sea (which I later realized I left my credit card), we drove down to Cannon Beach and saw the iconic Haystack Rock. We sprinted on this very deep beach and had family races (I lost), before seeing a massive sandcastle, and live starfish. On our drive back to Seaside, I let the kids know that tomorrow was our last day and we were driving to Mount St. Helens. My daughter said, “What?! I was just warming up to this vacation thing!”

Phillips Candies was our first afternoon stop and we were all in sugar heaven. We walked away with fresh popcorn, homemade gelato, and bags of candy. I went back to this store three times within the next few hours to buy more and watch their saltwater taffy making. This was one of my personal favorite things. I’m in denial of my sugar problems.

Right next to the candy shop was Funland Seaside Arcade. We all enjoyed some old and new games.

Next, we faced off in old electric bumper cars which were more violent than we expected. I tried to take a picture while in the bumper car and got slammed and yelled at by a 50-year-old guy who yelled, “DRIVE!” Seeing him slam into my 10-year-old so that his little head whiplashed, was alarming. I didn’t feel too bad when I “accidentally” t-boned him. It’s worth going but know what you’re getting into and have both hands on the wheel!

Day 7: Astoria, Mt. St. Helens. Stay in Portland at airport hotel.

Day 7: Astoria, Mt. St. Helens. Stay in Portland at an airport hotel.

None of us wanted to leave Seaside, but our plan was to drive three hours up, through Astoria and then to Mt St Helen’s. Then two hours back south to Portland. Ugh. Who planned this trip?

We drug our butts out of bed and stuck with the plan, even though I considered skipping Mount St Helens. The kids’ favorite day was, of course the arcade and candy-filled day at Seaside. But how could we not explore as much as possible when in a new, far-away state?

Our first stop was The Peter Iredale Shipwreck from 1906. It was surprisingly cool even though only the steel frame remained. A woman walking her dog who grew up in Astoria told us there used to be double the amount of ship wreckage left. She used to climb up a part that’s no longer there. It’s amazing how something as strong as steel goes back to nature. I wondered how long a plastic soda bottle would’ve held up in the same situation.

The next Astoria stop was Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. There is a fee to enter, but we were living it up with our everykidoutdoors.gov benefit, giving free National Park passes to fourth graders and their families. We breezed through the museum and then headed to the outside replica of their quarters where they wintered for 5 months. Here are some interesting Lewis and Clarck exploration facts:

• Only 12 days (of their 5 months stay) were without rain while in Astoria.
• They boiled 1,400 gallons of seawater to make 448 cups of salt (to preserve rations for their return trip).
• Lewis was wearing buckskins and got shot in the rear by one of his men who thought he was an elk.

This was a worthwhile stop for some interactive history. We got coffee and smoothies at a coffee hut called Hill Climb Coffee, which are common in the PNW. The lady there was mean, but the drinks were good!

At this point in the trip, I was claustrophobic in the car and buried in ketchup packets, Styrofoam boxes of leftovers, and maps. But we were heading to the great Mount St. Helens.

We drove over the Lewis & Clark Bridge which takes you from Oregon to Washington over the Columbia River. The town of Longview, WA is on the other side of this bridge and the mountainous piles of logs were astonishing. The town was founded by R.A. Long, of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, to be one of the world’s great lumber centers. There were, what seemed like broken telephone poles, sticking up out of the river that looked like a boat wreck waiting to happen. They were placed there to sort the logs hundreds of years ago as they floated down the river. Not a good kayaking situation. We had one more hour to drive to our first hike in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

We stopped in Kalama, WA for an emergency bathroom break for our son (which turned out that several other little boys needed at the same time). The temperature had changed dramatically, from 70 to 100 degrees, as we drove inland from the ocean.

We listened to more “Adventures of Coyote Sunrise” on the drive. We realized that with our individual devices and content specific to our interests based on algorithms, we are all in our own curated worlds. It was special to share the experience of a story.

On the way up to Mount St. Helen’s, our daughter started to get carsick, so she sat in the front. Then our son did, so they switched. How do you measure who’s more carsick? By the time we got to our destination, The Trail of Two Forests in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, they were both asleep.

We woke their carsick-selves up to explore the magnificent lava tubes and caves. Hearing our voices echo off all the hardened lava was so cool. But the most beautiful part was seeing my kids, full of wonder, and thought, God really did make humans the pinnacle of all creation.

The trail of two Forests hike featured tree-shaped holes in the ground where lava flowed around them, then the trees died away, like a nature made manhole. Similarly, there were a cave “tubes” formed by lava flowing around large fallen trees that we could climb through, like crawling through a sewer (without the sewage). The bigger the body, the more challenging the crawl. My 6-foot-tall husband made it with some extra effort. The cave was relatively short, but long enough for us to need flashlights to get through the pitch black. Our phone lights worked, but headlamps would have been useful to free our hands up to crawl.

There were bugs- mosquitoes and horse flies- which made the kids shriek. I wanted to do the Ape Cave Trail with more lava tubes, but it required an advanced reservation, and we arrived after the last tour ended.

The kids were losing their minds about the horseflies. It didn’t help that when my daughter asked, “Why are they chasing me?!” my husband said, “They’re hungry.”

So, we skipped the one-mile hike to the viewpoint and drove instead. From here, we got to see the Mount St. Helen’s National Volcanic Monument: Southern Viewpoint from a distance with a little snow on top in August. We planned to drive around the north and eastern sides, but they were closed. In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have spent the day driving up there for this view if I had known it would be this far away. We wished we could go to Johnston Ridge Observatory which we read comes, “within a stone’s throw of the crater; the view from the observatory is unparalleled.”

It was a windy and windy drive back to Portland (and I was today-years-old when I realized that the word windy can mean twisty or blustery). We stopped on the way in Vancouver, WA for some Indian food carry-out, which we ate on our hotel beds while watching Simone Biles win gold with her floor routine in the Paris Olympics.

Day 8: Fly home!

Oregon was an incredible state to explore with mountains, desert, ocean, and so much more than what we had time for. The best part, of course, is the time together experiencing something new. Let me know if you go and what you’d recommend for our next trip (if I don’t live there by then).