Length: 106 miles / 169.6 km
Time to Allow: 5-7 hours
Fees: A few museums charge fees. So do some campgrounds.
Driving Directions
From Bend, take State Highway 372 (Century Drive) east for 4.5 miles to the boundary of the Deschutes National Forest where the Byway begins. The Byway comes to an end as Forest Route 46 meets State Highway 58.
Kid or not, driving up to the Evergreen Wings and Waves Waterpark is cool.
Don’t believe me? Where else can you drive up to a building and see a 747 sitting on top of a building? That’s what I thought.
Your journey through the Umpqua River Basin starts with 10 waterfalls with a variety of picnic areas and hikes. There's something here for all skills and abilities.
While many attractions around Oregon bill themselves as fun for the whole family, if you are going to have fun in your name, you better deliver, and the Family Fun Center and Bullwinkle’s Restaurant does.
Sitting next to Interstate 5, it’s hard to miss it, with its miniature golf castle (which my daughters point and call the ‘princess castle every time we pass’), batting cages, go-cart race track and a rock climbing wall you can see from the highway.
There are some state parks where you stop, get out of the car, maybe use the public restroom, walk around a bit to stretch your legs and the leave within 20 minutes. Maybe it has an interpretive plaque or trail, maybe one of the incredible stunning views that are scattered throughout the state, but overall it’s a pretty short experience.
Water everywhere, for everyone: public fountains in downtown Portland
"We're a water city, surrounded by rivers. It's nice to be able to see it everywhere," says Margaret Smith, a lifelong resident of the area, while she watches granddaughters Dionika and Nikayla Newell splashing in one of the many fountains maintained by the Portland Water Bureau. On summer days, three generations of her family, including daughter Nicole, enjoy the cooling waters, and they are far from alone.
The state's only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house originally occupied a scenic setting on the south side of the Willamette River, near the Charbonneau development in Wilsonville. Completed in 1964 for Conrad and Evelyn Gordon, the house was an example of Wright's efforts to design affordable housing for families earning modest incomes. He called the style Usonian, an acronym for United States of North America, and it was characterized by use of inexpensive, mass-produced, local materials and an open floor plan that encouraged social gatherings. Only 60 of them were ever built.
Tranquility is a word many visitors use as soon as the y enter the 160 acres of Horning’s Hideout. That’s how Jane and her son, Bob Horning like it. The two, along with Jane’s late husband, Dick, developed the tranquil setting over the past 52 years.
Portland offers more parks than any other city in the nation and one of the best on a warm sunny day is Jamison Square. Located in the artistic Pearl District, Jamison Square is an interactive fountain offering wonderful water fun that is safe for kids of all ages. Pack a picnic, roll up your pants, dress the kids in their bathing suits for a day of splish-splashing fun for the whole family. Once you go your kids will be begging to go back.
