“Crater Lake Oregon - 4”byStuart Seegeris licensed underCC BY 2.0
Crater Lake, besides being the deepest lake in the United States with a depth of 1,946 feet, is also incredibly beautiful. The water is so blue that it’s almost surreal.
“Climbing Old Rag Mountain”byIvania Martinezis licensed underCC BY 2.0
From beginner trails like the Dog Mountain Trail to death defying climbs up Mount Jefferson, there’s a mountain for everyone in Oregon. Just wait until spring when the weather is right so James Franco doesn’t end up playing you in a movie.
“Ghost Ship”byEric Coulstonis licensed underCC BY 2.0
The “Peter Iredale” is one of the most accessible shipwrecks on the Pacific. It’s been over a century since the wreck, but the remains are still visible on the Warrenton, Oregon coast.
The house from “The Goonies” is located in Astoria, Oregon, and while a real family now lives there, they welcome Goonies fans that want to gawk at the famous house, so long as they come on foot.
It’s basically a crime to visit Oregon without eating Dungeness crab, which are local to the Oregon coast. Norma’s Seafood & Steak in Seaside, Oregon serves up some of the best in the state. If you’re feeling ambitious, visit a fish market on Rockaway Beach where they’re caught, and cook one up yourself.
Apple Valley Country Store in Hood River, Oregon serves up four-pound apple pies… but good luck stopping at that. Their huckleberry milkshakes and apple butter are just as tempting.
The Bend Ale Trail is basically the equivalent of “The Amazing Race” for craft beer lovers, minus all the reality TV cameramen. When you’re in the town with the most breweries per capita, you might as well hit up all fourteen of them—or at least make the valiant effort.
Oregon may be the place to be for beer snobs, but don’t feel left out yet, wine snobs. The Willamette Valley Wineries Association is a great place to start for those looking to stroll through Oregon’s vineyards and taste their famous pinot noir.
Sure, Voodoo Doughnuts may be totally touristy, but there’s a reason everyone flocks there. Where else can you get a donut loaded with fruit loops, or topped with two giant strips of bacon? But if you’re not willing to wait, go where the locals do—Blue Star Donuts.
Hosted bi-annually in summer and fall, the Lincoln City Kite Festival is the thing of every child’s dreams. These elaborate, whimsical kites are sure to make you forget about that load of laundry you need to do and filing your taxes and all the other boring adult things… at least for a little while.
Portland boasts the most authentic and largest Japanese garden outside Japan. Though the wide variety of plants, sculptures, and rock gardens make the garden gorgeous year round, nothing beats seeing the cherry blossoms in spring.
Colloquially known as the “Humongous Fungus,” this enormous honey mushroom in Malheur National Forest is at least 2,400 years old and spreads over 2,200 acres. It may even be under the very ground you’re standing on right now.
If you ever wondered how the most miraculous food on Earth got to be so tasty, a self-guided tour of the Cheese Factory will totally satisfy your curiosity. It’ll also satisfy your craving for all things delicious—cheese, ice cream, and Tillamook’s thirty flavors of fudge.
Located in Gold Hill, Oregon, this bizarre roadside attraction will turn skeptics into believers. Sure, it may all be an optical illusion…or it could be totally paranormal. You decide which one is more fun to believe.
The Sea Lion Caves, just north of Florence, Oregon, is one of the most dependable and largest places to see tons of these adorable year-round residents.
This garden definitely helps Portland earn its nickname as the “City of Roses.” It’s worth the trip to see and smell the 7,000 varieties of rose plants, but this garden also offers fantastic views of downtown, Mount Hood, and the Cascade Mountains. Since roses thrive in direct sunlight, it’s best to visit on a sunny summer day.
The world famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon runs between February and October each year. With adaptations ranging from classical to contemporary, the festival is sure to please everyone from diehard thespians to diehard Netflix-lovers.
Ever wanted to be part of a public art project? It’s as simple as tethering up a tiny toy horse to one of the remaining horse rings on Portland’s sidewalks. So, what’s the point of the Horse Project? Just whimsy, fun, and keeping Portland weird, of course.
Appropriately named the Octopus Tree, this huge 250-year-old Sitka spruce in Netarts, Oregon is worth the hike.
Don’t worry… all the dinosaurs at Oregon’s Prehistoric Gardens are just sculptures. But they are life-sized, and they’re pretty awesome against the very real backdrop of the Oregon rainforest.
At just two feet across, Mill Ends Park in Portland is the smallest park in the world. And, if the legend and “Oregon Journal” columnist Dick Fagan are correct, the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland.
August in Oregon is the most glorious time of the year, because freshly picked Oregon blackberries taste better than any candy in the entire world. Visiting a U-Pick farm is the best way to guarantee maximum berry picking goodness.
Legend has it that Mary Jane Balch “bewitched” her husband Danford Balch into marrying her… and eventually shooting his new son-in-law, Mortimer Stump, who eloped with his fifteen-year-old daughter. The Witch’s House, located in Forest Park in Portland, is said to be haunted by their spirits. At the very least, it’s a lovely spot for a picnic.
Or at least get an idea of how people cured themselves in times past. This Chinese immigrant owned general store and medicine shop has been perfectly preserved since the 1940’s.
Kidd’s Toy Museum boasts a sizeable collection of children’s toys from 1869 to 1939. As it turns out, kids from 1869 to 1939 were playing with some seriously creepy toys.
Powell’s City of Books spans an entire Portland block, and several floors. Whether you’re a Harlequin fiend, or a micro-press chapbook junkie, Powell’s has a room that’s dedicated to your favorite genre. It’s the perfect place for a bibliophile to get lost… and you will get lost.
Because the way down these gorgeous bike trails is a whole heck of a lot easier than the way up.
There were a lot of not so good things about the “good old days,” but drive-in theaters weren’t one of them. Nothing beats curling up in the comfort of your own car and watching a film. Even better if you catch one of this Newberg drive-in’s productions of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
There’s no better way to beat the heat on a hot summer day than to get totally soaked while rafting the Rogue River. Some rapids can be rough, but there are also plenty of quiet spots for beginners.
Shaniko, Oregon was settled in in the late 1800s, and reached a population of 600 at its height. By 1911, the Oregon Trunk Railroad started moving business away from the town. Today, the population hovers around 25 people, but that hasn’t kept eager visitors away from this awesome Wild West ghost town.
The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument has some rock formations that will totally blow your mind. And the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center is right in the middle, so you can understand what happened millions of years ago to make such stunning formations possible.
It’s impossible to eat at all of them, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try. Pods are scattered throughout the city, but the largest pod is between Southwest 9th and Adler. Just don’t go at noon, unless you want to be trampled by the Downtown lunch crowd.
The world’s largest continual chocolate waterfall at the Candy Basket Shorthill Taffy Factory is much stranger than fiction. This gloopy-gloppy chocolate waterfall may not whet your appetite, but the Candy Basket’s delicious taffy definitely will.
It’s much fancier than it sounds. Out’n’About Treesort is about as far from your average bed and breakfast or your average treehouse as you’re going to get, in a totally cool and unique way.
The Oregon Brewers Festival in late July attracts over 80,000 craft beer lovers and 80 craft breweries from all over the country. And if even that isn’t enough, you can learn how to make your own at the home brewing demonstrations. What’s your favorite thing to do in Oregon? Tell us in the comments below!
