Oregon is somewhere between a dream and a vision, a wish and a wonder. The Pacific Northwest offer unique adventures, awe-inspiring beauty, amazing sights, and few people! With a little planning, you can be one of those lucky few.
On a map Oregon lies between California and Washington. Click here for a 120-K map of our state that shows our main roads. These are the ones we use to get to the back roads, the ones that lead to the fun places. Follow our trips to see where those roads lead!
Whether you’re looking for a long week end away "from it all," or a week-long exploration, the northwest has it. When we set out along these byroads we get on the web and dig into local history, geology, and whatever else we think of. We've included some of these links in our journals. If you've been down these roads as well, let us know what you've found helpful or interesting and we'll add to the list.
Who knows? Maybe you can help us put together a clearing house of northwest travel information!
OK - come on in and check out some of the roads less traveled we’ve been on.
Highway 82 enters the northeastern corner of Oregon and ends at the base of the Eagle Cap Wilderness mountains. Wallowa Lake, scooped out by huge glaciers, reflects their awesome beauty. We drove until the road ended, then rode the tram to the summit of Mt. Howard. The adventure continued as we drove along the Snake River until that road ended at the Hells Canyon Dam.
We followed the 1200 mile Columbia River from its 4-mile wide mouth at Astoria, Oregon, to it's source as a small creek in eastern British Columbia. We then toured western Alberta and crossed British Columbia to Victoria Island. The license plates boast "Beautiful British Columbia." They aren't kidding! You have to see it to believe it.
Bird watching - isn't that for old people? We though so, too, but it ain't so! You have to go where the birds are, usually off the beaten track, and that means traveling the back roads. So we did - Summer Lake, Warner Wetlands, and Klamath Wildlife Refuge. It's all here!
God works throughout the world, but He commutes from His home on the Oregon coast. Come with us from Lincoln City south to Brookings, then inland to the Oregon Caves to see why.
Lava, titanic uplifts, and glacier sculpting - the Steens Mountain area in south-eastern Oregon is an amazing place. We explored there, then headed south to Nevada, east to Summer Lake, and north to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.
We spent a long anniversary week end, enjoying spectacular fall colors and spectacular scenery in the Hood River valley and Oregon's high desert. New England fall colors have nothing on Oregon!
We shot down I-5 to the San Francisco Bay area to attend a wedding and spend a few days with Diane's brother. Then we camped our way back through Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake. Mountains, lakes, cinder cones, and birds - a fascinated trip!
