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Kids Korner |
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Did You Know?
- You can ski in Oregon all year round—on the Palmer Snowfield at Mount Hood’s Timberline Lodge Ski Area ( www.timberlinelodge.com, www.skihood.com or www.skibowl.com). Pro snowboarders come here to practice. Check out the tubing parks too. Mt. Bachelor (www.mtbachelor.com) in Central Oregon has one of the longest winter seasons in the country. You can go dog sledding there too!
- Kids love to surf in Oregon. There are 363 miles of beaches! Check out Oswald West State Park, just south of Cannon Beach. Of course the water is colder than Southern California or Hawaii so bring a wet suit. If it’s too cold to swim, explore the tide pools at Cape Arago State Park, watch the families of seals and sea lions at Shell Island and the whales (www.traveloregon.org). For more about the sea life that live along the coast, visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport where you can meet all kinds of incredible crustaceans in the “Claws” exhibit. (www.aquarium.org).
- Oregon draws windsurfers from around the world. On a typical breezy day near the Hood River, you can watch hundreds of sails across the Columbia River as windsurfers and kite boarders ride the Columbia River Gorge winds. Try it! Local shops can help you arrange lessons. www.windsurf.gorge.net or www.hoodriver.org
- One of the richest fossil sites in the world is in Oregon—at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Check out the fossils from 40 million years ago! Paleontologists are still doing research here. www.nps.gov/joda/
- The deepest lake in the entire country is in Oregon—Crater Lake is 1,932 feet deep. It was formed by a big volcano. The water is so blue and clear. In the summer, you can take a boat tour across the lake ( http://www.nps.gov/crla/). There are more than 6,000 lakes and 112,000 miles of rivers in Oregon—great for swimming, boating, fishing and rafting!
- The black bear is the smallest of the three bear species native to North America. The other two are grizzly and polar bear. You can meet Gerry the Black Bear at the Portland zoo. She weighs nearly 270 pounds! See how many different Northwest Animal Tracks you can identify at the zoo ‘s new Black Bear Ridge, where you’ll also meet the resident bobcat brother and sisters, Kajika and Kasa . Make sure to say hi to One-eyed Jack, the Bald Eagle (www.oregonzoo.org).
- You can meet farmers and local growers in the middle of the city—in Portland at the Portland Farmer’s Market on Saturdays through November. Check out the Oregon hazelnuts, taste a marionberry, meet farmers who grow pears, Oregon’s state fruit (www.portlandfarmersmarket.com)! All year long, see the handcrafts at the Portland Saturday Market.
- Portland has an outdoor living room. At least that’s what families here call Pioneer Courthouse Square. Check out the bricks inscribed with the names of people who helped pay for it. See the Weather machine that will predict whether the day will bring rain or sun and you can see a free movie all about Portland (www.pioneercourthousesquare.com).
- People in Portland call rain “liquid sunshine.” That’s because it not only rains a lot but is the key to the forests and gardens. Just bring your rain jacket. No one lets a little rain keep them indoors!
- America’s deepest river gorge—deeper than the Grand Canyon—is in Oregon. It’s called Hells Canyon. You might see elk, bear and bighorn sheep on the cliffs. You can river raft there as well as on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon.
- The wingspan of Bald Eagles is six to eight feet. They keep the same mate until one dies. See if you can find more than one of 1,000 of them who live in the Klamath Forest National Wildlife Refuge—the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the country (http://www.stateparks.com/klamath_forest.html).
- You’ve got to let an attendant pump your gas in Oregon. It’s against the law to pump your own.
What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Portland, OR . . .
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Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .
- The two best sources of information to start planning your trip to Portland and Oregon are www.travelportland.com and www.traveloregon.com. Pick up Portland Attractions Passes at the visitor information center in Pioneer Courthouse Square which guarantees admission to 10 top attractions at a significant discount. If you’ve got some budding chefs or foodies in the group, until Nov. 30, you can plan a trip to meet innkeepers, vintners, chefs, brewers and farmers. Visit www.traveloregon.com/bounty.
- For a unique place to stay check out the Out ‘n’ About Treehouse resort in Cave Junction (www.treehouses.com) where you actually stay in a tree house. You can also stay in year-round yurts in 18 Oregon state Parks including the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park right near the 500-foot tall sand dunes. (www.oregonstateparks.org) Wanderlust Tours (www.wanderlusttours.com ) offers kid-friendly trips for families in Central Oregon, like the Cave Tour in which you’re outfitted with a helmet, headlight and gloves and follow a naturalist guide through the large, cool caverns while discovering the underground world of Central Oregon’s remote desert caves.
- Local Portland families give a thumbs up to the Laurelwood Public House and Brewery, where kids can play in designated areas while parents try a local brew and everyone enjoys a mostly organic local menu. www.laurelwoodprewpub.com Families also like the Spaghetti Factory, overlooking the Willamette River and ideal for an after-dinner walk. www.osf.com And if your kids are Peanut Butter lovers, you’ve got to check out P.B & Ellie’s café with lots of games and toys, freshly ground peanut butter and “picky eature unsurance” so your kids can swap if they don’t like what they got. www.peanutbutterellies.com And of course you don’t want to miss the Chinatown District with red lamp poles, cherry trees and restaurants. www.oldtownchinatown.org
Whether your family are museum lovers, shoppers or adventure hounds, you won’t run out of choices:
- The Portland Saturday Market, the country’s largest open-air market for handcrafted goods . You’ll find more than 350 graft booths, international food and entertainment. Open Saturdays and Sundays March through Dec 24 in the Old Town District. (www.portlandaturdaymarket.com)
- The Portland Children’s Museum where kids can put on a slicker and play in Water Works (www.portlandchildrensmuseum.org)
- The World Forestry Center Discovery Museum with interactive exhibits on smoke jumping and a 45-foot hoist up for a bird’s eye view of “the forest.” (www.worldforestrycenter.org)
- The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry where you can experience n earthquake or touch a tornado Check out the retired naval submarine where you can have a sleepover (www.omnsi/com) and take a Willamette Jetboat from the same dock to see bald eagles and the 40-foot high Willamette Falls (www.willamettejet.com)
- The Portland Art Museum where masterpieces by Monet, Renoir and Picasso share space with Native American and Asian Artwork. Drop in for 10 minutes or an hour of artmaking activities on Sundays with Museum educators, local artists, and instructors. Explore gems from the Museum’s collections and special exhibitions then create prints, portraits, paintings and more, Sundays at the Museum! (www.portlandartmuseum.org)
- Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park is the place to go for a walk, a run and to cool off in Salmon Street Springs, a fountain with everchanging water patterns . Many local festivals are held here. (www.portlandparks.org)
- The Grotto National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother—the 62 acre Catholic sanctuary is one of Portland’s most visited sites where you can walk through this natural gallery in the woods, see a marble replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta carved into the base of a 110-foot cliff and see the view of the Columbia River Valley, Cascade Mountains and Mount St. Helens. www.thegrotto.org
- The Japanese Garden Check out the koi pond, lanterns and waterfall. www.japanesegarden.com
See Past Editions of Kids Korner.
By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™
