Concerning our Oregon itinerary, we were brutally unprepared. When we crossed the state border, the only fixed point on the map was Crater Lake National Park. So, that’s where we started our Oregon adventure. Everything that came after that, we pretty much figured out on the go. As a result, we ended up zigzagging our way northward through Oregon. And what a zigzag it was! See for yourself what gems we found.

Some of our highlights:

• Loosing ourselves in the deep blue color and extraordinary water clarity of Crater Lake, a caldera lake that was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of a volcano.
• Camping on the banks of Rogue River at the remote and very well maintained Farewell Bend Campground.
• Admiring the climbers and holding our breaths while watching some madmen(and women) balancing on a rope between two cliffs high up at Smith Rock State Park.
• Discovering Crooked River and its birds of prey on a leisurely evening drive.
• Watching the sun go down from Round Butte, leaving a beautiful silhouette of Mt Jefferson.
• Staying up late and getting up early at Trillium Lake to see Mt Hood at its best.
• Stopping quickly for a gaze of Multnomah Falls.
• Staying on Nehalem Bay State Park’s campground, building driftwood houses on the beach and experience the seaside feel of quaint Manzanita.
• Playing “Fascination” in Seaside. Have you ever heard of that game? Because we were all engrossed in it, there is no picture of it! But there’s a small description of it in “The learning curve” section below.
• Observing the talented sand sculptors on Cannon Beach practising for a competition. They ended up with some crocs, a car and an Egyptian statue. Impressive stuff.
• Rockpooling at low tide around Haystack Rock (Cannon Beach). Here, we spotted purple and orange starfish for the first time – as well as some pretty green sea anemones.

The learning curve:

• There’s an ice-cream flavour called “Moose Track”. It’s a combination of vanilla ice cream, fudge and peanut butter cups. I think it’s yummy (the rest of the family doesn’t totally agree).
• The game “Fascination” is similar to bingo. You sit at one end of a table and roll a small ball toward a 5-by-5-holed matrix on the other end. When your ball falls into one of the holes, a light on the backboard indicates which one. The object of the game is to continue to roll your ball until you’ve gotten all 25 holes. And the best thing: You’re playing against everyone in the room. Great fun!

We were traveling in Oregon from the 19th to the 27th of May 2018.