Oregon

Hotels, destinations, activities and restaurants in Oregon that offer kid-friendly deals, family packages and children's options.

  • Kid-friendly Hotel Condon in Condon, Oregon
    Portland,  Seattle,  Vancouver,  Victoria

    No Hotel Rooms? No Problem.

    I’ve recently been contacted by readers, despairing that my top hotel picks are either priced out of reach or unavailable for the upcoming summer. Family hotels in Portland, Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle are booked solid, sold out and too expensive! Well, no surprise — I’ve dealt with the same situation, even as a travel writer. Here’s what I typically do when faced with sold-out hotel rooms, a planned trip and kids. 1. Set up in the suburbs. Now, some suburbs are better than others. For example, many suburbs of Vancouver offer the SkyTrain option into downtown Vancouver, so I’ll look for hotels near the SkyTrain. Portland offers this as well. Seattle is still working on getting…

  • Beach Trips,  Day Trips,  Florence,  Get Outdoors! Camping & Hiking Trips,  John Day Fossil Beds

    12 Strange Natural Wonders in the Pacific Northwest and BC

    These odd Oregon, British Columbia and Washington State destinations can compete with even the best video game or smartphone and win. Don’t tell kids the science behind the weird natural wonder’s unusual nature — at least not right away — and see what interesting and creative explanations they might come up with, then explain the science. 1. Mima Mounds. The Mima Mounds seem like something out of a sci-fi movie — a meadow of grassy mounds in a repeated pattern, as if carved or created intentionally. In the past, locals thought perhaps “pocket gophers” created these little bumps. Turns out that the mounds are generated by plant growth — but aliens indeed would’ve been…

  • Vancouver with Kids, Summer 2015: Sea Monster Exhibit.
    Bend,  Seattle,  Vancouver

    Sea Monsters, Star Wars and SNOT: This summer’s museum attractions for families

    If making plans for summer, check out these new and upcoming kid-friendly museum exhibits in Seattle, Vancouver or Bend — the exhibits may inspire a day trip, weekend excursion or week-long adventure. Sea Monsters Revealed Vancouver Aquarium. Vancouver, BC. March 5 to September 7, 2015 From now through the end of summer, discover what lies beneath the sea’s deepest reaches, where few humans have ventured. Sea Monsters Revealed uses plastination (seen in many human anatomy exhibits) to preserve the bodies of deep-sea creatures and ocean oddities, including a mako shark and a car-sized sunfish. GROSSOLOGY: The (Impolite) Science Of The Human Body Pacific Science Center. Seattle, Washington. June 20 to September 7, 2015 Two…

  • Oregon Water Parks: Wings and Waves
    Oregon,  Water Parks, Pools & Amusement Parks

    Oregon Water Parks

    Oregon’s water parks are few and far between — most people flock to the sunny Oregon Coast to fill up on watery good times. But as if to make up for the lack of water parks, Oregon offers wonderful municipal aquatic centers. Here are Oregon’s water parks, aquatic centers and water slides.   Wings and Waves Waterpark at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. McMinnville, Oregon. It’s an air museum. No, it’s a water park. Well, it’s both. Although admission is pricey ($32 for an adult), you’ll get to enjoy a wave pool, a vortex pool, fountains, slides that take you right past an airplane (and nine more slides), along…

  • John Day Fossil Beds

    Oregon Road Trip: Dig for Fossils, Meet Dinos & Haunt a Ghost Town

    Each turn on an Eastern Oregon road trip presents a new view of the region. Driving through valleys and over peaks carved by ancient floods, you’ll encounter flat range where cattle graze, basalt mountains that stretch thousands of miles into the blue sky, yellow wheat fields bending with the breeze, white windmills generating power for a growing urban population. Truly unusual sights dwell here, yet it’s not too difficult to find a room, even during summer’s peak travel season. It’s like a little slice of undiscovered Oregon — so get out there. Here’s a trip to remember. Eastern Oregon Road Trip with Kids, Stop by Stop: Shop a tiny Powell’s at…