Every summer, we take a “grand adventure” with our kids. Some years we go rockhounding in far-flung locations, other years we’ve explored abandoned gold mines. These adventures take more planning and time, but are 100% worth exploring with your kids.
The Big Obsidian Flow trail sounds innocuous enough: A one-mile interpretive trail climbs up and onto this impressive lava flow of obsidian (black glass) and pumice 1. We were already in…
Close your eyes for a moment, and breathe deeply…feel the hot sun warming your neck as the dust assails your nostrils. The dry scent of sagebrush and the sharp smell of juniper…
After a major illness forced us to miss our “grand adventure” last summer, we wanted to make this summer’s adventure trip absolutely epic. We have 6 kids, so it needed to be…
Not far from Eugene, high in the rugged, remote mountains in the southernmost reaches of Oregon’s Lane County, take a hike through history. The Bohemia Mining District east of Cottage Grove reveals…
We poured over the map of lost gold mines in Oregon, 4 heads bent together, deciding which abandoned mine to try and locate. Decision made, we set out, first by vehicle and…
If you like rocks–even a tiny bit–then you have to hunt for thundereggs with your kids. The best place in Oregon to find thundereggs is at Richardson’s Rock Ranch near Madras, Oregon. …
As we got more into rock hounding in Oregon, one adventure on our to-do list was fossil collecting in Fossil, Oregon. Collecting fossils is often a sticky legal situation, but in Fossil, Oregon,…
Jewels litter the ground, glistening in the sunlight, sparkling into the distance as far as you can see. Oregon Sunstones are Oregon’s state gemstone, and if you’re willing to drive (and drive…