Travel Tips & Adventures

If you’ve seen the new Hiking for the Couch Potato website – http://hiking.forthecouchpotato.com – you’ve seen some images at the top of the page.

I promised to identify the images at the top of our new website.

Image number 1 is:  ta – dah  – drum roll -

Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

A monolith that juts 235 feet high above the long stretch of beach in Cannon Beach, Oregon, Haystack Rock seems to follow you in any direction wherever you are on the beach.  Birds and other creatures – especially humans – find it almost magnetic, but it is a protected site.  See our longer blog for more information – http://traveltipsandadventures.com/?p=1134

Return next week and we’ll identify our #2 image.

We hope you’ll visit our Hiking for the Couch Potato website – and maybe even consider buying a book!  Especially for those of you who know someone who really needs to get off the couch and get some activity in their life.

Have a great week, everyone!

If you try something once, you’re just interested.  If you try something a second time and you still enjoy it, you know it’s a great thing.  So, I’m here to report that whale watching was even better the second time! (more…)

Oregon State University is a great example of a northwestern campus – a cross between imposing Greek-style buildings and some modern facilities.

 
With almost 22,000 students in over 200-plus different disciplines in undergraduate and graduate programs, OSU is training a lot of minds! Majors range from forestry – a natural with those tall pines – to oceanic and atmospheric sciences as well as education, business, agricultural sciences, veterinary medicines and more.

Memorial Union - "dining establishments," library and more

 
The environs around the campus have some heavy-hitters in the technology world as the Hewlett-Packard campus is nearby as well as other large companies.

More than academics

Reser Stadium scoreboard

And, then there are the extracurricular experiences – may I interject – Go Beavs! The OSU football team (Pac-10) is known as the Beavers, conjuring up kindly, but intrepid creatures, gnawing away at the opposition. When we last looked, their season was at 7-3, so they are winners!

"Football"outside of Reser Stadium

Reser Stadium is just across the street from the Hilton Garden Inn where we were staying, but the campus was very, very empty, so we didn’t see ANY students. That felt strange. We passed by Reser Stadium, the athletic center and the student union, but they were locked tight. But, trust us, it was a great campus that honors both the modern and classic traditions.

 
We were also eager to see their “award-winning” library, but it, also, was closed.
Visiting a campus during intersession has mixed blessings. Getting around was easy, but we didn’t get the full flavor of what the campus and Corvallis are like with the thousands of students in session.

We’ll be going back.

Another Campus

Another campus we wandered onto in Corvallis does – apparently – top secret agricultural research.  We were just looking for the covered bridge shown on the map. (See Irish Bend Covered Bridge below.)  We were told that we weren’t supposed to be on this campus in the western part of the City, but lots of others were riding bikes in the vicinity.  Be aware that a road shown on the map as a through road, isn’t.  We took pictures quickly and headed back the way we came.

Irish Bend Covered Bridge

(The bridge had been relocated from elsewhere, but it is one of the wider covered bridges we’ve seen.)

We invite you back tomorrow for some Corvallis dining and entertainment experiences…

After traveling on the “Over the River and Through the Woods” Scenic Byway, we arrived in Corvallis, Oregon rather worn out.  (The Scenic Byway was, indeed, scenic, but with numerous hairpin turns, it was wearing – just to observe.)

We had originally planned to stay in Corvallis for only one day, but decided to stay two and arrived a day early.  We’re so glad we did!

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Portland’s Saturday Market is misnamed – it is also open on Sunday. Unlike most craft fairs that come and go, the Portland Saturday Market is open from the end of February through December 24.

Portland Saturday Market - or part of it

And, this is one of those places that is a must-see if you’re coming to Portland. The array of hand-crafted items to see and purchase is dizzying. Creativity abounds! (more…)

We admit it. We love books.

Powell’s – For anyone who loves books

Probably the most exciting place for a person who loves books is Powell’s City of Books. “City of Books” sounds like an exaggeration, but by the time you explore the main location, with its multiple floors and many nooks and crannies, you feel like it could be a city.

At Powell's entrance - "sell books"

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One of the best things about Portland, Oregon is just getting around!  Especially if you are in the downtown zone  – “Fareless Square,” where you ride for free, Portland is one of the most accessible cities in which we’ve traveled. (more…)

Last Friday we went Old School in Portland to McMenamins Kennedy School, now it’s time to go Rogue!  

Rogue Ales

Unlike someone who recently wrote a book entitled, Going Rogue, I actually had the opportunity to go to the Rogue Distillery & Public House, one of the many pubs that are scattered throughout the city of Portland, Oregon. (more…)

With a claim to fame such as: More breweries than any other city in the United States, you would think we are talking about the big names in brewing (TV commercials, big horses dragging wagons, etc.). But, Portland, Oregon’s breweries range from micro one-off locations to national and international distribution, all without the horses dragging wagons …

Don’t get me wrong, I think those big draft horses are impressive, but big breweries don’t necessarily mean the best beer, or the only beer. (more…)

Go Beavs!

After a two and a half hour drive over the Cascade Mountains on a road (U.S. 20) that wouldn’t win any awards for staying in a straight line, I arrived in Corvallis, Oregon. Most people will probably say, WHERE?

Although near Eugene, Albany, Salem and, ultimately, Portland, Corvallis is not the most well known of cities in the Willamette Valley. While the aforementioned cities have a common trait (they are all next to I-5 traveling north and south through Oregon), Corvallis is just a bit off the beaten track (8 miles west of the interstate highway.) Not so much a tourist destination as a sports and education destination, Corvallis is home to Oregon State University. GO BEAVS! (more…)