Favorites: Things To Do around Corvallis Oregon - Day 24

**I wish I could squish this little corner of Oregon into the weather here in California. But then, of course, it wouldn't be the same. At. All. ...Sigh. I just love all the things to do in Oregon and hate the rain.
I'm pretty much not an Oregon expert, but this is what we did and loved for the year we were there.

My top five favorite things were: 
1. The Beach
2. Gathering Together Farms
3. Picking Berries
4. Waterfalls
5. Clamming and the Aquarium in Newport

The Coast - Newport, Oregon

**Downtown is just fun to walk through and go into the candy shops and watch the seals.

**Whale Watching - We mostly just did simple trips but once we did go on a whale watching trip and it was awesome to see those whales and even catch and hold some crabs.

**Oregon Coast Aquarium - see the shark tank, feel sea stars and sea urchins, and tons of other ocean life. Much smaller than Seattle's but it definitely holds its own. We loved it and it entertained our kids and us for hours on end.

**South Beach - always a good place to find sand dollars. More quiet than Nye Beach and had awesome camping yurts on one side of the beach that I wished we could have gone to. (That darn working every single day thing for Ben really cramped our style!)

**Nye Beach - Main beach downtown Newport. There is a good foot rinse at the entrance. A great restaurant is the Chowder Bowl (I think better than Mo's). Oregon beaches are beautiful. They have so many seashells and I am a little bit obsessed with seashells.

**Yaquina Head - there is a lighthouse you can go up (babies can't) and a tidepool. Go at low tide to see tons and tons of sea stars and sea urchins.

**Clamming - right under the Newport bridge take a clamming rake and a Big bucket on a negative tide day. Oh, this was so much fun!!
**If I would have had a husband, and not three kids, I probably would have done some glass blowing, gone to some of the artsy stores and tried out more restaurants! In Corvallis the fog and rain clouds can get bogged in, but if you drive over the mountains towards the coast it can be sunny!

The Woods
**Hiking and Waterfalls - Alsea Falls is near Corvallis and beautiful. Bald Hill, Finley Wildlife Refuge and Mary's Peak have hiking and trails (we never did do Mary's Peak)

**Multnomah Falls is a Must See. We went in the winter and I was so sad we didn't make it back in the spring. Green walled cliffs line the drive there. It was the prettiest drive I've ever been on driving there in the moving van in May.

**There are obviously many evergreens...so our 9 foot christmas tree was $5.

**Truffles grow around these parts but they're rare and we never found any in the woods. Not that we would know if we did, but we went looking nonetheless. I am still really curious to know what they taste like.

Corvallis -
**Go to the farmer's market. Bring swimsuits in the summer for the fountain at the end.
**Berry Picking - I think there are a few major places there that have berry picking - Radke's and Blueberry Meadows. We went blueberry picking all the time. We also went strawberry and raspberry picking. Store bought berries are just depressing now compared to berries that fresh. The whole experience just makes me happy.

**Run on one of their million trails. Pretty much the whole city has bike trails or bike lanes on the roads and there are tons of running and hiking trails all over.
**Get custom made shoes at Soft Star Shoes. You would miss the shop if you weren't looking but they measure and trace your foot while you're there and handmake, in the store, your very own pair of comfy real leather shoes. I found out about them from a friend whose little daughter had two adorable shoes custom made, each one a different color!

**Go to Many Hands Trading. They buy handmade items from small tribes and people all over the world.
**Go see some of the covered bridges in the area.

**OSU events

Philomath-
**Gathering Together Farms - a restaurant with fresh ingredients grown right there and expertly cooked. I can't say enough how much I loved this place.

**Go to the secret park river spot by the library:)

Tulip Festival



**Portland is a really long drive but I'm glad we made the trek there a couple times - there's the temple, the zoo, the children's museum, voodoo donuts, the science museum. I don't feel like I really got to see the city that much but it's a cool city that would be fun to explore. Multnomah Falls is up that way too. And about an hour past that is Ape Caves by Mt St Helens, way worth the drive!



List of things I didn't do that I wish I would have done:
1. The treehouse hotels
2. Silver Falls in Silverton
3. Seen more of Portland
4. Multnomah Falls in spring or summer

Ha. Macey seems to be my little model for all the pictures!
Honestly I think it was a blessing to live in such a fun, unique place for us during a really busy time for Ben and a really poor time of life!