Oregon

This past school year, Max came across a story in his spelling book about some playful otters at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR. When he realized we were going to be in Oregon this summer, he requested we put the museum on our travel agenda. It was one of very few specific requests he made, so we were happy to accommodate him. And, today was the big day! The museum staff told us we were the first people to ever visit on the recommendation of a spelling book. It was a delightful little museum, and we all had a wonderful time.

Shadow puppet theater at HDM

Little eagle in its nest

Watching an otter play

Looking for the otters in the water

Max was enamored with the otters
 and snapped a pic of this one having a snack.

Playing in the pioneer village

From there, we headed over to Silver Falls State Park to hike on a trail we had read meandered through the forest and allowed hikers to pass behind a couple of waterfalls along the way. It was spectacular and was the favorite part of the day for most of us.

Waterfall #1

Behind the waterfall

A throne for the little prince

King of the stump

Waterfall #2

It's sort of magical to walk behind a waterfall!

Finally, we passed through Boring, OR, which is the sister city of Dull, Scotland, a village we visited a couple of years ago. Shortly after that brief stop, we crossed into Washington and checked another state off our list.

Our Boring stop