You don’t have to have to go halfway around the planet to explore the world when there’s always plenty to see right outside your door. Follow these tips for being a backyard traveler and look at your city, region, or whatever patch of land you live on with the wide-eyed wonder of a world traveler.
Spooks in summer: Ideas for visiting haunted and historic ground to stir your travel spirit
Lone Fir Cemetery
It’s early August and Halloween is still just a spot on the horizon, but I find seeking out spooky spots can be more than just a fall affair; cemeteries, haunted hotels, and other weird and wonderful places from the past offer a great window into learning about your city and enjoying a slightly more twisted …
How to REALLY be a tourist in your hometown
Attribution: Jazz Guy
Use social media to inspire your weekend adventures and local travels
TravelOregon.com just tweeted that the best weekend to visit Crater Lake all year is this weekend! “Hmm, that’s a long drive,” I’m thinking. I wonder if I could fit it in. Two-day weekend + five-hour drive? No, it’s not happening. Unfortunately, I won’t be making the trek down to Oregon’s only National Park, the stunning blue gem created by a collapsed volcano, but it was nice to get the heads up from Travel Oregon that a special event was happening at the lake this weekend…
Google Earth Getaway
Look what I found!
Are you in a travel rut? Or are you, like me, just too broke and busy to travel sometimes? You can scratch that itch to travel without spending a cent and with just a few hours to spare, with Google Earth. And I mean real travel, not just zooming in on satellite images of faraway …
Be a tour guide in your hometown
There’s no better way to fall back in love with the place you live, than by sharing those feelings of infectious adoration with others. Today’s post is all about being a tour guide in your own city or state. Being a tour guide will be easy, fun, and you won’t have to rent a bus, …Go on a “Gorge-ous” sunset Hike
Totally worth the 2.3 miles.
Living in the Northwest, it would seem like I’d never run out of places to hike. But even so, sometimes I feel like I’ve seen every waterfall, tree, root, and speck of land that Oregon has to offer, and I want something new. A few years ago, I was craving something new, when a perfect …
See the world with different wheels; change your mode of transport to mix-it-up when traveling locally
Portland’s Brewcycle
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to see your hometown or state with the fresh eyes of a traveler is by changing your mode of transportation. Switching from four-wheels to two, or from two to six, or whatever other combinations I could endlessly concoct, can really change the way you see the places that …
Go Travel-Minded: meet travelers in your hometown
Couchsurfers anyone?
For some of us, well most of us, traveling isn’t just about snapping pictures of faraway places, or trying out funky foods, it’s about the people we meet, the lessons we learn, and all those other travel moments that are not necessarily location-dependent. A few examples: What I took away from Madrid? A desire to
