Timothy Lake (Mt. Hood) On the eastern shore of Timothy Lake, in the Mt. Hood National Forest, lies Gone Creek Day Use Area. It’s a great place to take your family for a day trip to explore a mountain lake. On a hot summer day in August, we took our kids, ages 2 and 5, to join another family for some summer fun. We started the day with a stop in Sandy at the famous Joe’s Donuts for coffee and you guessed it, donuts. All fueled up, we drove for an hour into the mountains to Gone Creek for a day of outdoor play. For $5/vehicle or the National Forest Recreation Day Pass, we parked at the Day Use Area. With life jackets on, the kids jumped right Keep Reading

Philip Foster Farm and Barton Park (Eagle Creek/Barton) Although I grew up not far from where the Oregon Trail once wound along the Clackamas River to its end in Oregon City, it wasn’t until I accompanied my kids on a school field trip that I discovered that historic Philip Foster Farm, located in Eagle Creek, is well worth the admission ($20/car or $5/person). Open May through October, this is a great spot for kids to connect with Oregon history. What makes this historical park extra special is how hands-on they let kids be. Instead of watching a laundry demonstration, my kids got to scrub clothes on a real washboard and run them through the Keep Reading

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge (Tualatin) Got little walkers? Got a need for hiking in the glorious Pacific Northwest while it’s raining? I most definitely have the place for you! After a rather grumpy, drizzly summer morning, kvetching from both me and the munchkins (“Can we move to Hawaii yet?”) pushed my darling hubby over the edge, who said, “Get in the van.” He discovered Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge a few months earlier, having noted that one of its trails is open all year long;  outdoor freedom! TRVNW is between Tigard and Sherwood on 99W, easy access from I-5 or OR-217 (I have a pathological aversion to 99W, Keep Reading

Ready to discover (or re-discover) Portland? From the coast to the Gorge, from Clark County to Salem, The Ultimate Guide to Portland Family Fun will allow you to experience the awesomeness this area has to offer, all from Frugal Living NW readers! Go here for links to all posts! Welcome to Battle Ground, Washington!  The city’s unusual name comes from an anticipated battle between U.S. soldiers and Native Americans who lived near the fort—but the battle never occurred.  Weird, huh?  Battle Ground is a little bit north of Vancouver and Portland, and it’s easy to find from I-5 (just about an hour from Portland and 30 minutes from Vancouver).  There Keep Reading

Ready to discover (or re-discover) Portland? From the coast to the Gorge, from Clark County to Salem, The Ultimate Guide to Portland Family Fun will allow you to experience the awesomeness this area has to offer, all from Frugal Living NW readers! Go here for links to all posts! A Day in Vancouver, Washington Looking for something fun to fill your day?  There are so many great things to do in Vancouver, I had to whittle this list down to our core favorites – and it was not easy! Vancouver Farmers Market, located on the west side of Esther Short Park in Vancouver, WA – The 2018 schedule runs from March 17-Oct 28. (Two different locations Keep Reading

Ready to discover (or re-discover) Portland? From the coast to the Gorge, from Clark County to Salem, The Ultimate Guide to Portland Family Fun will allow you to experience the awesomeness this area has to offer, all from Frugal Living NW readers! Go here for links to all posts! Troutdale General Store (Troutdale) If you’re hankering for a little nostalgia, it’s time for a trip to The Troutdale General Store. An easy half-hour drive east of Portland on the I-84 (full disclosure: It’s easy on the weekends when there’s little traffic), Troutdale offers a taste of Main Street USA on her Historic Columbia River Highway, with “The Troutdale Keep Reading

A Day in Salem, Oregon  Since having kids, I have come to appreciate the Salem area more than ever. It is incredibly family friendly and if money is tight and a full fledged vacation is out of the picture, Salem would be the perfect location for a “staycation.” Here is a list of just a few of our favorite destinations in Salem. Pre-Outing Coffee Stop: Broadway Coffeehouse Broadway Coffeehouse is our favorite locally owned coffee house. Here coffee is an art, but they are not pretentious about it. Bring the family along and find the perfect spot to sit down somewhere within their spacious building. They serve Stumptown coffee and Keep Reading