Depending on where you live, you might be back in the swing of school after Spring Break, or you might be looking forward to a nice vacation! Here in Portland, my kids just finished their week-long hiatus from school. A few people have asked me—so I thought you might be wondering, too: What does a family travel blogger do on Spring Break, anyway?

You might be looking for Oregon family travel ideas or inspiration for day trips near Portland. Or maybe you were stuck at home with a bunch of kids who had influenza and you want to live vicariously. (If that’s the case, I’m so so so sorry. Where can I send the hand sanitizer—and bottle of wine?)

Either way, I’m happy to share the Spring Break plans of a family travel blogger. What’s more, I’ll share tips alongside our family adventures so you can adapt our adventures to your family. That way, you can add more fun to your family outings no matter if you live nearby in Portland or farther afield.

Happy Spring Break, friends!

Answered: So what does a family travel blogger do on Spring Break?

We started our own Spring Break early, since Hubs’s cousin got married in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We also spent a few days in Chicago visiting my relatives and exploring family-friendly Chicago activities. (More on that in a later post!)

For the purposes of this post on what does a family travel do on Spring Break, though, I’ll limit myself to the actual week-long break in Oregon.

We had planned to spend a few days in Seattle, but after a week in the Midwest with kids, I wasn’t up for schlepping them on vacation again. Also, I had to actually work. (Yep, I have a full-time gig in addition to this family travel blog!)

So we scrapped our Seattle plans and opted to stay home. Instead, Hubs and I switched back and forth with the kids. We took a bunch of day trips from Portland and adventures close to home.

Here’s a sneak peek into a family travel blogger’s Spring Break!

Hiking in West Linn

We are so fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful places in the country. And I can’t express how lucky we were to get perfect weather on Spring Break in Oregon!

We wouldn’t be true Oregonians if we didn’t take advantage of the sunny weather. So one day, we went hiking in West Linn down to the Willamette River. A short trail called Maddax Woods in West Linn runs from a small trailhead in a residential neighborhood to a sandy beach on the Willamette River.

We love this little river beach because no one is ever there, and the girls can play for hours in the sand. It’s also right across from an island that great blue herons use as a nesting site, so you can see the enormous birds land in their nests at the tippy top of the trees.

On another day, we hiked at Camassia Nature Preserve in West Linn. This mile-long hike winds through wildflower fields and oak forest, all filled with native plants and birds. There’s a nesting osprey living at Camassia, which we saw bring sticks back to its nest.

In April, wild camas flowers bloom at Camassia Nature Preserve, making this West Linn hike turn purple!

Level 10 travel tip: Don’t discount family activities just because they’re close. Camassia is mere minutes from our house, but my girls still approach this hike like an adventure!

Sledding on Mt. Hood

The girls have been asking to play in the snow on Mt. Hood, so on a sunny day we made it happen. Mt. Hood is only an hour’s drive from Portland, making snowboarding, skiing and sledding easy for families in Portland and nearby.

The girls haven’t yet learned to ski, but they’re expert sledders. These two adventurers climbed steep hills of snow all by themselves and zoomed down like daredevils!

Hubs took the girls to White River Snow Park near Government Camp. For just a $6 parking pass, they spent half a day sledding on Mt. Hood. They were sure tuckered out after that!

Farm tour in West Linn

On another day in the life of a family travel blogger on Spring Break, I took the kids on a farm tour in West Linn. We met up with several other families we used to do homeschool preschool with when Maxine was 2. (I wrote about our homeschool preschool for 2-year-olds on my other blog—take a peek if you’d like ideas for outdoor activities, sensory play and preschool lessons!)

We spent just over an hour on a farm tour in West Linn at Triskelee Farm. The highlight: feeding alpacas! A whole bunch of adorable alpacas ate carrots and apple slices from our hands.

We also pet pigs, met a day-old goat, admired horses and even spotted two peacocks! We went home with lots of stories—and a dozen eggs laid by chickens right on this farm in West Linn.

Level 10 travel tip: Search “farm tour” plus your town to explore farm life near you! If you live in a city, search “urban farm” or “community garden.” Kids love meeting animals up-close and learning how food gets to their plate.

Swimming in the wave pool

For my older daughter’s birthday last year, we took the family to the Waves and Wings Water Park—a wave pool with epic slides in McMinnville, Oregon. The girls asked to go back pretty much every day for months, but the drive and expense kept us saying “Maybe later…”—until we realized there’s a wave pool near Portland!

The North Clackamas Aquatic Park’s wave pool near Portland is waaaaay cheaper than Waves and Wings. It’s also in Milwaukie, Oregon, just a few minutes’ drive from downtown Portland. Hubs took the kids to swim at the wave pool one day on our Spring Break, which pretty much made their year.

Level 10 travel tip: Do your kids love a family attraction that is too far or too expensive to do regularly? Search for what it is (e.g. “wave pool” or “paint your own pottery” plus “budget” or your town) to find one that’s more doable.

Cannon Beach day trip

We kept an eye on the weather at the Oregon Coast and when we got a great forecast, we zipped off for a Cannon Beach day trip.

Less than 2 hours from Portland, Cannon Beach is one of my favorite spots on the Oregon Coast. Iconic Haystack Rock, a huge rock right off the beach, is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Oregon.

My kids don’t really care about Haystack Rock; they’re too busy playing in the water!

In addition to splashing in the cold waves of the Pacific Ocean, we dug an enormous pit in the sand and made a gigantic castle. All four of us worked on it together for an hour… though my older daughter spent most of the time “supervising.” Mm-hmm…

Level 10 travel tip: Take on a project together as a family—and make it an ambitious one! The girls drew the outline of a gigantic pit, which seemed unattainably big. But together, we worked hard and did something that seemed almost impossible. Tackle a big project as a family on a staycation—see what you can do together!

Oregon Zoo adventure… the good and bad

We babysat my friends’ son for a bit over spring break while they took a much-needed night away. I wanted to do something special with the kids so we headed to the Oregon Zoo. Each of the kids got to see their favorite animals—elephants, cheetahs, flamingos!

I also got a taste of what life might have been like had we had a third child. Aaaaaaaand I lost Edie. Temporarily. I found her watching the painted dogs. From the safe side of the glass.

Anywayyyyyyyy…

If you want to check out the Oregon Zoo, click on over to read my post on members’ tips to visit the zoo in Portland! I promise there are no tips on how to lose your kids.

Family fun in Lake Oswego

A dear friend from grad school whom I hadn’t seen in years was also in town during Spring Break, so the girls and I met up with her in Lake Oswego, just outside Portland. I got to plan our meet-up spot so of course I chose Kyra’s Bake Shop, my all-time-favorite gluten-free bakery in Portland!

The girls were overjoyed because I let them choose whatever treat they wanted and they didn’t even have to share. I predictably got what I always get: a gluten-free and dairy-free cinnamon roll.

To let the kids run off the sugar from their chocolate chip cupcakes, we headed to George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego. We love this park because it has a long stretch of beach on the Willamette River. In the summer, you can rent kayaks and stand up paddleboards here. It’s a popular spot for families in Lake Oswego for good reason!

Oregon Spring Break ideas from a family travel blogger

I hope this post gave you a glimpse into what does a family travel blogger do on Spring Break. I also hope it broke the myth that travel bloggers do nothing but jet from here to there on a never-ending vacation! Sometimes we stick close to home on a sort of staycation to make the most of the family friendly activities nearby.

As a family travel blogger, I have to juggle family adventures with work, travel time with home time. Sometimes a good staycation is just what we need. And sometimes unusual family activities are just what you need on spring break!

And with so many wonderful day trips near Portland, we definitely didn’t feel deprived on Spring Break.

What did you do on Spring Break this year? Did you take a big trip with the family? Or did you do more of a staycation?