Sustainable family travel is a no-brainer. After all, our children will inherit the environment we leave them. Sustainable travel is all about aligning our family trips—which are so important, considering the gift of time together and new experiences makes kids way happier than a new toy, according to research—with our values of protecting nature for future generations. That’s why when the folks at Visit Bend invited us for a weekend, we agreed it made so much sense to take a trip to Central Oregon and share how we approached sustainable travel for families in Bend.

Early this summer, I took my kids and dog to Bend, Oregon for a weekend. (Hubs was playing in a disc golf tournament so didn’t join us.) I’ve been to Bend many times, starting from when I was a kid. So I was doubly excited to head back to this Central Oregon town with my own kiddos.

In the summer—my favorite time to visit—the city becomes an outdoors lover’s paradise. The Deschutes River runs through town, acting as a hub to cool off and have fun in the hot summer days. The miles of trails, acres of parks and eco-focused local lifestyle make it a natural fit for sustainable travel with families.

If you’re coming to Oregon with kids, here’s how you can make your family vacation align with the principles of sustainable travel. In a place like Bend, that’s a lot easier—and more fun—than you might imagine.

What is sustainable travel, and why does it matter?

Sustainable travel is a bit of a buzzword—many people don’t really know what it means, and different people have varying ideas of what it actually is. Here’s my definition:

Sustainable travel means visiting a location and leaving its environment, economy and community in as good—or better—shape than when you found it.

Sustainable travel is vital to the places we love. After all, if we want to ensure the generations that follow us can also enjoy the destinations we cherish today, we need to take good care of those places.

Let me clear up something: Sustainable travel doesn’t mean denying yourself and your family. It doesn’t entail cutting out fun. Sustainable travel is about finding a balance and planning your trip so that your vacation spot is a great place to be—for visitors and locals now and in the future.

Sustainable travel for families in Bend

Ok, now that we’re all on the same page, I want to share some of the awesome things my kids and I did earlier this summer in Bend, Oregon!

One thing I loved about our time in Central Oregon was how easy the town made it to choose greener options. Take a peek below for ideas on things to do in Bend with families.

Even better, you can apply these tips to pretty much anywhere you visit!

1. Clean up parks, trails and rivers

My family spends much of pretty much every day outside, so of course we went on a hike in Bend! My girls and I took our dog, Finn, to Tumalo State Park. (Note to folks who are planning to visit Bend: Tumalo State Park is not where you hike to Tumalo Falls, the gorgeous waterfall within Bend city limits.)

Whenever we’re on the trail, though, it’s so disheartening to see trash. Bend’s trails are quite clean, but remember what I said about leaving places even better than when you found them?

That’s why my kids and I brought a bag to collect trash as we hiked. We found bottle caps, broken hair ties, bits of plastic and food wrappers—all garbage that was mere feet from being washed into the Deschutes River. Trash isn’t just an eyesore; its poses a health threat to wildlife. Critters on land may eat it, or it may get washed into rivers, where fish mistake it for a tasty bug. And what doesn’t get eaten may get washed into the ocean.

Before getting back into the minivan, I tossed the bag into a dumpster in the parking lot. Another woman on the trail looked at me kind of funny, but I just smiled. If we all picked up just a little bit of garbage, imagine the impact we could have!

Level 10 travel tip: If you didn’t bring a sack to collect garbage, grab a dog waste bag. These little bags are in stations at most trailheads, and they’re the perfect size for collecting trash, too. Can you fill up a whole dog waste bag on your hike?

2. Take shuttles and public transportation

Raise your hand if traffic and parking stress you out. (I knew it wasn’t just me.) That’s just one reason it makes sense to take busses whenever you can.

Plus, if your kids are anything like mine, a bus or train trip might be a highlight of the vacation!

So before you hop in the car (and sweat finding a parking spot), look at the bus schedule. You might find that it’s a lot easier to take public transportation.

3. Ditch the car and go pedal powered

Instead of driving all around Bend, my kids and I pedaled! (Actually, that’s not entirely true. I pedaled. They sat back and enjoyed the ride.) Visit Bend shared a pass for a complementary bike rental from Wheel Fun Rentals in the Old Mill District.

My girls picked out this blue beauty:

For an hour, we rode on the bike trail along both sides of the Deschutes River. Edie put herself in charge of the bike bell and dinged! It whenever we passed someone. Safety first, I guess!

The girls thought our Surrey rental was just the best. To be honest, it was a bit hard to pedal it uphill by myself in a few parts. But with a strategic push from a kind stranger on one bridge, we made it just fine! #ItTakesAVillage

We also stopped partway through so the girls could cool off in the water at Millers Landing Park. Unfortunately, one of Maxine’s shoes fell off the bike after we got back in, so she spent the rest of the weekend wearing her water shoes around town! Oops!

4. Charge your phone with solar

If you’re like me, you use your phone extra on vacation: You find nearby restaurants, follow maps to your next activity and of course take lots of photos.

(Remember, if you want tips to take better pictures of your kids on vacation, go back and read my post on that super-important topic!)

I don’t always remember to bring my charger, though. Luckily, in the plaza at the Old Mill District, there are solar-powered charging stations, complete with cords! If you need a little juice for your phone, let the kids play in the plaza while you charge up—or wander over to the gorgeous mural behind The Gap.

5. Minimize single use items

When you’re out of your home, you have less control over the waste you produce. You might get an iced coffee to go or grab a snack that comes with a plastic fork and paper napkin.

You can avoid a lot of these single use items, which end up in landfills, with a little bit of planning.

When I packed up to go to Bend, I grabbed a few sets of silverware, wrapped them in several cloth napkins, and secured the bundle together with a rubber band. I kept this little kit handy in my glove compartment. When we met a friend for dinner at Crux Fermentation Project, then, my family didn’t have to use plastic utensils or throwaway napkins.  

Think about how much trash we’d save from the landfill if we all said “no thank you” to single use items when we went on vacation!

Level 10 travel tip: Keep a “zero waste kit” in your car so you’re ready at all times! Include silverware, cloth napkins and a mason jar with a lid. The mason jar works great for to-go coffee and for storing leftovers!

6. Donate to local trail organizations

One thing I love about Oregon is that so much of what we do for fun is free! Almost all trails are free for everyone to use (minus a parking fee, though we have an annual state park pass that generally takes care of the cost). That said, traffic can strain the trail infrastructure. In addition to state and federal organizations taking care of the trail, many “friends of” organizations, volunteer groups and nonprofits step in—no pun intended.

That’s why Bend, Oregon has teamed up with 3 other mountain towns in the Pledge for the Wild initiative. This campaign asks people to donate $1 for every hour they enjoy a trail. It’s not a requirement—after all, being in the outdoors is a right everyone should be able to enjoy, regardless of their financial means. But for those of us who can afford it and want to put our money where our values are—namely, protecting the environment—it’s a great way to support the places we love.

So when you hit the trail, and if you’re financially able, donate a few dollars to an organization that provides upkeep for the outdoors you just enjoyed.

7. Shop local

Outdoorsy destinations like Bend, Oregon attract a lot of visitors with hiking, kayaking and exploring nature. That’s awesome! After all, being outside is one of our favorite ways to travel. It’s a challenge for some towns, though, to absorb all that extra traffic—unless we visitors support the local economy with our dollars, too.

That’s why when we vacationed in Bend, I made a point of shopping local. We ate at amazing locally owned restaurants and cafes, such The Sparrow Bakery. It was so easy finding kid-friendly, local places to eat in Bend—I only wish we had more time to eat at all the spots I’d marked on my Bend family travel Google map:

I love knowing that the money we spend supports amazing local entrepreneurs. Research routinely shows that supporting local businesses instead of chains or online shopping keeps 3 to 7 times more money in the local economy. The result: Communities with more locally owned businesses have greater growth in per capita income, generate more jobs and suffer from lower rates of poverty. That’s the kind of impact your travel dollars can support.

Making it easy to plan sustainable family travel in Bend, Oregon

To be 100% honest, I’m already scheming to get back to Central Oregon. A weekend in Bend with my kids was a great start—but we didn’t get to so many of the things we want to do, see and explore. (That’s the thing with family travel, isn’t it: You always do less than you hope!)

My kids insist that we go kayaking or tubing the next time we visit Bend, Oregon. We’ll do some more hikes, including Tumalo Falls. I’m planning a trip disc golfing at Mount Bachelor, where you ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain and then throw your discs all the way down. The list goes on!

And the more my family focuses on reducing our negative impact on the environment, the more important it’ll be to make all our travel sustainable travel.

I want to hear from you. What are your biggest challenges with sustainable travel? Do you have any tips? Please share in the comments!

PS – If you’re in Bend with kids, don’t miss visiting the High Desert Museum. My post details this super kid-friendly spot, where kids can pretend to be homesteaders, watch otters play and admire Native American beadwork.

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