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Real travel takes time, money, and organization. Requesting time off work? Booking plane tickets? Gambling on my 15-year-old suitcase surviving one more voyage? Hard pass.
Back By Dinner
A day trip, though…that is more doable. And a day trip done right can be transformative without leaving this time zone or ponying up for much more than gas (still painful, sorry) and snacks. (We see the irony of recommending day trips after reporting just last week on the spiraling cost of fuel, so for each trip we’ve calculated the cost of fuel assuming you start out from the Belmont Arco—which, as we reported last week, offers the cheapest gas in town—and drive a vehicle that gets about 30 miles per gallon, like a Subaru Outback.)
For this issue, we went on a variety of trips—none more than two hours outside Portland. One reporter spills on what it’s like to go paddleboarding and surfing at Willamette Falls, the second-largest waterfall in the U.S., located right between West Linn and Oregon City. Another writer stayed in Portland proper for a dreamy spa day at Löyly that left her feeling “like softened butter, or a cat that’s been napping in the sun” at the end. (Um, yes please.) Just 14 miles outside of Salem, I explored Silverton and its surrounding waterfalls and stumbled upon the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oregon. Got time for an overnight stay? Our editor’s trip to Trout Lake up in Washington has some major highs (an overachieving music venue with Mount Adams in view) and some low lows (getting stuck in a snowbank).
That all sounds like real travel to me. —Rachel Saslow, Arts & Culture reporter
