A friend and I were just laughing earlier this week about
being spontaneous when it comes to planning outings. Instead of specifically setting aside a time
in the future to do a specific thing I’ve researched and want to do, I tend to
just be going along with life and happen across a patch of time. Time that maybe should be used doing
something productive, but, sometimes we just need to get out there and
adventure! So I’ll say, “Hey! Let’s go somewhere!” And I’ll either quickly
google what’s close or pile the kids in the car and just see where the road
takes us.
Usually this ends up with awesomeness. But sometimes we strike out.
We had several strike outs this week as we traveled the
central section of the Oregon Coast. But also had a whole lot of awesome!
While my husband was working out there, we got to join up with him and
at least share evenings together. My
parents came down for those couple days, too, and we had such a great time just
being together, despite any surrounding circumstances.
Pros:
1.
Unexpected Treasures: this is how I felt the
first day of our trip when we had a little extra time and randomly pulled off
at a botanical area. It turned out that
right off the highway was a cobra-lilly (pitcher plant) bog! The concept of an insect-eating plant was so
foreign to the little ones and our eldest thought these gorgeous plants a
highlight of our trip! We also
accidently found a great rocky beach, Whale and marine life museum, and pirate
village!
2.
Save time planning
3.
No pressure to keep a rigid schedule (Unless
that’s your thing. Then this might be a
con! =))
 |
| Eaten by a shark at the Whale Museum in Depoe Bay |
Cons:
1.
Really, the main down-side and that is that
sometimes things don’t work out. We
drove for miles down a road for there to be nothing there. My parents nearly couldn’t find a campsite
one night. The map apps for phones are great, but often have inaccurate
information. We didn’t make it to a
couple places until after they had closed or simply ran out of time to cram all
the sights in.
 |
| What was down that path? |
2.
Wondering what you might have possibly missed
My advice from our experiences would be to plan out where
you will be sleeping each night and make reservations if possible for
multiple-day trips. That takes the
pressure off so you can just explore the day away. Look for the brown signs (parks, natural or
cultural areas) or quirky shops for a more unique experience. If you have time, look up what might be
around, or grab a tourist map once there.
If there’s something that’s really important for you to see, plan how and
when it will fit into your adventures. Veer off the main highways as much as
possible. Don’t stress about what you
might have missed and focus on all the good things that you got to experience
as well as just the time together. Even
on our dud detours we saw things we’d never seen before and traveled roads we’d
never been on before!
In some ways I feel that spontaneous adventures are more
difficult than in the past. So much has
been regulated with specific hours and tolls.
Certain places have become so popular you have to fight the crowds. As far as camping, you can’t just pull off
any old place to stop, it has to be designated and paid for. But then, there are many benefits to
exploring today. Especially having the
internet at our fingertips (so long as you have signal!) and well-marked
interest areas.
 |
| Hollow log slide at the falls |
Can I just share with you what we did end up doing? Then if you ever get a chance to visit the
area, you might remember some things you might want to check out!
1.
Sweet Creek Falls: about 10 miles off the
highway on an ever narrowing road.
Perhaps a mile hike in to a lovely little falls. There are many more surrounding, but we chose
to only go to the one.
2.
Darlingtonia Botanical Area: This was right off
101 and was a very short walk to the carnivorous plant bog.
3.
Bob Creek: small, sandy beach I loved because of
how misty it was. Rocky tide pools to
the south were void of much sea life.
4.
Newport Pirate Village: We arrived in town too
late for the aquarium, but this pirate village next door was right up our
little ones’ alley.
5.
Newport Docks: Our son had been asking to see
boats, and I knew we’d find some when I saw the docks sign past the
aquarium. So fun to explore, read ship
names, and learn about the different types of boats. Once (on a past adventure) the captain of a
fishing boat let my husband and son on board to explore! There are often many marine birds around,
too.
6.
Echo Falls Detour: this was our major strike
out. Even when we circled back a couple
times to see if we could find what the map was trying to show us, the falls (or
any type of trailhead) was nowhere to be found.
So we just followed to road to 10 miles to see what was there. Lovely drive in the fog.
7.
Depoe Bay Whale Museum: I was surprised how much my kids enjoyed
this! We were the only ones there and
the hostess totally catered to the little ones, asked them questions and really
got them involved.
8.
Yaquina Head Light House and Tide Pool Beach:
this is the only place we ended up going to that had a fee ($7 for a vehicle) to get in. They have a nice interpretive center, but we
moved through there rather quickly since it was nearing nap time. Before we explored, we parked where we could
look out over the ocean while we ate a quick lunch. While we were sitting there, a pod of grey
whales swam past! It was so amazing and the kids were so excited! Our little guy was trying to tell everyone
and exclaimed to me incredulously, “Mom! All those people over there don’t even see the
whales! They’re not looking around! They don’t even know what a wonderful thing
they’re missing!” I love it when he just
gets it like that!
All this to say, I highly recommend the spontaneous
exploration mentality! I hope this will
encourage you to give it a try sometime and take a chance that might result in
you discovering a hidden treasure of a location!
