Effort to Repeal Oregon’s Paddle Permit Is 80,000 Signatures Short, Yet Many Paddlers Don’t Even Know About It
There are certain things Oregonians expect to bring along for a summer afternoon on the water. Sunscreen. A life jacket. A paddle. A dry bag containing three granola bars, a warm bottle of water, and a phone that will somehow still end up wet. What many people apparently do not know they are supposed to bring is proof that they paid the State of Oregon for permission to stand on a floating piece of plastic and move slowly across a lake using a stick. Welcome to paddling in Oregon in 2026. A...
TRAVEL
Oregon is a beautiful destination for travelers who enjoy exploring the great outdoors. With its diverse landscape of mountains, forests, waterfalls, and coastline, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
This Oregon Hot Springs Resort Feels Like a Hidden Desert Escape With Pools and Stargazing
Most of us think we know Oregon. We picture fog rolling through evergreen forests, waterfalls pouring over cliffs, rugged coastline views, and mountain peaks rising above the trees. Oregon has built...
This Remote Oregon Hot Springs Lets You Soak Beneath Desert Skies Where Wild Horses Roam
Some places in Oregon make you work for them. Hart Mountain Hot Springs is one of those places. Tucked deep in south central Oregon, far from traffic lights, coffee stands, cell service, and pretty...
This Tiny “Rock” Sitting In Portland’s Woods Quietly Shaped Every Acre Of Oregon History
For most of us, Oregon exists as a collection of familiar things. Highways winding toward the coast. Farm fields stretching across the Willamette Valley. Neighborhood streets in Portland. Tiny...
FOOD & DRINK
Explore Oregon’s food and drink scene – from locally sourced ingredients to craft brews and award-winning wines. Plan your culinary adventure now!
The 42 Best Oregon Mom & Pop Restaurants to Eat At in 2026
We're going a bit out on a limb here at That Oregon Life. This story began as a sort of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" compilation, but after a giant list of my own and a slew of recommendations...
This Beloved Tigard Restaurant Has Been Serving Comfort (And Legendary Pie) Since 1979
There are restaurants you try once… and then there are the ones you grow up with. The ones where the coffee is always hot, the booths feel like they’ve heard a thousand stories, and the pie case...
New In-N-Out Near Portland Opens Thursday and It’s Expected to Draw Huge Crowds
If you’ve been waiting for another reason to make a quick trip across the river, this might be it. Southwest Washington is about to welcome a familiar favorite, and for plenty of Oregonians, it is...
Unearth 30-Million-Year-Old Fossils Behind This Oregon High School
Behind the modest campus of Wheeler High School sits what was once the muddy bottom of a shallow Oligocene-era lake — about 33 million years old. In those days, Oregon’s climate was milder and wetter, its valleys covered in wetlands and leafy forests. Alessandro Z /...
Search Intensifies for Missing Hunter in Mount Hood National Forest
ESTACADA, Ore. — The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office has provided a new update in the search for 51-year-old Devon Dobek of Hubbard, who has been missing since Friday after failing to return home from a hunting trip in the Mount Hood National Forest. On Sunday,...
Experienced Hunter Reported Missing Near Estacada; Search Teams Hear Gunfire in the Night
A large-scale search is underway in the Mount Hood National Forest after a 51-year-old man from Hubbard failed to return home from a hunting trip Friday night. According to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, the man — identified as Devon Dobek — had been hunting...
Dad Charged with Neglect After Missing Toddler Found Dead in Siletz River
The father of a toddler who went missing and was later found dead in the Siletz River back in March has now been charged in connection with his child’s death. In March, a diver discovered 2-year-old Dane Paulsen after an 11-day search, according to KATU News. Court...
Eat At This Vintage 1920s Portland Breakfast Spot That Hit the News Like a Crowbar to the Knee
There it sits, as improbable as a flannel-clad lumberjack at a tech start-up mixer: a weathered little shanty from the 1920s, tucked along NW Front Avenue in Portland, surrounded by gleaming high-rises, glass façades, and the kind of redevelopment that laughs in the...
Nonprofit Volunteers ‘The Soup Ladies’ Face Harassment After Serving ICE in Portland
A group of women known as The Soup Ladies, beloved across the Pacific Northwest for their selfless service to first responders, are now facing harassment after serving meals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at the Portland federal facility. The...
Christine Drazan Announces 2026 Run for Oregon Governor
Senator Christine Drazan is back in the race for Oregon governor, officially announcing Monday morning that she will seek the state’s top office again in 2026. The Republican from Canby made her announcement at Gunderson Marine & Iron in Portland, telling...
Hey You Guys! LEGO Just Dropped a Goonies Set, and It’s Pure Treasure for Movie Fans
If you grew up yelling “Goonies never say die!” or dreaming of treasure maps hidden in old attics, this one’s for you. LEGO has officially unveiled LEGO Ideas The Goonies (Set #21363), a massive, nostalgia-packed tribute to the 1985 cult classic filmed right here in...
You Can’t Make This Up: Dozens of Oregon Students Ate Pretzels Contaminated With Oven Cleaner
You really can’t make this stuff up. In a headline that's now making national news, about 50 students at Fowler Middle School in Tigard got more than they bargained for during lunch this week — when the “salt” on their pretzels turned out to be granulated oven...
This Quiet Oregon Beach Town Feels Like a Hidden Paradise in November
After more than a decade of exploring every hidden corner of Oregon for That Oregon Life, we can confidently say that Brookings, Oregon is one of the state’s best-kept fall secrets. When November rolls in and most coastal towns start to quiet down, this little...