Heceta Head Halloween Haunt Cancelled Due to Historic Keeper’s House Renovations
Oregonians hoping to spend Halloween night listening to ghost stories beneath the beam of Heceta Head Lighthouse will have to make other plans this year. The Heceta Head Halloween Haunt scheduled for October 31, 2026, has been cancelled due to ongoing preservation work at the historic Keeper’s House. The cancellation comes just days after we reported on the planned event here at That Oregon Life, which had generated plenty of excitement among readers looking for one of the more unusual ways to...
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 Remote Oregon Mine Lets You Dig for Real Sunstones and Keep What You Find
There are road trips where the destination is the whole point, and then there are those wonderfully strange Oregon adventures where simply getting there feels like part of the story. Way out in the...
More of Highway 26 Reopens as Rowe Creek Complex Reaches 84% Containment
Travel conditions are slowly improving east of Prineville as portions of U.S. Highway 26 reopen following weeks of wildfire activity from the massive Rowe Creek Complex. The highway is not fully...
Bend’s Old Cracker Barrel Is Getting a New Life as a Carhartt Store
A familiar building on Bend’s north side is getting a new tenant, and this time the name going up outside will be one that plenty of Oregonians already have hanging in their closets. Carhartt is...
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 Seafood At This Unassuming Family Restaurant Might Ruin Every Other Oregon Coast Spot For You
Some restaurants feel connected to the place around them from the moment you walk through the door. The food makes sense for the landscape. The menu reflects what people have eaten in the region for...
Mo’s Flew 200 Pounds Of Their Famous Clam Chowder To Washington, D.C. For America’s 250th
An Oregon Coast restaurant known for steaming bowls of clam chowder recently carried a substantial taste of the Pacific Northwest all the way to the nation’s capital. Mo’s Seafood & Chowder was...
The Blueberry Pie At This Cute Little Bakery Might Be Portland’s Most Craved Slice
Rainy afternoons, neighborhood strolls, and a stop for something sweet feel like a natural part of life in Portland. In a city where people care deeply about good food and local businesses, there's...
National Media Claims Timberline Lodge Is “At Risk of Burning Down,” but the Facts Say Otherwise
Wildfires are serious. Evacuation notices are serious. And when fire officials tell Oregonians to prepare, people should pay attention. But serious situations don’t need to be exaggerated to generate clicks. A national news story published by The Independent on...
Yes, Wildfire Betting Is Really a Thing, and Oregon Senators Want It Stopped
As wildfires force evacuations, destroy homes and send smoke across Oregon and the West, some people are apparently watching the devastation with something other than concern. They’re betting money on it. Online prediction markets have begun offering contracts that...
A Forgotten Newspaper Clipping Reveals Oregon’s Wildfire Debate Was Already Raging More Than 120 Years Ago
Smoke had drifted into Lane County again, turning the sky a sickly-yellow and the surrounding hills into indistinct hazy blue, when I found myself remembering an old newspaper clipping I’d saved during some research into western Oregon history. The clipping came from...
Oregon Republicans Push Constitutional Right to Hunt, Fish and Farm After IP 28 Fails
In a state where fishing boats crowd coastal harbors, hunting camps are a longtime family tradition and farms stretch from the Willamette Valley to the high desert, a new political battle is taking shape over how Oregon protects those ways of life. Republican leaders...
Wildfire Smoke Pushes Portland to Fifth-Worst Air Quality in the World
Portland residents woke up Tuesday to a familiar and unwelcome sign of Oregon’s intense wildfire season: a hazy skyline, muted views of the surrounding hills, and the smell of smoke hanging in the air. By Tuesday afternoon, Portland’s air quality had deteriorated...
Mt. Hood Meadows Ordered to Evacuate as Grasshopper Fire Threatens the Area
Mt. Hood Meadows is under a Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation order as the Grasshopper Fire continues burning through the forests east of Mount Hood. The popular ski resort announced the evacuation Tuesday morning, asking employees, visitors, and members of the public to...
Oregon Wildfires Top 2 Million Acres, Closing In on State’s All-Time Record
Oregon’s already devastating 2026 wildfire season is now within striking distance of becoming the largest on record for total acreage burned. As of Monday morning, August 3, 60 large fires had burned an estimated 2,014,481 acres across the state, according to figures...
Firefighters Make Major Progress as I-5 Wildfire Near Grants Pass Reaches 96 Acres
Firefighters working through the night have completed fireline around the entire perimeter of the wildfire that erupted beside Interstate 5 north of Grants Pass, an important step forward after the fast-moving blaze destroyed a home and threatened surrounding...
Historic Fire Lookout Destroyed by Grasshopper Fire in Mt. Hood National Forest
A longtime piece of Oregon’s wildfire history has been lost to the Grasshopper Fire. Officials with the Mt. Hood National Forest confirmed Saturday that the Flag Point Fire Lookout was destroyed by the wildfire overnight, despite an extensive effort by firefighters to...
Grass Fire Along I-5 Near Grants Pass Grows to 50 Acres as Air Tankers Respond
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Firefighters are mounting an aggressive ground and aerial attack on a grass fire burning along Interstate 5 near Grants Pass Saturday afternoon. The fire was initially estimated at approximately 10 acres as crews arrived and began working alongside...