16 Best Sights in The Willamette Valley and Wine Country, Oregon

Visitors are greeted by a resident taxidermy moose, Bruce, at this two-story museum, which showcases art, artifacts, and ephemera from Benton County and beyond in four different galleries. Highlights include a whimsical semipermanent exhibit that pairs hats with chairs from the same era, a display of inkwells from around the world, and all sorts of old-timey gadgets, from a vintage telephone switchboard to a massive Pontiac engine from 1929.  

Durant is known across the state for their flavorful olive oils and this hilltop property is also home to the first commercial olive mill in the Pacific Northwest. Stop by the gift shop to taste some of the farm’s signature oils or head out back to see an old-fashioned (and not-in-use) olive press imported from Spain. While olive oil is the big draw, there's also a tasting room where you can sample estate wines by appointment.

This museum does a striking job at telling the story of Independence and its surrounding regions through the eyes of various communities that have contributed to its history, not just white settlers. You can see a recreation of an old general store stocked with vintage packaging, a lifelike blacksmithing display, and even a doctor's office where old-timey medicines and medical books are displayed. Kids love the skeleton of “Betsy the Cow,” used in local classrooms to teach anatomy since her bones were first discovered by a group of schoolchildren in the 1960s.

Richard and Helen Rice began collecting beach agates in 1938, and over the years they developed one of the largest private mineral collections in the United States. The most popular item here is the Alma Rose rhodochrosite, a 4-inch red crystal, though the Rainbow Gallery, which showcases rocks that emit brilliant multicolor when displayed under backlights, is a close contender. The museum (in a ranch-style home) also displays petrified wood from all over the world and a gallery of Northwest minerals—including specimens of Oregon's state gem, the sunstone.

This beautiful area in the Coast Range foothills has a 15-mile-long hiking trail that surrounds the lake. Bird-watching is best in spring. Recreational activities include swimming, fishing, boating, waterskiing, picnicking, and hiking, and a 10½-mile, well-marked bicycle lane parallels the park's perimeter road.

This sanctuary for indigenous and migrating birds, waterfowl, and mammals is in Sherwood (about 18 miles south of Hillsboro). It is one of only a handful of national urban refuges in the United States and has restored much of the natural landscape common to western Oregon prior to human settlement. The refuge is home to nearly 200 species of birds, 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a variety of insects, fish, and plants. It features an interpretive center, a gift shop, photography blinds, and restrooms. This restoration has attracted animals back to the area in great numbers, and with a keen eye, birders and animal watchers can catch a glimpse of these creatures year-round. In May the refuge hosts its Tualatin River Bird Festival.

This birds-of-prey educational center and hospital is home to nearly 40 resident education raptors. A visit is a great outing for kids, who can learn what owls eat, why and where birds migrate, and all sorts of other raptor facts. Some of the full-time residents include bald eagles, owls, hawks, falcons, and osprey.

South of Salem, the Enchanted Forest is the closest thing Oregon has to a major theme park. The park has several attractions in forest-like surroundings, including a Big Timber Log Ride. On it, you ride logs through flumes that pass through a lumber mill and the woods. The ride—the biggest log ride in the Northwest—has a 25-foot roller-coaster dip and a 40-foot drop at the end. Other attractions include the Ice Mountain Bobsled roller coaster, the Haunted House, English Village, Storybook Lane, the Fantasy Fountains Water Light Show, Fort Fearless, and the Western town of Tofteville.

Formerly the Willamette Science and Technology Center (WISTEC), and still known to locals by its former name, Eugene's imaginative, hands-on museum assembles rotating exhibits designed for curious young minds. The adjacent planetarium, one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest, presents star shows and entertainment events.

Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose, the largest plane ever built and constructed entirely of wood, is on permanent display, but if you can take your eyes off the giant you will also see more than 45 historic planes and replicas from the early years of flight and World War II, as well as the postwar and modern eras. Across the parking lot from the aviation museum is the space museum with artifacts that include a German V-2 rocket and a Titan missile, complete with silo and launch control room.

Celebrating the life and the inventions of A.C. Gilbert, a Salem native who became a toy manufacturer and inventor, this museum is an amazing place to let the imagination run wild. There are themed interactive rooms along with a huge outdoor play structure. In addition to the children's activities, many beloved toys created by A.C. Gilbert are on display, including Erector sets and American Flyer trains. The wide range of indoor and outdoor interactive exhibits will appeal to children (and adults) of all ages.

This 1,654-acre, full-service park has hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails along with overnight camping. There are full hookup sites, tent sites, small cabins, and even a horse camp. Lush rolling hills, forests, and deep canyons are terrific for bird-watching, wildflower walks, and other relaxing pursuits. An 18-hole disc golf course winds its way through a dense forest. In case you don't know, in disc golf players throw a disc at a target and attempt to complete the course with the fewest throws.

This beautiful nature preserve near southeast Eugene includes extensive all-weather trails, educational programs for all ages, and facilities for special events. Its visitor center holds workshops and features native amphibian and reptile terraria; microscopes for exploring tiny seeds, bugs, feathers, and snakeskins; "touch me" exhibits; reference books; and a working viewable beehive.

Just outside the town of Silverton, a 25-minute drive from Salem, the Oregon Garden showcases the botanical diversity of the Willamette Valley and Pacific Northwest. The 80-acre garden features themed plots ranging from a conifer forest to medicinal plants. There's also a whimsical children's garden complete with a make-believe fossil dig, and another garden featuring the agricultural bounty of the area. From April to September, visitors can take a narrated tram tour through the garden.

Rising from the south bank of the Willamette River, this forested enclave provides the best views of any of the city's parks; it also has the greatest historic cachet, since it was here that Eugene Skinner staked the claim that put Eugene on the map. Children can scale a replica of Skinner Butte, uncover fossils, and cool off under a rain circle. Skinner Butte Loop leads to the top of Skinner Butte, traversing sometimes difficult terrain through a mixed-conifer forest.

Take a trip back in time to experience the story of Oregon's early pioneers and the industrial revolution. The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Museum complex (circa 1889), complete with working waterwheels and millstream, looks as if the workers have just stepped away for a lunch break. Teasel gigging, napper flock bins, and the patented Furber double-acting napper are but a few of the machines and processes on display. The Jason Lee House, the John D. Boon Home, and the Methodist Parsonage are also part of the village. There is nothing grandiose about these early pioneer homes, the oldest frame structures in the Northwest, but they reveal a great deal about domestic life in the wilds of Oregon in the 1840s.