The best state to visit, according to a family that has visited 33 states

• My wife, four children and I have been to 33 states together HawaiiCalifornia and Maine.
• After all, Oregon is ours favorite state we visited and recently we spent eight days exploring it.
• Oregon is filled with natural beauty, family vacations, and great uncrowded beaches.

My wife and I have four small children who have traveled all over the country with us.

To date, we have visited 33 states, including famous scenic states such as Hawaii, Maine, California, and Montana — and we found plenty of things to like about each of them. But we’ve never found a state that impressed us like Oregon on a recent eight-day road trip.

With its sprawling coastline, pristine state parks, and eclectic towns, we’ve found so much to love about the Beaver State—and so many reasons to want to return.

We enjoyed the picturesque beaches and we are glad that they are not crowded

We went to Oregon near the end of the state’s peak summer season. Despite this, the state had some of them the most uncrowded beaches we ever visited.

I suspect the sparse crowds are due to the fact that there are simply so many beaches to choose from—the state has more than 250 miles of coastline, and each one is more scenic than the last.

We explored a total of 10 of them, including Seaside, Yachats, Agate, and Cannon, and only found mobs in the latter.

Our favorite was Secret Beach along the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. It is a short hike to a small waterfall that flows directly into the sea and has a sea cave, water bodies and the softest sand

There was so much to do in every town we explored in Oregon

Although we spent most of our time at beaches and state parks, we also explored five Oregon cities.

Each was clean and had a lot to offer. Historic Baker City has a wonderful museum that showcases the city’s connection to the California gold rush and highlights the important local contributions of early Chinese immigrants.

In Portland, we loved biking along the Willamette River, exploring the world’s largest independent bookstore, and visiting the Guinness Book of Records for the smallest park.

Related stories

We got the best view of our trip from the back of Portland’s Pittock Mansion. The French Renaissance castle is impressive, but the view of the city skyline with Mount Hood in the distance was even better.

In Seaside, we shopped on the boardwalk and visited nearby Fort Clatsop, where famous explorers Lewis and Clark once stayed. We also visited the state capitol in Salem and rode the boardwalk in Astoria.

We also loved the state’s eclectic, spacious and luxurious hotels

One of our favorite parts of traveling is discovering unusual and exciting places to sleep each night.

We stayed at six different hotels in Oregon, but the Nines in Portland, the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria, and the Geiser Grand in Baker City were the most memorable.

Geiser Grand is a real hotel. He is more than a century old it is reported that he is being pursuedand underwent one of the most stunning and detailed renovations I have ever seen.

Our splurge of the trip was staying at the luxurious Nines Hotel. It occupies the upper half of the historic Meier & Frank building and offers spacious rooms with incredible views of downtown Portland. It’s also home to the Urban Farmer Steakhouse, which our family enjoyed the best meal of our vacation.

The Cannery Pier Hotel is built on old pier pilings and extends approximately 600 feet above the Columbia River. From our room we could watch the ships slowly pass under the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

During our trip we learned a lot about history, cheese and movies

During our trip, we learned about local history and attractions related to the Native American tribes in the area, as well as Lewis and Clark’s famous journey through the state.

We also visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory headquarters and creamery which I loved the best grilled cheese sandwich ever my life

Oregon also has many connections to famous movies that we could explore.

We loved seeing the school where Arnold Schwarzenegger went undercover in Kindergarten Cop, the harbor where Jack Nicholson steers a fishing boat in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the breakwater through which the killer whale escaped in Free Will, and the First Place prison escapes and car chases from “The Goonies”.

Oregon is also filled with natural beauty beyond the beaches

We’ve visited dozens of state and national parks across the country, but Oregon offers some of the most memorable.

The Ten Falls Trail at Silver Falls State Park was our favorite as its 7 mile loop took us to or past 10 beautiful waterfalls.

We also enjoyed seeing the many waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, including Horsetail Falls, Latourelle Falls, and the breathtaking Multnomah Falls, the highest in the state.

As much as we loved every waterfall we visited, Crater Lake National Park was easily our best find of the trip. It is said to be one of the deepest and clearest lakes in the United States.

Its blue water was stunning to behold from the edge, and even more breathtaking to dive into from the Cleetwood Cove trailhead.

The six of us enjoyed a swim together in the cool water before heading back up to invigorate our bodies with vegetable lasagna, bison stew and grilled salmon at Crater Lake Lodge.

With all this in mind, our family is already planning another visit to Oregon next year.