Central Oregon is full of beautiful sites to see & places to explore. Here’s a list of just a handful of things to see:

SMITH ROCK STATE PARK

RICHARDSON ROCK RANCH

OGDEN WAYSIDE

OPERATION SANTA CLAUS REINDEER RANCH

SISTERS

ANIMALS TO SEE

AREAS TO EXPLORE

BEAUTIFUL VIEWS WHILE DRIVING

PRINEVILLE RESERVOIR

LAKE BILLY CHINOOK

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Over the summer, the kids & I went to the Tualatin Heritage Center for the first time. It is a small museum with only a few exhibits.

We had a great visit. The woman inside was very helpful and informative. She answered my children’s unending questions.

THE BUILDING

The building for the Heritage Center was once a Methodist Church. It was built in 1926 and moved to this location in 2005 after threats of being torn down.

TUALATIN MASTADON

The main draw to the Heritage Center is the info on the Tualatin Mastadon. The story goes that around 1871 the jawbone of a large animal was found in a swamp in the Tualatin area, not far from the Heritage Center. The Smithsonian identified the bone as coming from a ‘prehistoric creature.’

Decades later, part of a rib and molars were found near Nyberg Road in Tualatin.

In 1962, a college student went searching for more mastadon bones. He & his friends found about half of a skeleton.

Scientists believe the Tualatin Mastadon was about 27 years old when she got stuck in the swamp.

The skeleton has been on display in a couple places, but has not been of huge interest to the public. The city of Tualatin is working to change that.

Bottom Left: Left Tusk
Bottom Right: Huge teeth, molars.

ICE AGE & THE KALAPUYA PEOPLE

Along another wall are displays about other parts of the area’s history.

Bottom Left: Granite stone found in Tualatin. Granite is not found in this area and is thought to be brought in on icebergs during the Great Missoula Floods.
Bottom Right: The Kalapuya were the Native American people of the Willamette Valley. Many of the arrowheads on display were found in farmer’s fields. Also on display is a ‘grinding bowl and pestle used by the Atfalati band of the Kalapuya.’

SWEEK POND TRAIL

Right outside the Heritage Center is a trail. We explored it a little.
Highlights along this area were a cherry tree (with cherries) and a snake. My kids love spying creepy, crawly things.

ICE AGE BOULDERS

There are large boulders around that are not from rock found in our area. Scientists believe they were brought here on icebergs during the Missoula Floods.
A few boulders have been brought to the Heritage Center to bring awareness of the effects of the Ice Age in the Willamette Valley.

Top: 10 ton granite boulder found near Gaston.
Bottom Left: 2.5 ton quartzite boulder found near Gaston.
Bottom Right: Granite found in Tualatin.

MORE MASTADONS AROUND TOWN

Many of the Mastadon bones are displayed at the Tualatin Public Library. Notice the Mastadon etched in glass behind the bones – such a nice looking display.

Outside the new Cabela’s store in Tualatin is a 9′ tall bronze mastadon sculpture.

I have lived in this area my entire life & never heard about the Tualatin Mastadon until recently.

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Day 3 includes yet another house in the Portland area. The house is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, but that’s not why most people visit the house. The house is now a museum, the rooms turned into galleries.

If you enjoy natural science then you will adore this museum. If that’s not your thing, then you’ll be really bored here. It really is a museum of pretty much only rocks & minerals.

Technically, it’s called the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals. But, who’s going to say all that? We just call it the Rice Rock Museum or even the Rock Museum.

The home turned museum was built in 1952 by rockhounds, Richard & Helen Rice.

Right out front is a large quartz piece found in Arkansas.

Main Building

The Rainbow Gallery is one of our favorites.
Top: In normal light the minerals aren’t all that wowing…
Bottom: … But, wait a few seconds and the lights go out. Then, they cycle through both shortwave & longwave florescent lights. The minerals react differently to the varying wavelengths. They seem to glow.

Top: A visual representation of the hardness scale of minerals.
Bottom: The kids can even test the hardness scale themselves.

Also on display are examples of how minerals are used in our everyday lives.

Synthetic Bismuth from Germany
To be honest, I have know idea what that means, but I thought it was super cool.

The lady on the left is carved from jade. The piece on the right is agate & from Beijing.

Mt. Hood Aurora Borealis carved from contra luz opal by Thomas Harth Ames.

Dennis & Mary Murphy Petrified Wood Gallery

Carved Lewis and Clark

Bottom Left: The green stuff is Pyromorphite. Found in France.
Bottom Right: Wulfenite. Found in Arizona.

Recently a letterbox was hidden at the museum. Of course, we had to find it.

The rare, beautiful & famous ‘Alma Rose’ rhodochrosite. From Colorado.

Cut gems

Northwest Mineral Gallery

As you enter this building you are greeted by this huge opal filled thunderegg found in Oregon. The thunderegg is Oregon’s state rock.

Mesolite. Found in Washington

Another good sized Thunderegg. These rocks are dull on the outside, but beautiful inside.

These thundereggs are about fist size, a more typical size.

Oregon’s state gem, sunstone.

I loved these 3 paintings showing the process of a petrified forest.
Top: “Before Petrification: A forest, including fallen logs is depicted. Volcanoes are erupting in the distance. A lake separates the forest from the volcanoes, and the lakes water cools the lava.”
Middle: “During Petrification: Logs are buried under lava (basalt) and a top layer of soil has developed, implying a long passage of time since burial. The overlying basalt and soil create anaerobic environment preventing the wood from decomposing. Silica rich water seeps down through the soil and basalt to the wood and precipitates microcrystalline quartz (agate/chert/jasper) and/or opal. Other minerals/elements in the water (eg iron) cause the coloration.”
Bottom: “After Petrification: A new landscape exists and erosion has now exposed the now petrified wood to the surface.”

Outside

Left: There is a huge rock pile outside. The kids each got to pick one to take home.
Right: Farm Girl was sweet and gave me her rock to put around our pond. It’s sitting next to a love rock.

My kids love this Rock Museum. We’ve visited it a few times and I’m sure we’ll visit it again.
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Love Rocks have taken our community by storm. It’s a wonderful thing.

Last October two girls were hit by a car in front of their home. It’s not my story to tell, so I’m choosing not to say more about it. But, these girls are now helping us spread love & joy because their mom chose to share Love Rocks with us.

This amazing mom has been sharing her journey at a Love Drenched Life. It’s raw emotion about the grief she’s going through & the love she feels.

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WHAT IS A LOVE ROCK?

It is a rock hand decorated with a heart. The Love Rock is then given to someone, or hidden for somebody to find. It’s simple, yet means a lot. It shows you care. It lets someone know they are loved. It encourages us to think about others. It reminds us that there is good in this world.

MAKING YOUR LOVE ROCK

Our Supplies:
Rocks: we used river rock gathered from our pond & rocks we had previously polished
Fabric & Ribbon for the hearts
Scissors & Paintbrushes
Mod Podge
Sparkle Glaze: not necessary, but I enjoy a little sparkle

Top Right: The kids found it a tad difficult to cut out the hearts, so I did it.
Middle Left: The kids each chose one river rock & one polished rock. Then they glued a heart to each rock.
Middle Right: We put mod podge both on top and bottom of the heart.
Bottom: After the glue dried we brushed on the sparkle glaze.

SPREADING LOVE

In Forest Grove there is a rainbow tree in the girls’ memory. You can drop off your Love Rocks or grab a Love Rock to share.

Left: The day we dropped off our Love Rocks firemen were adding more color to the tree.
Right: My kids putting their Love Rocks in the bucket.

Recently there was a shooting at a high school in Troutdale, so the Love Rocks collected were spread around that community.

FINDING LOVE ROCKS

My kids have found a few Love Rocks in various places. Of course, we are always thrilled. Adults are happy to find them, too. We’ve even received them in goodie bags from the dentist.

LOVE

I love that our community and beyond have embraced the power of these Love Rocks. It feels good to both give & receive love.

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