The Lodge at Running Y Ranch: a Holiday Inn Resort in Southern Oregon

In remote Southern Oregon at the edge of the Cascades, just outside the small town of Klamath River, The Running Y Ranch offers relaxation and fun for families. This golf community of private homes, condos, and guest rooms is small enough to feel cozy, yet large enough to have everything families want: high-end dining, recreation, pampering, and outdoor adventure. The property is within easy … [Read more...]

Central Oregon golf resort pick: The Lodge at Eagle Crest, a Holiday Inn Resort

Forget what you thought you knew about the Holiday Inn brand. Holiday Inn Resort has reinvented the name with properties like the Lodge at Eagle Crest in Eagle Crest Resort, which serves as a great home base for families who enjoy both golf and other outdoor activities. There are no shortage of golf resorts in Central Oregon. We've been to most of them, and they certainly all have high … [Read more...]

Brasada Ranch for families: what to do with kids at this Preferred Family resort

It's no secret that the Pit Stops for Kids crew loves Central Oregon. With approximately 300 days of sunshine per year, lakes and rivers to swim in, raft on, and fish from, trails to hike, and volcanoes to behold, what's not to love? And we've found our top family-friendly Central Oregon resort in Brasada Ranch. What makes Brasada Ranch great for families: 1. Lodging: During our first … [Read more...]

A stay at Brasada Ranch: a Central Oregon family golf resort

If your image of Oregon consists of only evergreens and rainy days, it's time to visit Central Oregon's high desert. One of our favorite regions for Oregon family vacations, Central Oregon offers beautiful mountains, lakes, and rivers for whitewater rafting, mountain biking, horseback riding, golf, and every snow sport you can think up. It's also home to a number of family resorts, including Bend … [Read more...]

A family lodge stay: The Lodge at Suttle Lake, Sisters Oregon

A mountain lake lodge that's equally appealing to adults and kids isn't easy to find...unless you're in Oregon. (It must be something about my home state's laid-back, outdoorsy atmosphere.) The Lodge at Suttle Lake, located just outside of Sisters, Oregon, is one of them. Easily accessed from Highway 20 (30 minutes from Bend, Oregon on Highway 97 or two hours from Salem, Oregon on I-5), the Lodge … [Read more...]

A stay in a KOA Kamping Kabin

Full disclosure: I dislike purposeful misspellings (like 'k's replacing 'c's), and I haven't stayed in a KOA Kampground (there we go again) in a very long time. That said, when we needed a no-frills overnight accommodation en route to the Mt. Hood wilderness, I'm really glad I gave their Kamping Kabins a try. We stayed in a two-bedroom cabin at the Culver-Redmond KOA in Central Oregon, … [Read more...]

A stay at Central Oregon’s Pronghorn Club

An unique and beautifully luxurious oasis in the heart of Central Oregon's high desert, Pronghorn Club offers families the comfort and convenience of vacation homes, the fun of a family resort, and the excitement of a full-scale outdoor adventure outfit. The primary draw of the Pronghorn Club is its signature Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and (private) Tom Fazio course. Charlie (the … [Read more...]

Bend’s High Desert Museum

Located on Highway 97 just outside Bend, Oregon and minutes away from the all-seasons resort of Sunriver, the High Desert Museum makes for an ideal pit stop en route through Central Oregon or a great half-day activity while vacationing in this family vacation hot spot. With indoor and outdoor exhibits, wildlife shows, and walking paths, families can easily spend most of a day here. (If you … [Read more...]

Best Ski Towns: Bend, Oregon

Up next in Pit Stops for Kids' series on best ski towns for families is Bend, Oregon. Not only is this central Oregon high desert town ideally situated at the base of Mt. Bachelor and the Sisters peaks, it offers much more than downhill skiing: families will find plenty to do biking, river rafting, and fishing in the summer months and skating, sledding, and spotting wildlife in the … [Read more...]

Sunriver Resort, Oregon

Located thirty minutes from Bend, Oregon along Hwy 97, Sunriver, Oregon is an outdoors-lover's paradise four seasons out of the year. The Pit Stops for Kids family has visited in winter, spring, and summer, and had so much to do and see each time that we definitely need to go back! Sunriver is a vibrant resort community of vacation homes and a village center of shops and restaurants centered … [Read more...]