Post-paddle, he connects with local hiking guide Cathy Boden, who takes visitors on personalized hiking tours while highlighting native plants, animals, geology, history and Native culture of the area. The park, which calls itself the first of its kind in the world, offers lessons and rents sandboards and sleds for - you guessed it, riding downhill - among the acres of pristine, sculpted sand dunes in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.įrom there he heads south to Port Orford for his kayak trip of a lifetime with South Coast Tours. In Florence he meets up with 3-time world sandboarding champion Gabe Cruz at Sand Master Park. “Being weird isn’t bad, it’s the seed from which the best things in life grow.”Įpisode 2: Sand Dunes, Whale Sightings and Forest Walksįrom Eugene, Millar heads west to the Coast, following a route he dubs the Coastal Adventure Trail. Continuing his quest for all things eclectic, Millar meets up with the founders of Eugene’s Harmonic Laboratory - a collective that produces installations combining visual art, music and social media. “ Oregon is an inspiration to all of us to be ourselves, be creative and celebrate diversity,” he says. He takes in the handmade jewelry and art, tie-dye T-shirts, porcelain octopuses and other artists’ creations. Heading south to Eugene, Millar chats with the staff and artisans at the Eugene Saturday Market, the oldest open-air craft market in the United States, founded in 1974. He meet the resident farm dog, Miss Cooper, at Arlynvineyard in Newberg, and sips Biodynamic, estate-grown wines at Brick House Vineyards, 3 miles west. Millar soon heads southwest to the Willamette Valley for a personalized wine-tasting tour with Chevonne Ball, owner of Dirty Radish food and wine tours.
Dresden tells Millar about the Unipiper, Portland’s bagpipe-playing mascot, as well as other other Portlandia-type celebrations like the Mermaid Festival, a summertime gathering at Poet’s Beach for the LGBTQ+ community. He then meets up with a Portland local named Dresden, owner of Throw Snakes Tours, for a one-of-a-kind tour of Portland’s bar culture and local oddities. In Portland he meets up with Michelle Bergey, owner of Lost Plate Food Tours, who introduces him to the history and culture of the globally dishes at Cartopia and Hawthorne Asylum, both food-cart pods in Southeast Portland. Millar kicks off his tour along what he nicknamed the Northern Culture Trail. Here are some of highlights from the three newly released Oregon-based podcast episodes (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Stitcher).Įpisode 1: Food Carts, Wine Tasting and a Harmonic Laboratory Traveling with a guide in Oregon eliminates the hassle of logistics planning, and can often uncover off-the-beaten-path experiences for a truly authentic experience. “We want to go beyond the ordinary, travel deeper into the destination and discover the natural beauty, adventure and culture of the state through a local’s eyes,” he says.
HIDDEN LAKE OREGON TV
Millar has presented travel documentaries for National Geographic TV and authored books including “50 Greatest Wonders of the World” and “50 Greatest National Parks of the World.” In Oregon he sought the help of several expert guides who took him to some of their favorite top food carts and wine-tasting rooms, to arts districts and forest trails, to caves, rivers, sand dunes and beyond. “When you go to a magnificent landscape like Crater Lake, the most beautiful lake in the world, those moments are really powerful beyond that immediate sensation.” “There’s a sort of wonder deficit in our lives,” says Millar, who was named Travel Broadcaster of the Year 2021 by the British Guild of Travel Writers.
HIDDEN LAKE OREGON SERIES
While that specific encounter isn’t typical, it’s just one of the delightfully quirky and inspiring Oregon adventures captured by Millar in “ Hidden Trails of Oregon” - a new three-episode series separate from his Armchair Explorer podcast. Lacey had been talking about the need to be mindful and stay far from wildlife if they had an encounter, when “at one point sort of breached and looked me right in the eye. He and owner/guide Dave Lacey were paddling just off the rugged Port Orford coastline. The British travel writer who makes his home in Colorado was on a guided paddling adventure with South Coast Tours. That’s exactly what happened to Aaron Millar during his whirlwind tour of Oregon in May 2022. Now imagine witnessing that spectacle from just 10 feet away in a kayak. Spotting a gray whale breeching in the ocean is an awe-inspiring event.
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