The following first appeared as part of Live & Play, a special section in the June issue of Military Officer magazine. The magazine is available to all MOAA Premium and Life members. Learn more and access the digital edition here; learn more about joining MOAA here.) 

By Todd Gilchrist

Oregon offers beautiful landscapes for folks who like to be outdoors. Its animal population includes everything from pocket mice to blue whales. Destinations like Crater Lake, an ancient caldera of an extinct volcano, offer astonishing beauty as lava cliffs as tall as 2,000 feet encircle clear blue water. Visit the Columbia River Gorge, Willamette National Forest, or Silver Falls State Park for moving water attractions. Or take a guided tour of the Oregon Caves National Monument for some subterranean action sitting at an elevation of 4,000 feet in the Siskiyou Mountains.

The NBA’s Portland Trailblazers have been around since 1970, while there are three men’s soccer teams and one women’s.

Established in 1955, Ernest Nelson’s Prehistoric Gardens alongside Highway 101’s coastal route are home to 23 concrete reptiles built over a 30-year span, including a 46-foot-tall brachiosaurus.

Just adjacent to Portland and Salem, there’s the Enchanted Forest Theme Park, the result of seven years of dedicated effort by Roger Tofte featuring a bobsled roller coaster, a timber log ride, and a giant witch.

Portland is a bustling cultural center full of great restaurants, microbreweries, and books — Powell’s Books is the world’s largest independent bookstore. In Eugene, the windowless Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art features an expansive, eclectic collection from America, Asia, and Europe.