Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-I'm taking a trip that is bucket-list big -- one so special I wouldn't want to do it alone.

And so I'm bringing the family on a road trip through a state that is tailor-made for it, filled with fantastic landscapes and people who live with grace and fortitude.

A trip that gives us all time together before we wake up and say, "When did they grow up?"

This is what life is about.

This is when travel is important.

This is a family road trip through Oregon.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

AmaWaterways River Cruises offers a way to see all this wonder in person.

You can discover more at AmaWaterways.com.

-"Away"... ...is the smell of fresh pine.

It's a place where giants still live.

"Away" is where the farther down the road you go, the closer you get to the ones you love.

Find your "away."

GoRVing.com.

-We arrived in Oregon during a particularly heartbreaking wildfire season which altered a few things on our itinerary, including a drive through the Columbia River Gorge.

But when you're completely mobile, you can change course, and no part of Oregon is unworthy of exploration.

This is a four-day road trip through some of the most diverse and beautiful terrain in the state.

On day 1, we're going towards Mount Hood -- the greenest leg of our journey.

We're traveling through a 35-mile scenic loop of farms and orchards appropriately called the Fruit Loop, and while this is top pear-growing region in the United States, we're making a stop at Kiyokawa Farms to appreciate a packed-lunch favorite -- the apple.

Whoo!

And jump.

See, look at all these.

These are all apple or pear tress.

-Those are all apple trees?

-We're surrounded!

Hi, how are you?

-Good.

-This is Randy.

-Hi.

-Hey.

-Randy grows all these apples and pears.

Can you believe that?

He does a lot of work.

-Yep.

-My name is Randy Kiyokawa.

I'm a third-generation orchardist.

-Look at all these apples, guys!

Oh, my gosh!

-We raise apples, pears, peaches, cherries, blueberries.

-Whoa!

Good job!

-I got one!

-Yay!

-I got one!

-All right!

-And it was all started by my grandfather that came over from Japan.

-Let's see what we can find.

-And you know what's really interesting about these apples?

Look at that.

These apples don't have any stickers on them.

-Mm-hmm!

-Yeah.

-This is a little softer.

-Wow, this one is -- -A little softer.

We'll have applesauce tonight.

-Right!

-All right!

-That's good.

-Want one of my strawberries?

-Yeah, I do.

Thank you.

-Our kids are so much nicer to us in Oregon.

-Mmm!

-[ Laughs ] -Can we show you guys the biggest apples in the world?

-Yes!

-Let's go.

-Let's go see the biggest apples we've never seen!

-Ellis, Elizabeth, have you ever seen an apple that big?

-What?!

Look!

-Look at that!

-Ooh!

Hey, maybe we can pick that one.

-Can you reach it?

-I can.

-Ready, put your bucket down.

-I can do that one.

-[ Grunts ] [ Grunts ] Good job!

-We have a lot of them.

-This is bigger than your head.

-Yeah.

We gotta pick some more apples.

-Kiyokawa's apples are truly extraordinary, from the biggest apples we've never seen to this variety.

[ Grunts ] Okay, now take a bite.

What do you see?

-What is that pink stuff?

-That's the apple.

It has red flesh.

-That means it's a red flesh apple.

-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah, a red flesh apple.

-Take a bite!

-Can we go to the playground here?

-Sure.

-Okay!

-This is our new RV.

-[ Laughs ] -Wagons are not RVs.

-With the kids off to the playground, I get to walk the rows of fruit with Randy.

How many different types of apples do you grow?

-We grow over 120 different varieties of apples.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Some of them are heirloom varieties that your grandma and grandpa used to grow.

Some of them are brand new varieties that don't even have names yet.

-Oh.

-Some of them are apples from around the world.

-What's the apple that everyone waits for, that everyone knows you for?

-Well... -It's just -- are you picking 'em?

-They loved the red-fleshed ones.

They like the Pink Pearls, the Mountain Rose.

Honeycrisp can't be beat, either.

And then there's a small following in some of our new varieties.

-So, your grandparents were farmers, your parents.

You're now at the helm of the farm.

What did you learn from the other two generations about farming?

-Patience.

Patience and tolerance.

And my mom and dad, along with their siblings and parents that were interned during the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, then there was an executive order that anybody on the West Coast of Japanese descent was interned.

-So was your grandfather, your grandmother as well?

-Yeah, anybody of Japanese descent.

When they got interned, all of a sudden, they were surrounded by people, kids their own age.

They had -- it was a different setting, even though it was tragic... -Mm-hmm.

-They always said, you know, said look on the bright side of things.

-Mm-hmm.

-And so when we went and were growing up, we were raised Americans.

-Still proud.

-Still proud.

-Even with pretty tough beginnings.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

So, my mom and dad had learned patience.

-And speaking of patience... -Hey, Mama?

Mama?

-What, hon?

-Why are we not going to watch television in here now?

-Because the television happens after we stop, okay?

We can't -- we're leaving now.

We're spending our first night at Toll Bridge Park, where our camp spot is surrounded by towering trees and has a backyard with a river running through it.

Look at Mama!

-Okay.

-When you think about it, you only have 18 summers with your kids, and fewer still where they'll want to walk across a tree with you.

Who do you think has dirtier feet -- Mommy, Daddy, Ellis, or Elizabeth?

We should have a dirty feet beauty pageant.

-Hello.

-[ Grunts ] -So Kevin and I are trying to make every moment of these younger years count...

Okay, who gets to clean Ellis?

...where sand angels are slightly encouraged.

Yay!

Camping's great!

[ Laughs ] And it's perfectly okay that the only thing on the schedule for the rest of the day is rock-throwing.

How often does Mom say you can throw things?

Okay, oh.

Is this better than watching TV?

-When we leave, how about when we're done doing this, we can watch TV.

-Oh, okay, well... -Okay.

-You have a sandwich here.

-I don't want -- -Oh, hey!

We've got beans.

-No, I don't need beans.

-Um, we've got candy.

-I...

I want candy.

-You want candy for dinner?

-I want candy.

-You guys want candy for dinner?

-Yeah.

-Well, you can't have candy for dinner!

There's no candy in Oregon.

Or French fries.

No, I'm serious.

But like all parents, there's a point when we are done bonding.

Who wants to watch TV and leave their parents alone?

-Let's watch TV!

-Break out the wine.

-Can we watch TV?

-Yes, you can.

-Okay.

-Our second day on the road is going to take us about a 125 miles to the town of Fossil.

But first, we're gonna make one more stop in Hood River, and this one pays homage to travel and where the road trip got its start.

It's called the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum, but everybody knows it as WAAAM.

Look at that.

-Look, Ellis.

Do you think we could fit you in the engine compartment over there?

-No.

-[ Chuckles ] -There are hundreds of vehicles on display, cars, airplanes, motorcycles, and the very first camper van, which on this trip, we could certainly relate to.

You like it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Do you think your mom could drive that one?

-Fortunately, they were more impressed with a particularly good kids zone.

-It's just a pretend submarine.

-Oh, this is pretty cool.

-Which gave me the chance to talk with Stephanie Hatch, the assistant director of the museum.

You say that this is a living museum.

-Yes.

-What does that mean?

-Yeah, so we're a living history museum.

Just about everything you see out here still flies, still drives.

We regularly take them out and get them going -- out there moving, up in the sky, down around on the ground.

-But that changes everything.

These cars and these automobiles and these planes still have a soul, really.

-Yep, yep, they have life.

-So who has the unenviable job of getting into an antique plane and making sure that it still flies?

I don't think I'd want that to be me.

-Actually, we have a core of volunteer pilots at the museum.

They're really good at what they do, and we just love getting 'em out and getting 'em going.

-They get up in the air?

-Oh, yeah.

There's nothing sounds like an old airplane.

-[ Laughing ] I bet.

-Yeah.

And it's really fantastic to see.

[ Engine starts, idles ] -When was the Pegasus used as a form of transportation, because as a 10-year-old girl, that's all I dreamed about.

-Before the automobile, you're using horse power.

-Horse -- horse power.

-Exactly, you're using horse power.

So this is a great auto right here in the museum, 'cause you can really see the changes in automobiles.

So you've got all these Model T Fords over here.

-Mm-hmm.

-Black.

And then you've got all these later-era cars, we got colors.

-The options.

-Yes.

You had bells and whistles.

So you started to have some options that you could choose.

-And this is when we start to see hood ornaments.

-Yes.

-Right?

-Finding an original hood ornament that looks nice like that, that's not broken off is pretty rare.

When you're underneath a car, fixing stuff up, the first thing you're gonna grab when you push yourself off, you're gonna push down on the bumper.

And you're gonna grab that hood ornament and it's gonna break off.

-Oh, okay.

-Yeah.

Yeah, so we're fortunate that a number of these cars have been kept in good enough condition that we have a lot of the original hood ornaments.

-So these are the classics.

-Oh, yeah.

Gotta love 'em.

Muscle cars.

-Yeah, to me, this represents the golden age of the automobile, where we all still fell in love with this era.

-Yes.

-Nothing was like this era.

-So much of our iconic car culture focuses around these cars.

-Oh, powder-blue 1970 Oldsmobile?

-Yep.

-Oh, gosh!

-Yeah.

-The Camaro, the Charger.

We've got the Mustang back there.

-Mm-hmm.

-If a boy had come to my house to pick me up in... -Oh, yeah.

-...my father would not let me date that boy.

Like, these are all those cars.

-Yes.

-Right?

-The boy in the Dodge Dart, that was the boy for me, he thought.

-There you go.

That's how it is sometimes.

-I disagreed.

[ Engine starts ] And when they tell you everything in this museum still runs, they mean it, including this 1923 Model T Ford, and they'll even teach you how to drive it.

I mean, some of this looks familiar.

I've got gas, I've got a brake, I've got a clutch.

Is that -- am I in good shape?

-Almost.

Not quite.

-What else do I need?

-So you have on the left... they call it a clutch, but in reality, it's low gear and high gear.

And we'll never get into high gear.

-You don't think I can go that fast, can you?

-Well, you can.

You'll -- we'll see.

We'll let you make that call when you get to it.

-Okay, okay.

-The middle one is reverse.

So when you push it down, it backs up.

And then your brake is on the far right.

-This is the brake?

-That's the brake.

-Oh, okay, so this way is the gas.

-Well, it's going forward.

This is actually your gas pedals.

-Oh, wait a minute.

-[ Laughs ] -This is the brake.

-We're just gonna work on your gas and your left foot to get it going forward.

-Whoa!

Oh, I think the turning radius is a little sticky.

-Very -- yeah, it's real tight.

-Now, as a driving instructor, do you have the kill switch on your side, too?

-No, no controls on this side.

-The Model T driving lesson is extremely popular and spots do fill up fast.

And no wonder.

You might only be traveling at 15 miles an hour, but it's still a thrill.

[ Horn honks ] Roads are getting curvier.

-Yeah, ha.

-I think it's incredible how quickly the scenery changes from the tall pine trees to desert.

-Yep.

-And as we travel further into Eastern Oregon, the rugged and rocky landscape reminds us that this was part of the legendary Oregon Trail.

This is a cute town.

-Mm-hmm.

-Hey, yep.

About an hour to go.

It's like I've lost not only my ability to read a map, but fold one.

-[ Laughs ] Just there's probably an app for that.

-There's definitely an app, how to fold a map.

-[ Laughs ] -Our destination, the town of Fossil, where our plan is to take the kids to search for fossils.

But there's a weather delay.

[ Thunder crashes ] So we decide to call it a day and rest, because the next day is a big one.

It's our third morning on the road, and it's a gorgeous one.

We have made it to Fossil.

We wanted to introduce the twins to a real ranch experience, and it doesn't get more authentic than the over-100-year history of the Wilson family ranch.

Even the bed and breakfast is an original Sears Roebuck house built in 1911.

[ Horse snorts ] -We're still in the wild west.

And so being able to share the old West experience and 150-and-more years of tradition as an Oregon Trail family, it is just absolutely incredible that visitors from around the world can experience this part of Oregon and see it completely untouched.

I'm Cara Wilson Anglin, the daughter of Phil and Nancy Wilson, and sixth-generation cattle rancher in the high desert of Eastern Oregon.

-I'm Brian Anglin, Cara's husband.

Cara and I have been married for 17 years.

-Brian met me by taking me off of a horse and putting me into my wheelchair.

-It is so good to see you.

-It's so awesome to have you!

Thank you for being in Eastern Oregon.

-Oh, what a -- -I got in.

-Oh, you're ready to go over and meet the horses?

-Yeah, we'd love to meet 'em.

-All right, we're ready.

-Awesome.

-They've never been on a horse.

Do you put children on a horse?

-Of course!

-Okay.

[ Laughs ] -We started at age 2.

-Ellis, this was the horse we had planned for you.

-[ Gasps ] Why don't we have Mama lift you up?

-She's off.

-Yeah.

[ Both laugh ] He's going back to his trailer.

Both of them, look at that.

-That's a long walk.

-If I thought that all I had to do was show them a bunch of horses and they would leave me alone, I would have done this three and a half years ago!

-I'm very impressed that Ellis and Elizabeth, they did a self-corralling.

-Without a word, they just walked away.

-Well, I won't walk away.

-You're up first.

-Oh, absolutely.

-Well, you ready to gather some cows?

-I am.

-Move 'em to a new pasture?

-Ready to learn the ropes, Cara.

-Okay, fantastic.

-So while I saddled up and went off with Cara and Brian, Kevin set off solo with the kids to do an activity centered around what the town of Fossil is named after.

-Let's go get some fossils, all right?

-Yeah.

-Fossils are pretty cool.

-So these are black Angus cross, and they'll be mamas... -How for along are they?

-...this coming spring.

They are a few months along.

The gestation period on a cow is also nine months.

-Okay.

-So we're hoping these will calve around the beginning of March.

-Trying to ease off of them a little bit.

If they're running, they're losing weight.

So we wanted to just push them real easy.

-Okay.

-It's healthier on the cow, it's healthier on the calf.

And you just have an amazing herd when you do that.

-So, this is beautiful land that we are surrounded by.

This is all high desert.

-So this would all be considered high desert.

And what you're riding in right now would be the John Day Basin.

-This is where a lot of fossils were found, right?

-This area of Oregon has one of the richest depositories of fossils in the world.

-I think this is the right place.

-Meanwhile, not back at the ranch, the kids and Kevin were digging for fossils at the local Wheeler High School, which for a small fee, supplies you all the tools and protective eye gear you'll need to become a budding paleontologist.

-I think I found an Ellis-shaped fossil right there.

What do you think, Elizabeth?

-[ Grunts ] -In order to be a multi- generational farmer or rancher, you have to know your land and you have to love your land and you have to care for it.

Our hope and prayer and why we do what we do is so that folks will know that any time you can get your meat, your produce, or whatever it is that you're feeding your family -- any time that you can get that raised and produced by another family you know that it has the highest level of love and care.

-Are you worried that you're gonna hit your eyes with the hammer?

What happens?

-Watch this.

-That's really safe.

-So, I feel like in the last few years, I keep hearing that more than intellectualism, more than creativity, what people really need in order to succeed is grit.

How would you describe your upbringing that gave you such an amazing attitude of just perseverance?

-If there's any type of adversity that you're faced with, you better charge through it.

You work through it, you find a way, because at the end of every day, the level of happiness that you receive in life is your responsibility.

You never reach -- you never depend on someone else for your life's joy.

The happiest place in the world for me is being able to be on the back of my horse in these hills and getting to share our blessings and joys and life's work with those who appreciate it.

-We could have stayed at the ranch with Cara and Brian all day, but we had another two-hour drive ahead of us to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, home to the extraordinarily beautiful and awe-inspiring Painted Hills.

All right, Megan's gonna show us around, guys.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I thought we were gonna climb a mountain.

-Wait, can -- -Do you climb any of these?

-As far as the stripy ones over here, those we want to keep footprint free.

-Yes.

-Because they're so pretty without all the footprints all over them.

[ Both laugh ] I'm Megan Wilkins.

I've been a national park ranger for 15 years, six of them here at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

-So, what caused the colors?

-Basically, the different Paleo environments.

So how much rainfall there was at the time that this was a forest.

Ash was falling into this area from volcanoes that were, you know, dozens of miles away from here.

-Uh-huh.

-And it settled onto the forest floor.

And depending on the amount of rain that was falling as well, it either got waterlogged enough that the iron in that ash turned red.

-Oh, okay.

-Or it didn't.

-Oh, okay, so it's all iron.

-Yes.

-It's just whether it rusted.

-Or not, yes, exactly.

And so that's what we're seeing, it's just a change in the environment where it's kind of teetering back and forth between a little bit wetter versus when it was a little bit dryer.

-How many millions of years are we talking about?

-We're talking around 33 to 30 million years old for what you're seeing over across here.

-I would have said 25 million, but all right, I'll give you that.

-Right, yeah, yeah.

Just a few more million, that's all I'm asking for.

-It's so cool because at this age where my kids are, they love dinosaurs.

And this is where they really get into dinosaurs.

-Right.

-And that's why I wanted to come here, because it really is important for them to understand that it's not just a children's book.

This isn't just a cool, cute drawing.

Like, these things really existed.

And they don't understand, they don't get the concept of time.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I don't even know if I get the concept of time when you're looking out.

But it really is its own storybook and you're peeling back the pages and turning them as you go.

-Exactly.

-[ Vocalizes ] Okay, look in the camera, buddy.

-Let's pretend we love each other.

-Just hold it down, just a take a million.

-Take a picture upside down!

-All right.

-Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

-We've had a very full day, and it's miles to go before we sleep.

But we'll be able to start our day in our final Oregon destination, the town of Bend.

Ellis, what would you like for breakfast?

We have eggs, cereal, and yogurt.

-Hey, guys, stop fighting.

-What's the big idea?!

I have to go potty!

-He has to go potty.

-Okay.

Want a banana, Ellis?

Here.

-Agh!

Grumpy guy!

[ Yells ] -Want some -- you want some eggs?

-Um... -Here are your eggs.

You want to eat 'em outside?

We finally made it to the city of Bend.

It's a mini hot spot travel destination because of its access to the outdoors and all the sports that brings... ...but also because it's simply an extremely pleasant place to be.

-I love road trips -- when we go up in the air and down low.

-[ Both parents chuckle ] -That's Dad's driving for you.

[ Laughs ] -We come back down again, though.

-Yes, but Dad is... -So, guys, we're giving you ice cream right now so you behave while Daddy and I drink beer.

You only need to spend a few minutes in Bend to notice that there are a lot of craft breweries here.

In fact, it has the most breweries per capita in the United States -- one for every 3,600 people.

We choose the Bend Brewing Company, partly for the great beer, partly for the family-friendly atmosphere, and partly because they understand the RV lifestyle.

Try to remember way back in the day We used to love to drive out West -Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] My gosh, we did it.

-We did.

-Oh, my gosh, we did it.

[ Laughs ] -Is that orange juice?

-It's not.

-No!

-Is that lemonade?

-No.

-It's not.

-Keep trying.

Gone, gone, gone -I mean, I travel a lot, but that is a different type of traveling, and it really...

It's, um...

I just thought it was amazing.

-A traveler in Oregon will find something very unique, not only because of the beauty of the place, but also the people.

The people are warm, welcoming.

-The Eastern Oregon pioneer spirit is alive and well.

-When people think of Oregon, they don't think of places that look like this.

They think of the other side of the state, where everything's green and lush and there's waterfalls and ocean.

But Oregon has a lot more going on to it.

So if you're coming out this way, like, that other stuff is definitely worth seeing, too.

But make your way over to the dry side if you can.

Get up, girls, and all the shapely curls -To me, that's what all these journeys are about.

That's what I want to pass on to my kids, when they meet people like that and they can see this sort of landscape that is unlike anything that they've been brought up in.

And they understand the history of a place and the importance of the land, importance of people.

-[ Laughs ] -[ Roars, giggles ] And that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why a road trip through Oregon is filled with places to love.

For more information about this and other episodes, extra scenes, or links to follow me on social media, log onto placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... -"Away"... ...is the smell of fresh pine.

It's a place where giants still live.

"Away" is where the farther down the road you go, the closer you get to the ones you love.

Find your "away."

GoRVing.com.

-Europe is a treasure trove of fascinating history, rich culture, and renowned cities.

AmaWaterways River Cruises offers a way to see all this wonder in person.

You can discover more at AmaWaterways.com.