Exploregonians: Travel Misadventures

The river is calling Katie and Jordan’s name this week as they head south along Oregon’s Highway 138 (a.k.a. “The Highway of Waterfalls”) along the special North Umpqua River!

Katie takes Jordan whitewater rafting on a “ship of a raft” for his birthday and she is still unsure if he could do a full day on the water. Jordan is moved as they navigate downriver along an area important to the Umpqua people, which is a tribe he is allegedly descended from.

They soak their aching bodies in the Umpqua Hot Springs after and feel like the hot springs can have more of a party vibe than they’re into. To get into the birthday spirit, however, Jordan decides to get into his birthday suit.

Katie and Jordan end their Umpqua River journey at a historic inn that boasts a 14-page, 7,000-word history, featuring about 17 main characters on its “About” page.

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We’re in the Deep South now, according to a pair of high school girls working in a Laurel, Mississippi ice cream parlor. 

Katie and Jordan discuss how they never expected to romp around Mississippi and visit the homeland of the popular HGTV show “Home Town” and realize our best friend is a Ben Napier doppelgänger. 

Jordan wonders if Laurel overemphasizes fun, eye-catching design in its downtown over quality businesses and Katie reminds everyone the city is home to one Lance Bass. 

Katie’s art-spirit is reawakened at the (free and spectacular and enormous) Lauren Rogers Art Museum, which is home to some excellent collections and some very tiny baskets.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Hit the deck! This week, Jordan tells Katie how Cannon Beach got its name — and it definitely has to do with a shipwreck. Katie talks about her favorite four-legged roaming residents of Cannon Beach and Jordan tries to untangle his own childhood socioeconomic mental block with the popular Oregon Coast town. 

Katie saw Little John smoking a cigarette outside the local community theater and Jordan tells the tale of two Haystack Rocks and John Quincy Adams erasure in downtown Cannon Beach. 

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Missoula, Montana holds a special place in Katie and Jordan’s hearts because it was the first big stop on two separate road trips. 

Why is Missoula called ZooTown? Katie instantly figured it out and Jordan is probably still struggling with it. 

The duo have never been to Missoula in the daytime and once rolled into town right when a major concert was starting in the university’s football stadium that neither knew about, but ran to listen to against a chain-link fence like a pair of street urchins.

Jordan attempts to dunk on Lewis and Clark with mixed results and all of the enormous hillside monograms in Montana remind him of Sesame Street.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Yeehaw! Katie lets everyone know Jordan has pronounced “Pendleton” incorrectly for his entire life and Jordan argues there shouldn’t be a silent “D” in words.

Katie’s grandfather was born in Pendleton, and the duo discuss wandering around one of her ancestral homelands with her grandparents in their 90s. Jordan is disturbed by a broken weather widget on Travel Pendleton’s website and Katie is excited about a museum that chronicles western expansionism from the perspective of the Native people of the area. 

Katie and Jordan spent their very last night on their two-month road trip across the continent in Pendleton and think the Old Town was way better than they remember it being and Jordan drops a surprising Pendleton Woolen Mills connection-bomb on Katie at the end of the show. 

Shear your sheep and give this week’s episode a listen!

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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DIY cheek-peekin' chaps and a bag full of melted truffles marked the beginning for Katie and Jordan's sweltering time on Thailand's largest island: Phuket.

Before they could even step foot on the island, they were trapped on the plane waiting for a "VIP" to fly out -- and they have some guesses as to who it was. 

Katie reads verbatim from the travel journal they kept on their three-month honeymoon around East and Southeast Asia and Jordan reminisces about hitching a ride from the wrong hotel to the correct one in the back of Some Dude's truck. 

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Katie and Jordan venture into the Portland-Metro by exploring Oregon's sixth-largest city -- and one-time hopeful to be second-largest -- Beaverton! 

Katie talks about how the city's modern multi-cultural identity helped introduce her to different cultures and cuisines at a young age and talks about the now-shuttered Beaverton Bakery and Jordan wonders if it was a "Ratatouille" situation.

The city is home to one of New York Times top pizzerias in the U.S. and the duo talk about the pies they've enjoyed there and Jordan throws shade at a completely different pizzeria which gave him a spiritual awakening.

Jordan and Katie discuss the wonky shape of Beaverton's city boundaries and how you can drive on the same street for miles and seemingly hit seven or eight different "Welcome to Beaverton" signs.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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It's the most magical time of the year in Tillamook, Oregon! The biggest, most unifying event on the local calendar is the Tillamook County Fair and the annual four-day extravaganza is an explosion of all the pent up magic in the community. 

Katie and Jordan discuss this year's upcoming 100th anniversary of the fair's marquee event the Pig-N-Ford races, three-lap races around a horse racing track with stripped down Model T cars, squealing piglets, and a whole lotta history. And Katie may have been the first woman ever to take the victory lap in the event.

The duo talks about the fair food that will probably make you sick and the fact Katie seems to be craving any combination of hot dog wrapped in carbohydrate.

Jordan wants to know if there is an event for "Best Duck" and Katie talks about her long history with the fair ranging from everything from entering baked goods, sewing projects, and showing cows. 

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Katie is absolutely "breathless" when she visits the otherworldly Arches National Park, which is described as a "red-rock wonderland." 

Both Katie and Jordan bring the same facts about the geologic formations to this podcast, which means they must be true, right? 

Arches National Park contains 2,000 natural stone arches and the park has the highest concentration of them in the world. Katie wants to do an arch audit to see how accurate that number is.

Jordan tells Katie the alternative names for the beloved, iconic "Delicate Arch" and also the names of other formations throughout the park, like "Dark Angel", "Three Penguins", and most unfortunately, "The Phallus". 

Jordan shares his stupidest travel mishap and Katie says he is "horn happy". 

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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Jordan immediately goes off the rails with "Chronicles of Narnia" references and Katie loves the city's iconic Lithia Park, but Jordan suggests the city of Ashland just raze the downtown to the ground to double the size of the massive park. 

Once Jordan finally visits the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he watches the the worst musical of his life, "The Three Musketeers", which takes some interesting creative liberties. 

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to [email protected] and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

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