Every year we scratch our heads, looking for a nice route that we can use for an excursion with grandkids Avi and Violet. Avi and Violet live near Seattle. And listen, we are not saying that there is nowhere nice, and safe, in America to take a kid cycling. We are just saying that such places are scarce, say within a one day drive from Seattle. The best is the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene, in Idaho. But we've done that - twice.

In Washington State there is the Olympic Discovery Trail, and the Burke Gilman Trail. Sure, we could give these a try, but each has its own drawbacks. If you want to make a pitch for these, or some other great part of Washington, let us know in the Comments.

Now Oregon - has made an effort in the cycle touring area, and the Travel Oregon website does list seventeen scenic bikeways. Only five of these are over 100 miles, and none reach 200 miles. The oldest and premier Oregon route is the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway - 134 miles (215 km).

So what do we know about Willamette Valley? Before even nailing down where are the ice cream stops, we can wonder how do you pronounce it, and where is it?

Well it sure isn't William-ette, and it's not Willam-ette,  it's Will -am- ette.  And while we Canadians might think this is some strange modern American pronunciation, it's actually a French (Canadian) mispronounciation of a village name in the Clackamas native american language. 

As usual with all the "strange and exotic" places we stumble in to, the Willamette Valley is not only somebody's backyard, but it has a long history, previously known to seemingly everyone, except us. The valley has been inhabited by native people for at least 6,000 years. Europeans began to filter in after Lewis and Clark "discovered" the place in 1807, and the Oregon Trail opened in 1841. People came from Missouri, hit Portland, and headed on down to the California gold rush.  And now there is even a Willamette University (in Salem). Who knew?

And where is this thing, anyway?

The key is actually the huge Columbia River. In Oregon it flows generally east to west, passing Portland before entering the Pacific. The Willamette is relatively short. It begins not far from Eugene, south of Portland, and runs north, parallel to the coast, before joining the Columbia at Portland. The Willamette runs like that because there are hills near the coast and hills inland - it run between these sets of hills.

Here is the Valley:

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The cycle route loosely follows the river:

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One way to do this would be to cycle from Portland to Eugene and back. But it turns out we are one day short of time to do that. So we'll cycle Portland (approximately) to Halsey before turning back. That's about 40 km short of Eugene. The ride will be about 265 km in 6 days: 44 km/day on average. That should be about right for the kids, and given that we need to build in lots of ice cream stops!