Grant's Getaways

Emmy Award–winning Oregon journalist Grant McOmie has written a new book with Oregon-based publisher Graphic Arts Books. Grant's Getaways: Oregon Adventures with the Kids will be available June 2017 in travel friendly paperback and e-book version at bookstores, gift shops, and online sources.

The new book covers forty-eight Oregon destinations in a practical seasonal guide where the fun factor is high as youngsters learn more about Oregon. The new book takes youngsters and their parents to each corner of the state for hands-on activities that are set in unique locations.

Each getaway provides lessons on both Oregon’s natural and cultural history. In addition, many of the Getaways center on activities that are just plain fun and best shared by young and older alike. When you explore the new Oregon Adventures with the Kids with Grant McOmie, you quickly discover that there is always something new to see in Oregon.

For example, take a hike on the wild side with Bill Wood—longtime protector of the eight-acre Magness Tree Farm and a specialist in forest education—who can show and explain each wildflower that grows in western Oregon forests. We also travel to the ocean at historic Bayocean and learn about a town that fell into the sea and try our hands at digging and preparing a supper from the sea: bay clamming! Plus, kids love to “find the fort” at Fort. Stevens State Park on a free guided tour into the damp darkness of a military fort that dates to the Civil War era. Plus, we visit Oregon’s stretch of the state where distances are great and people are few. But if you know where to look, there are remarkable treasures waiting to be found. Kids discover how easy it is to dig in the dirt for the Oregon State Gems called sunstones. Plus, learn how to dig fossils in Fossil, Oregon, where you can dig for keeps and then learn how to crack open a thunderegg, Oregon’s State Rock that offers a peak into 60 million years of the state’s geologic history.

Each chapter provides sidebar information with travel tips for kids, their parents, and grandparents called “Outdoor Talk, Gadgets, and Gear,” plus, more favorite “Getaway Recipes” for campsite or kitchen.

Many of Grant’s favorite destinations and activities are included in this handy guidebook and they have also been featured in the popular television Oregon travel series Grant’s Getaways. The guidebook also includes a map and fifty color photographs selected from the Grant’s Getaways archives.