Meet Jace Miller

Straddling the Willamette River, Oregon’s largest city offers culture, history, coffee, and many books. While Pacific Northwest winters may be damp, outdoor beauty abounds year-round. Forest Park, a 5,200-acre space that provides refuge to native wildlife, offers easy access to hiking and mountain biking trails. For a scenic stroll, head to the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Portland Japanese Garden, or the International Rose Test Garden.

Portland is home to many family-friendly attractions, including the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Pittock Mansion, the Oregon Zoo, and Oaks Amusement Park, one of the country's oldest continually operating amusement parks.

Plus, readers rejoice—the City of Roses is home to Powell’s, the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Once you’ve picked out a book, grab a cup of coffee at Portland Coffee Roasters or Stumptown.

Nestled into the foothills of the Cascade Range in central-North Washington State, Wenatchee is agriculturally based and teeming with arts and culture. The rural town, known as the Apple Capital of the World, is located about two-and-half hours outside of Seattle.

Surrounded by orchards, the most popular time to visit is the last week of April and the first week of May, when Wenatchee hosts the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival.

There’s also an abundance of wildlife, including on the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail, which runs for ten miles along both banks of the Columbia River and through four city parks, at Wenatchee Confluence State Park, a 197-acre nature preserve, and at the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, a four million-acre landscape.

Closer to town, the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center shares stories of the region’s past; downtown, Pybus Public Market offers farm-to-table restaurants, seasonal produce, and handmade crafts.