{"id":693,"date":"2025-06-10T06:03:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T06:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plu.jxc.mybluehost.me\/website_d81d5090\/?p=693"},"modified":"2025-06-30T02:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T02:18:16","slug":"family-trip-to-oregon-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winklerpartyofthree.com\/staging\/4408\/family-trip-to-oregon-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Trip to Oregon: A Surprise, Volcanoes & One Big Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When the World Stopped \u2014 and the Promise Began<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the world shut down. Comic cons were canceled. Festivals vanished. And I had nothing to do but make earrings, write Etsy SEO\u2026 and promise my daughter the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Cate was 9. But at 5, she had already developed a very serious, very adorable obsession: volcanoes. By 2020, that obsession had leveled up. We watched every volcano video YouTube could throw at us \u2014 documentaries, eruptions, science lessons, lava lamp comparisons, you name it. Cate soaked it all in like lava on pumice. Every new fact seemed more exciting than the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night, after yet another deep dive into Mt. St. Helens, I promised her:
\"One day, I\u2019ll take you to Washington. We\u2019ll see it in person.\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Surprising My Daughter with a Family Trip to Oregon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At this point, I had been grinding for over two and a half years trying to get my business off the ground. It was finally starting to feel like something was working. I finally had time \u2014 and money \u2014 to plan a real family trip to Oregon. This wasn\u2019t just a vacation \u2014 this was part of my new chapter: a single parent travel blog in the making, and a real chance to reconnect with my daughter through shared adventure. A single dad taking his kid on a Pacific Northwest journey? That was finally happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cate had been through a lot during the divorce \u2014 and while travel after divorce with children is rarely easy, I was determined to make this one count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So screw it. This was going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Why a Family Trip to Oregon? A Single Dad\u2019s Answer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Pacific Northwest has a green you don\u2019t see anywhere else. Once you witness that hue \u2014 rich, deep, almost glowing \u2014 it burns itself into your memory. My pictures from the first time I went never did it justice. I wanted Cate to see it with her own eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it's stunning. And because it\u2019s weird and wild and green in a way Texas will never be. Because Cate deserved something epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe because I needed it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had already been to Portland once for Wizard World Comic Con (yes, I loved it \u2014 yes, I want to go back). I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about how beautiful the Pacific Northwest was and how much I wanted to share it with Cate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I booked the tickets. Then, to make it even better, I didn\u2019t tell her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We told her that she and her mom, Julie (my ex-wife), were just dropping me off at the airport. Julie even packed a secret bag and hid it in the back of their SUV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We pulled up to the curb. I turned to Cate and asked,
\"Do you know where I\u2019m going?\"
She guessed Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I smiled and said,
\"Wanna come with me?\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes lit up.
\"But\u2026 I don\u2019t have any clothes!\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We opened the back. There was her bag \u2014 fully packed, ready to go. Cate\u2019s jaw dropped. The grin that spread across her face was enough to make up for every bad year and canceled plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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