Sandland Adventures in Florence, Oregon
Yes, I do love talking about our trips. (Or haven’t you noticed?)
Luckily this summer we had quite a few. Here is the one I have been itching to tell you about. All you have to do is say, “So what was one of your favorite parts of your trip through the northwest?” Or perhaps you’d rather ask, “What excursion surprised you the most?” Go ahead, ask me.
Now pull up a chair and let me tell you about our dune buggy trip. We were heading down the coast of Oregon and approaching an area known for its sand dunes. I ask you, who could pass by these hills of sand and not want to skid around on them a bit? Granted, I have never taken a dune buggy trip before. As much as I enjoy doing what the locals do, I wasn’t sure what we might be getting into. When I think of a dune buggy trip, I think of this:
And this: 
So I researched a few places in search of the most little-kid friendly kind of trip. Luckily for me my kids are still young enough to use this excuse. 
What I found was this:
I call her Bertha. Don’t all cars need a name? She lives in Florence, Oregon at a place called Sandland Adventures. Bertha will take groups out for an hour-long tour of the dunes and beach. I seriously debated whether the tour might be too tame. (Are those ALL senior citizens in the picture on their website?) While Sandland also offers high-speed sand rail tours, I had no idea how my three-year old would react. Following the better-safe-than-sorry logic, I opted for Bertha. After all, no one wants to be part of a tour where someone is screaming to get off. (Besides, my screaming would embarrass my kids.)
The two kids and I were seated in the front, directly across from the driver. Though it got chilly at times, I would say this was the best seat in the house. The trip started out at a very gentle pace; a good opportunity for the kids to get used to the bumpiness and feel of being in a dune buggy. As we were cruising, our driver told us about the area’s background and natural history. It turns out much of the grass that grows on the sand is not native. The fast-growing grass was introduced as a way to keep the sand out of the water channels. Now the grass has taken over and naturalists are working on a way to restore the area back to sand. How ironic that the cost to unfix what we did is probably much higher than what we spent to fix an issue in the first place. But I digress.
After about fifteen minutes we left the flat lands and entered the big dunes. Though it wasn’t high speed, there were certainly several hills that took us up and down practically vertically. I found it nearly impossible to capture the essence of the slope on film. This is as close as I can get to showing our descent. Best of all my kids, who avoid roller coasters at all costs, absolutely loved the ride. Our guide stopped a few times to give us tips on how to identify your location while on the dunes should you need help, how to tell if a hill is safe or not, and to show us a few small lakes that seemed to appear out of nowhere within the dunes.
I’ll be the first to admit, I was surprised at how much fun this trip was. The price was reasonable, paraticularly since I had no idea if we would love it or hate it. Our guide was terrific and really helped me appreciate the magnificence of the area. 
If you care to hang out a while, Sandland Adventures also has bumper boat rides, go carts, a miniature golf area and more. All in all, we each voted it a big thumbs up.
That reminds me of the trip we took back in….. what leaving so soon?
Photo credit for top two pictures: USA Today and 4x4offroads.com
Lora, you make my life seem so boooooring. All these summer excursions! Well, we went to the pool every day. That’s something, right?
Wow. You guys are really getting some adventures in! Thanks for sharing!
So I think Bertha is right up my alley, totally looking to do this when I get up to Oregon. I had heard dune tours are so much fun.