World Forestry Center / Discovery Museum, Portland

Located near the Oregon Zoo in Washington Park, the World Forestry Center has its roots in the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair for which an enormous log cabin was built of huge native trees and advertised as the world's largest. Public interest in the Forestry Building, which was turned over to the State of Oregon, lasted long after the exposition ended, right up until it was destroyed by fire on August 17, 1964. The day after the fire, a group of civic and industry leaders conceived The Western Forestry Center ("World Forestry Center" since 1986), housed in a new, more fire-resistant building which opened to the public in 1971.

The timber industry's major role in the development of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest is the focus of the current interactive museum geared mostly toward kids. Learn about how forests actually work and how complex they are (including the creatures living under their floor), and ride into the (simulated) canopy of the Amazon rainforest. Out front sits "Peggy" – a 33½-ton locomotive built in 1909, that hauled a billion feet of logs, more or less, in a 41-year career.

After a visit here, be ready to dive into the real forests of Washington Park right outside.