There is a famous anomaly in Southern Oregon that Katie and Jordan finally physically find themselves in this week.

The Oregon Vortex has confused, frustrated, and mystified people for nearly a century. People appear way shorter or taller than they usually do! Things roll uphill! A broom can stand by itself! By. Itself. This mysterious sphere of a vortex has even inspired a Disney animated series.

Katie and Jordan discuss what it was like to visit the legendary place in Oregon that is equal parts science experiment and roadside attraction.

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Battling intense allergies and/or a sinus infection, Katie discusses her first solo outing as a traveler: the Galápagos Islands. She journeyed from Colombia to Quito, Ecuador before hopping on a plane and a boat to the archipelago, which is an excellent word.

Jordan throws out the trivia nugget for the old definition of “galápago” then proceeds to make two excellent puns on the word that impresses nobody.

Katie’s first time snorkeling was off the islands and when she wasn’t in the water, she was obsessed with the marine iguanas and has dozens of photos to prove it.

While in South America (which someone once debated Katie that she wasn’t “really” in South America because it really doesn’t start until Peru), Katie describes her Spanish ability as “mal” which translates to bad as in “evil” and not bad as in “bad”.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

The river is calling Katie and Jordan’s name this week as they head south along Oregon’s Highway 138 (a.k.a. “The Highway of Waterfalls”) along the special North Umpqua River!

Katie takes Jordan whitewater rafting on a “ship of a raft” for his birthday and she is still unsure if he could do a full day on the water. Jordan is moved as they navigate downriver along an area important to the Umpqua people, which is a tribe he is allegedly descended from.

They soak their aching bodies in the Umpqua Hot Springs after and feel like the hot springs can have more of a party vibe than they’re into. To get into the birthday spirit, however, Jordan decides to get into his birthday suit.

Katie and Jordan end their Umpqua River journey at a historic inn that boasts a 14-page, 7,000-word history, featuring about 17 main characters on its “About” page.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

We’re in the Deep South now, according to a pair of high school girls working in a Laurel, Mississippi ice cream parlor.

Katie and Jordan discuss how they never expected to romp around Mississippi and visit the homeland of the popular HGTV show “Home Town” and realize our best friend is a Ben Napier doppelgänger.

Jordan wonders if Laurel overemphasizes fun, eye-catching design in its downtown over quality businesses and Katie reminds everyone the city is home to one Lance Bass.

Katie’s art-spirit is reawakened at the (free and spectacular and enormous) Lauren Rogers Art Museum, which is home to some excellent collections and some very tiny baskets.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

Hit the deck! This week, Jordan tells Katie how Cannon Beach got its name — and it definitely has to do with a shipwreck. Katie talks about her favorite four-legged roaming residents of Cannon Beach and Jordan tries to untangle his own childhood socioeconomic mental block with the popular Oregon Coast town.

Katie saw Little John smoking a cigarette outside the local community theater and Jordan tells the tale of two Haystack Rocks and John Quincy Adams erasure in downtown Cannon Beach.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

Missoula, Montana holds a special place in Katie and Jordan’s hearts because it was the first big stop on two separate road trips.

Why is Missoula called ZooTown? Katie instantly figured it out and Jordan is probably still struggling with it.

The duo have never been to Missoula in the daytime and once rolled into town right when a major concert was starting in the university’s football stadium that neither knew about, but ran to listen to against a chain-link fence like a pair of street urchins.

Jordan attempts to dunk on Lewis and Clark with mixed results and all of the enormous hillside monograms in Montana remind him of Sesame Street.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

Yeehaw! Katie lets everyone know Jordan has pronounced “Pendleton” incorrectly for his entire life and Jordan argues there shouldn’t be a silent “D” in words.

Katie’s grandfather was born in Pendleton, and the duo discuss wandering around one of her ancestral homelands with her grandparents in their 90s. Jordan is disturbed by a broken weather widget on Travel Pendleton’s website and Katie is excited about a museum that chronicles western expansionism from the perspective of the Native people of the area.

Katie and Jordan spent their very last night on their two-month road trip across the continent in Pendleton and think the Old Town was way better than they remember it being and Jordan drops a surprising Pendleton Woolen Mills connection-bomb on Katie at the end of the show.

Shear your sheep and give this week’s episode a listen!

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!

DIY cheek-peekin' chaps and a bag full of melted truffles marked the beginning for Katie and Jordan's sweltering time on Thailand's largest island: Phuket.

Before they could even step foot on the island, they were trapped on the plane waiting for a "VIP" to fly out -- and they have some guesses as to who it was.

Katie reads verbatim from the travel journal they kept on their three-month honeymoon around East and Southeast Asia and Jordan reminisces about hitching a ride from the wrong hotel to the correct one in the back of Some Dude's truck.

Have a travel story to share? Send a voice memo or write a cute lil' mini-memoir to exploregonianspodcast@gmail.com and remember to follow us on Instagram and-and and if you'd like to show us some love or send a "thank you" if you enjoyed the episode, you can treat us to a coffee! Thanks for listening!