Carlee WrightTour. Listen. Explore. Enjoy. There’s a new way to discover Oregon thanks to three friends who call Salem home.
Now is the time for a summer road trip, and thanks to three friends with a shared love for our region, there’s also a new way to discover Oregon.
Christy Hey, Arnaud Verstuyf and Andrew Hussey are the creative team behind Together Anywhere.
A chance encounter, Christy and Arnaud while Christy was exploring Europe. Hearing music pour from the door of a small wine bar, she went inside and found Arnaud at the bar — an empty seat beside him. They eventually landed in Salem, where Christy had laid roots 10 years earlier, and got married.
Andrew, a Salem native, and Christy became friends 10 years ago when Christy was hosting open music nights at her house. Andrew attended and soon the two were in a band together.
The trio was brought together by their common interests: love of adventure, thirst for knowledge and passion for the environment, but also with the bigger purpose of sharing these common interests by providing opportunities for others to experience as well.
Their first creation is a location-aware audio guide that explores their home — the Cascade Mountain Region of Oregon. As a self-directed tour guide for traveling in Oregon, it aims to accent one’s travel experience by providing education as well as entertainment. It points out opportunities for exploration, shares stories and interesting facts, and teaches about history and geology.
The idea for an audio tour app came when Christy and Arnaud were adventuring across Canada. The trip was a 10,000-mile journey. An experience, but also exhausting, said Christy. “I was so tired. Every city looked the same, every museum felt the same.”
Figuring out what they wanted to do at each new location became a task, referencing books and papers and websites. There had to be an easier way.
There was — and now Together Anywhere is adding something new to the adventure landscape of Oregon to encourage locals and visitors to go out and explore.
Two routes launched in June: Salem to Bend and Eugene to Bend. Once you download the app, you will see that there is a series of blue dots outlining your voyage. Each point features an audio tidbit. Between the two routes, there are more than 130 audio points. There are a few others in the works, including Mt. Hood and the Columbia Gorge. The goal is to develop a network of audio guides for exploring Oregon.
How it works:
- Download the “Together Anywhere” app in the Google Play or Apple Store
- Choose and purchase a drive
- Set off on your adventure. The app plays automatically. No cell service required after downloading drives.
- Keep an eye on togetheranywhere.com to follow the journey and get notified about future adventures.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 8 (Aug/Sep 2019)
The Instigator
