I few weeks back I made a post celebrating all things Missouri since I was on my way back for a visit with family. Now that I am back home I feel it appropriate to send a shout out to Oregon. A list of things I dig about my adopted home:
1. An hour to the East I have Mt. Hood. An actual volcano on which we can ski, snowboard, snowshoe, hike, camp, make snowmen, and fish among other things.
2. An hour to the West and I have some of the most picturesque parts of the Pacific Ocean {which we all know is the best Ocean - the Atlantic is janky so don't even try and bring it up} where you can build sand castles, deep sea fish, clam dig, watch the waves roll in and crash into each other, get salt water taffy, build bonfires on the beaches, stare at the stars, and ponder life.
3. All of the many many amazing beers and wines of the Willamette valley.
4. Fresh wild salmon, hazelnuts, marionberries, Bing cherries, Carlton Farms meats, Tillamook cheese, Rogue Creamery, Stumptown coffee, and rainbow trout.
5. Forest park {the country's largest urban forest}, Washington park, Mt. Tabor park {which sits on a volcano but is in the heart of Portland...'cause ya, we're badass like that}, The rose test gardens, the Japanese gardens, the classical Chinese gardens, the Crystal Springs Rhododendron gardens {where I got married}, & Tom McCall waterfront park - just to name a few.
6. I love that being "green" is the rule - not the exception. It is assumed that you recycle, compost, conserve water and energy, drive a fuel efficient vehicle {if you must have one at all; it's preferred that you walk, ride a bike, or use our amazingly extensive public transportation system}. you bring your own reusable cloth bags {hopefully made of recycled fabric} to the grocery store {props if you go to farmers markets or co-ops instead of a grocery store}, you belong to the Sierra Club, and you clean your home with organic cleaners. To do less makes you a weirdo outsider.
7. I love that Portland is such a "foodie" town. If you like some kind of niche cuisine or have an adventurous taste in foods then Portland is a great place to be.
8. Thanks to our temperate rain forest and year-round mild climate we have greenness all year long. When people say "the grass is greener on the other side" it could literally mean the Pacific Northwest.
9. The "Keep Portland Weird" movement. We are accepting of all races, creeds, sexualities, and everything in between and embrace and celebrate those who dare to be different.
10. Voodoo Donut - The famous bacon maple bar is reason enough to move here and never leave again.
11. Pac-10 Football!
12. Matt Groening, Chuck Palahniuk, Gus Van Sant, Katherine Dunn, Danny Glover, Steve Prefontaine, James Beard, Beverly Cleary, Ursula Le Guinn, Chief Joseph, Phil Knight, & Linus Pauling to name a few.
13. The Columbia River gorge, Multnomah Falls, Hood River, the Rouge River valley, the Pendleton round-up, and Bend.
I could keep going {I had to delete reasons 14-20 for space and because quite frankly, you get the point}. The fact is, I may have been born in the Midwest and have roots there but i was raised here and my heart and soul fully and completely belong to Oregon; it's where I was raised, where I learned to ride a bike, where I went to prom, where I went to college, where I met my best friend, where I fell in love with my husband, where I got married, and where my child was born. There is no place like home and for me, that always has been and always will be Oregon.
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