a quick drive thru- Oregon

Oregon was much more interesting than I originally thought it might be. Before this journey, the only thing I really knew about Oregon was how much they beat UT by this year in football (blah). We quickly drove out of Washington into beautiful stretches of green farmland. Along the perimeters of each farm, there seemed to be hills nestling the land into a miniature valley. It's safe to say that I wasn't expecting that at all. There was so much green that it made my heart leap because I hadn't seen so many shades of green in quite awhile. Every so often, we'd pass a single tree with fall colors decorating each branch. I loved it because I missed most of the fall while I was in TN in September and I missed the only fall Alaska offers during that same time period.

That wasn't the only part of Oregon that I enjoyed...Every rest stop we passed had a sign reading: "Free Coffee". It was awesome, but I wonder how much money is going toward that little luxury each month. This brings me to my next point--

There are numerous signs saying, "Your tax dollars at work" which I think is a completely facetious saying by now so much so that I can't take it seriously. Does anyone look at those and say to themselves, "oh good...I'm glad that road was repaired"? Maybe...but when I see them I just fight the urge to roll my eyes.

All the people we came into contact with here while we were overnighting in Salem were very nice. I decided I liked Oregon(ians) back in September when they expressed their disdain for Lane Kiffin, too. Residents of Oregon- here's to you! You're okay in my book.



In short, I really enjoyed Oregon, but I was welcoming the sign to California more than you know! More on California tomorrow.

Love,