Land of Gorges, Mountains and Hot Springs

Oregon is my second-favorite state. (The first, of course, is sweet-home-Arizona.) Although I've never lived here, I visit whenever possible.

I do have friends and in-laws who live in Oregon. Perhaps they'll get a chuckle out of this reminder:

You May Be From Oregon If You...

• You’ve used a pick-up line involving the quality of your compost pile.
• You’ve eaten in an Eastern Oregon diner whose wall hangings include a bull emasculator.
• You’ve never owned an umbrella.
• You’ve named a child Autzen or Reser.
• You’ve eaten clam chowder while watching a boat crew gut ling cod on the docks below.
• You know more than a dozen names for rain.
• You find yourself defending the socially redeeming value of “Animal House.”
• You know who Walter Umenhofer is.
• Fully clothed and smelling of dry sweat, you’ve slept with a total stranger on the floor of a van during the Hood-to-Coast Relay.
• You remember where you were on Columbus Day 1962.
• You can tell the difference between black olives and elk scat.
• You know the significance of 0-0.
• You doubt the existence of God but believe, unequivocally, in Bigfoot.
• Your fingers occasionally turn purple on late-summer evenings from picking blackberries.
• You’ve sat next to a guy wearing a tux at the Hult Center while in the same jeans you wore to the top of Mount Pisgah that afternoon.
• You’ve already forgotten how long last winter was but remember your REI member number and Nick Symmonds’ 200 splits in last summer’s Olympic Trials 800.
• You’ve melted a lawn chair during a windy beach fire.
• You have a master’s in sociology, which, in your job, helps you understand the cultural differences between those who order ventis, grandes and talls.
• You’ve played golf on a day so wet that the cups literally runneth over.
• You’ve never tried to pet or pick up a baby seal.
• The back of your car features a bike rack, trailer hitch and/or multiple political stickers from presidential races that were contested more than a decade ago.
• While fishing, you use recycled java jackets to keep your salmon eggs warm.
• You’ve Googled, blogged or Twittered about remedies for poison oak.
• You find a briefcase too cumbersome to take to work, but gladly hang your bike on the ceiling of your office.
• You’re convinced “Louie, Louie” is the state song.
• You’ve sat through a rainy Civil War football game while wearing a Glad trash bag.
• You’ve drunk a microbrew with a fisher poet in Astoria.
• You’ve worn rafting sandals to a wedding—your own.
• You’ve burned grass seed fields or written letters protesting the burning of grass seed fields.
• You’ve stayed in an Eastern Oregon motel that includes signs warning guests not to clean their deer on the beds

Where I've Been

When I drove a big rig 2002-2003, I made numerous passes through Oregon and always made sure to visit McCredie Hot Springs east of Oak Ridge. But I've also been privileged to vacation in Oregon. Here are some of my favorites.

Columbia River Gorges Oregon Hot Springs