Oregon Pt. 2

Back to last summer in Oregon. A couple of weeks into our stint at the marine institute we had a long weekend for memorial day. A bunch of us decided to go spend the weekend in Portland, one of the guys had a friend who owned a cabin near the city so we could stay for free also. Let me tell you if you're not in love with the Pacific Northwest already from coastal life, spend a little time in/near Portland and you will be. I can't emphasize enough how beautiful it is...sooooooo beautiful. I imagine it similar to German countryside, rolling beautiful hills, wide grassy feilds juxtaposed with areas of dense forest, and everything is so green and full of life, on top of that it is so quaint (outside of Portland - we were in Sheridan).

The kid who had the connection to the cabin was from a town named Sheridan, his family owned a farm there. They invited us over for a barbecue the evening we got into town. Their land was beautiful. It would have been fun to play around the area as a kid.

I grew up in LA, I had never spent any extended period of time on a farm - in fact I went on a hayride once and a field trip to a farm when I was little, that's the extent of my experience. So I spent some extra time at the farm while most of the others went to the cabin. It was crazy, Taran's sister showed Bre, Kelly and I around and gave us a little taste of what it's like to run a farm. I had a lot of firsts that day: I touched a goat and then I milked it and then tried goat milk (I did not like that), I rode a horse (admittedly, I am slightly afraid of horses - mostly their big teeth - and I was uncomfortable but it was pretty fun, except my horse was a bit rambunctious and at one point took off running), and I ate a fresh angus beef hamburger - I'll talk about that in a minute. Look how cute the animals just line up to be milked - or slaughtered :|

Taran's family was so nice to us and I was definitely appreciative, but I was not ready for the hamburger situation. The thing is the cow had been killed like the day before and much of it was still in huge slabs like you see in movies, others were in large piles of ground beef, and a lot of blood. So here some of the OIMB students are making the patties we're going to eat. I could not get into the hamburger - some people say fresh beef is so much better but the whole situation kind of grossed me out and I couldn't even eat the hamburger (I forced down as much as I could to not be rude). I actually became a vegetarian shortly after Oregon, and this picture still grosses me out.

We spent the majority of the trip in Portland. I loved that city. It was definitely a big city, but it was also so beautiful - like the rest of Oregon. I think there is an attitude to most cities, and Portland felt so relaxed, yet hip and full of environmental concern (though not an attitude I liked it); and everyone rode bikes! So we saw most of the sights: Saturday Market (I had my palm read), Burnside Bridge - and the skate park underneath, Voodoo Donuts, Powell's bookstore - incredible, the size of costco with multiple floors, I loved it, downtown, the umbrella man, the temple, the green glass buildings, etc.

On the drive back to Coos Bay, we drove down the 101 along the coast. It was such a pretty drive, and totally worth all the twists and turns. For a lot of the drive the road is on a cliff edge, so there are these really cool views and rock formations. At one point we stopped at a look out and ended up climbing out onto the rocks. It was crazy fun, but looked like an area with little life, mostly just the rocks. But I climbed to the edge of the rocks and all the sudden this oasis of life appeared that could not be seen except if you're on top of it. It was great, so cool, and so many vibrant colors. I love the ocean. Okay, that's all for now.