10. Oregon
Top 10 time! And we begin with the first state to make it from the West Coast.
Okay, clearly I am biased because I live on the West Coast, but I feel like I can pretty safely highlight how incredible the region is. We have some of the richest forests, tallest mountains, and cleanest environment in all of the US. And Oregon has all of that in droves.
Portland, OR
I don’t even know where to begin here! Maybe I’ll do a reverse and start with a city for a change. Portland has gotten a lot of hate in the last few years, and yes it clearly has an issue with homelessness like all the West Coast does. I think that in part comes because these are places where so many want to live that it drives up the housing prices. So that’s not the best, but you know what, it’s not like every single person on Fox News wants to portray. Cities are more than just one moment in time, and just because Portland might not be as clean as it once was, does not mean that it is not still an incredible city. And you know what, those people would try to make you think it was a miserable place even if it was a utopia. Because they don’t want you thinking that fun, weird, and quirky culture might be awesome. And it is.
Portland is such a fun place! I think in a lot of ways it’s more fun than Seattle. Seattle and Portland are very similar. But I think Portland goes above Seattle in many ways. The Portland landscape is so interesting. Bridges everywhere and a mountain that goes along the edge of the city. Every time I have been to the city I have had such a wonderful time. I get it that you might see some things you’d rather not, but sometimes you have to go through the rough to reach something special.
Astoria Bridge
One of the other towns I would like to highlight is Astoria. The setting of Goonies is such a unique location where you see the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean all along a steep, cliffy coast. The four mile bridge across the Columbia to Astoria from Washington is maybe one of the coolest manmade spots on earth. For most of the year you approach the bridge, you don’t get to see the other side due to the fog. It’s like you are taking a journey into another dimension until you pop out in the beautiful town of Astoria!
The whole coast is amazing. The Cascades down the state are amazing. The mountains on the east side are amazing. The only part of the state I would say isn’t all too great is the south eastern part near the border with Nevada. It’s pretty much your standard desert so not much too say there.
Kosuke at the Tillamook Creamery
I will leave you with my favorite story from Oregon, since I think those are important to my memory of the state, even if it isn’t about a specific feature. Kosuke and I are driving back from our Vegas trip in 2022 and we are about 12 hours into an 18 hour day. We are so excited to be in a location with mountains and hills after driving 8 hours straight in Nevada. As we drive, we notice the road is littered with what we think are packing peanuts. We were disgusted that someone would be littering in such a gorgeous area. So we keep driving and there seems to be more and more. We finally approach a truck that these objects seem to come out of so we get a little closer to take a look. Then we see what it is. It’s onions! This truck had a hole big enough that one onion would drop out the back every 5 seconds or so. And the moment it hits the road, it absolutely splatters. We stay behind the truck for a few minutes as it keeps going and going. I don’t know if we’ve ever laughed harder in our life.
