The Pacific Northwest of the United States is an enchanted little rectangle comprised mostly of giant evergreens and organic smoothies. The rising peaks and valleys of the densely forested region give it its characteristic ruggedness for which it has become so well known. The weather is always in limbo, putting all of us native to the area in a perpetual state of uncertainty which, in an odd way, is also intensely comforting and one of the features most missed by North-westerners while we’re away.
Growing up in this chasm of creativity is something that’s shaped who I am and who I’m continuing to become. But this is not a story unique to my experience. Its this general spirit of artistic development and free-thinking that has inspired so many great artists and entrepreneurs to create wonderfully weird pieces of the human experience.
I can remember so clearly the cool summer mornings spent walking barefoot along the side of the road on my way to a friends house, crunching the dew-chilled grass with every step. Every few minutes I’d come across a creek in which scores of tadpoles would be hopping around, anxiously anticipating their metamorphosis. Sometimes I’d stand and watch them and other times I wouldn’t.
Generally, these cool summer mornings turned into hot summer days spent outside almost exclusively, and then again it would become cool night. Most of the time, you’d find us at a bonfire, talking and eating and what have you. These bonfires were often community events and even when they weren’t quite that large they were always hyper social happenings as a rule. At one point it became a simple assumption that my friends and I would host a bonfire at one of our houses, and people from all over the nearby area would come out to have a good time. Although these nights were often, the unpredictability of the weather warranted constant planned alternatives. These included things such as sleeping, eating, and engaging in certain acts of social togetherness only legally permitted in a number of places.
These summers were long, lasting from late may all the way until somewhere in September. Autumn rolls in like a soft tide and this is when living in Oregon truly begins. The rains come. They come so hard and they stay for so long. Each and every day is filled with torrential downpour. Often, the weather remains warm throughout this period of time which creates what we refer to as “sun showers”. Going outside to do anything in the direct middle of a “sun shower” is an experience so wonderfully beautiful, almost spiritual and cleansing. I will always remember the image of an older kid from my high school, who lived across the street on a ranch, canoeing to school during one of our flash floods. He simply paddled his way through the small lake (a lake which had never previously existed and was a direct effect of the afternoon rainstorm), hopped out of the canoe and over a bit of barbed wire and walked through the courtyard into one of his classes. It is things like this which give our region a character so unique that it might even seem fake to those who haven’t experienced it.
Fridays during the fall were spent almost exclusively at high school football games, and Saturdays were spent watching the University of Oregon football team religiously. The trees in the area are predominantly evergreen which means that the changing of colors happened scarcely and held little importance. There would happen to be patches of leaf change which bespeckled the countryside and showed great contrast to the mighty walls of deep green which acted as a natural barrier between population and the wilderness. Fall in Oregon is my favorite piece of this universe.
When winter comes through, the only shared sentiment among us was the hopeful anticipation of snowfall which happened so rarely that when it did occur, it was as though we were living in some weird type of modern fairytale. Mostly it is wet and green, which is very beautiful but does make one grow tiresome at a point. School is often canceled during the Winter months due to ice and flooding, which is fantastic for all of us who would’ve otherwise been required to learn in the classroom. When school was canceled due to weather, one could almost always anticipate the loss of power to his or her house. When the power went out, it was time to start the wood stove atop which we would cook mac and cheese and other delicious things. While my parents weren’t looking, I would snatch an apple or two and throw them into the embers in an effort to create an explosion that anybody who knows anything about science knows would never have happened.
The short Winter turned into spring again, which brought about hundreds of other little things that became composite and catapulted Oregon back into the limelight of beauty. Throw in a few trips to major North Western cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland and you had yourself an amazing year spent in one of the most incredible places the world has to offer.
If you were wondering just where in the world you’d like to visit next, look no further. It was a great place to grow up and it helped mould me into the person I am today.
