How do people choose where they ultimately want to settle down? Do they just get tired and say, "here's good"? Because I'm starting to wonder... or perhaps it's more like me, where the thought of packing up my stuff to move cross country is just too exhausting. I wasn't prepared to love Oregon as much as I did. But... damn.
We maaaaaay have half-jokingly changed our Criaglist searches to the opposite coast. We didn't. But...
Anyway. Earlier this month, after a week in LA for a work trip, I flew up to Portland to meet up with Chris and my brother for a few days of hiking and staring at trees with my mouth open. Upon arrival, we promptly left Portland and drove West to Zig Zag/Government Camp, where we stayed for a couple nights.
Things I fell in love with in Zig Zag and Government Camp:
1. The Zig Zag Cafe. One part diner, one part gift shop, one part thrift store. With a dash of convenience store thrown in. It was disorganized and weird, which is how I would describe 98% of my favorite places and people. Also, the biscuits. Solid.
2. Government Camp. The name and the amount of crows that lived there. Like, so many crows you guys, it was great. Also the historical society is worth your time. Chris and I had a much needed dinner or German sausage/schnitzel in Gov't Camp and it was spectacular.
3. The Timberline lodge. My brother runs a portion of the grooming operations at Timberline and took us up in the snowcat on Saturday night. Which was a trip. But before that we took a walk around Timberline lodge, which is a historical landmark and rightly so. It's insanely gorgeous.
4. Little Hawaii, a waterfall hike near Zig Zag and the initial source of staring at trees, mouth agape. A good spot to get good and muddy.
After spending Saturday exploring the woods and marveling at the transition from rainforest to snowscape that transpires when you drive up to Gov't Camp from Zig Zag, drove to the coast on Sunday so we could see the other part of Oregon (or at least, another part). We originally only had about 72 hours in the state, we wanted to make the most of every last one. And you guys. The OCEAN. Or rather, THE FOREST BY THE OCEAN. On Sunday at approximately 1 o'clock in the afternoon is when we fell for this state, as we gazed up at the sheer mass of trees surrounding us (mouths agape yet again). As I said, and as several other people told me funnily enough, Oregon is like Maine on steroids. Insane insane insane. But after spending time in the forest and by the coast... I'm not sure I'd want to live in Portland. The city was lovely, but my ideal Oregon life would be van life I think, so I could be as close to all that natural beauty as possible.
That night we met up with a close friend of ours in the city and headed back to our hotel on the earlier side to prep for our AM flight... which turned out to be unnecessary because our flight ended up being delayed and then rebooked for the following day. Surprise! This could have been awful, but we decided to make the most of things and booked a second night in Portland. For two people who are maybe the world's worst when it comes to vacationing, I feel like perhaps we're getting better? Or at least more flexible when plans change. Here's to more adventures and definitely more Oregon.
