If you have ever been to the Pacific Northwest you know what a truly beautiful place it is. I lived out there for about 10 years, went to graduate school at the University of Oregon and now have kids and grant kids out there. Every time I return I feel as tho I am coming home, returning to my roots. The rain and lush ecology of the area east of the Cascades comforts me. Before I had kids out there it was desparately hard to leave, hard to leave the high green horizon, hard to leave the enclosing feeling of the low wispy clouds that penetrate every valley. Now it is hard to leave family.
It was also hard to see the rampant development now occuring along Oregon’s coastal communities. An area that once oozed beauty with every sunset and comfort with every winter storm is now pocked with marginal resort communities peddling the same toffy that has turned the Wisconsin Dells into an amusement park. Oregon used to be an example of good stewardship and co-existance.The spectacular Hood River Valley has become a battle ground over property rights as the generations owned orchard country looses its ability to compete with south American markets. Organic farmers are being forced to sell off their land because they can’t compete with imported organic produce.
The wonderfully intimate Columbia Gorge Highway is being restored, this gem complete with its moss covered conrete roadside benches was built by the CCC during the 30s. the level of care and workmanship that went into carefully sculpting this road out of the cliff sides is seldom foiund in today’s public works projects. There is a downside to this, the spectacular Multnomah Falls on the Gorge has become just another roadside attraction for gawking tourists to point their camera phones at to prove that they were there.
Despite all of this my love affair with those green rotting rain forests still bring me back to my primordial roots, there is something far down in my DNA that calls this place home. That is why I always know that good byes are only temporary, because that pull deep in my genes will always ensure that I return.
Just a taste of the Gorge highway and Multnomah Falls.
