Oregon: Dazzling Thru the Drizzle

Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge

We just came back from the Northwest and it’s got to be the greenest land I’ve ever seen.  Loaded with trees that grace the mountains between the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge and line the rocky edges of the Pacific, you stare up at the coral- orangey sunsets and breathe its magnificence. 

Ah, but there’s a catch.  It rains a bit.  It stops, but ten minutes later, it rains again.   And when the sun sneaks through, everyone grins.

Did I tell you we saw a whale in Depoe Bay, the whale watching capital of the world?   Her name is Proxy, and she just swam to Oregon from Mexico this year.  Well they all come from Mexico, where they starve half the year and then make their way up to Alaska.  Except a few of them stop short of their goal and decide to call Oregon home.  (Their mothers must’ve taught them about detours).  And eighteen are lounging here for the summer.   

Gray Whale

We finally found Proxy and then waited for her to blow water through its blowhole and flick her tale in the air.  Proxy flicked us off four times!   

We actually had a PhD of whales heading our six person excursion, who took along one of her interns, an adorable little blonde in her twenties.  At the end of the excitement, the intern breathed, “If I don’t live another day, this will be enough.”

I thought, Oh Pul-eeze.  Is this what you call a life?  And by the way, if your mother was here, she’d smear on some sunscreen.  Better watch it or you’re going to look like the Sun Maid Raisin Lady by the time you’re thirty.    

 But I didn’t say nada.  Unlike the usual me, the natural, chatty, always in the know.  (Notice, I didn’t say know-it-all), I was unusually polite, and kept quiet.    

After the coast, we raced to Klamath Falls, but turns out the falls disappeared years ago.  With all the previous construction, the water had dried to a drip.

Crater Lake

Leaving early the next morning, we drove to Crater Lake—the deepest fresh water lake in our country—one section measuring 6700 feet—and so blue, it seemed unnatural, like a fiery opal had exploded, spreading its azure body across the water 

The day was raining and cold, but that was just fine.  It was sunny and warm the next couple days before we flew home to Orlando into a wall of heat, and my hair’s as frizzy here as it was in the Northwest. 

Except it’s lots more comfortable and gorgeous in the Northwest, but of course there's less sun and more rain.  Would I trade it over the heat and unbearable humidity in Florida? 

I’ll let you know after my nap in my perfectly regulated a/c home.

Gorgeous scenery from the Oregon highway

So until then...