Living in the Northwest

I often ask people from other states what they think of Oregon. I mean, there's nothing too special about Oregon. Sure, Portland is beautiful, and we are known for being oh so "green," but what else?

"I imagine hicks live in Oregon," said someone I met a few weeks ago. Hicks? Well, yeah we do have a good number of tiny rural towns which may lend toward the "hicker" side of things. But we aren't all hicks!

"Oregon is full of hippies and Birkenstocks," another person said. Ok, that's actually pretty accurate. Although not everyone would consider themselves a hippie, just walk downtown for an hour or two and guaranteed you'll smell some body odor you didn't know could exist. And Eugene? Absolutely known for its hippie dwellers and Birkenstock wearers.

"Everyone is nice there." I would mostly agree with this. But drive down the Terwilliger curves around 5:30 p.m. and you'll see very quickly that we get nasty during rush hour.

I think it is fascinating to ask people from other parts of the same country what their impressions are of other states. We have these assumptions about parts of the country, and sometimes they are accurate, and others they are way off.

How amazing is it that we can live in one country but have so many parts that are completely different? Traveling to the South is an absolutely different experience than traveling to the Northeast. I think it's really great. And for now, I'll continue to reside in my hick tendency, hippie dwelling, Birkenstock wearing, really nice state of Oregon.