6.28.07

A few things I learned yesterday:

1. Oregon is the ONLY state in the US where you CANNOT pump your own gas -- that's right, I said YOU CANNOT PUMP YOUR OWN GAS -- too dangerous I guess. When you pull up to the pump an attendant comes out [just like in the old days] and says, "Fill'er up?", "Premium or regular?" How COOL is that?!? You don't even have to get out of your car -- just like the old days. Of course, they don't check your oil, and they don't do windshields either.
2. I thought that this time of the year would be the "off season" for Timberline. WRONG! It's like their peek season because it is the only place in the US to ski or snowboard during the summer. We are thinking about returning in the spring when the rooms are not so expensive and we can REALLY see snow!

The trip back yesterday was nice and uneventful. Uneventful is good when you're flying. I sure didn't want to come back! It is so beautiful out there, so beautiful in Oregon. We took lots of pictures but pictures do not do it justice. The soil must be like really, really fertile. It's like the whole place is made up of nursery after nursery and orchard after orchard. Fruit stands are everywhere, everything is so green and lush, lots of evergreens. It's like a HUGE Christmas tree farm! I would think the growing season to be pretty short.

A few things I didn't see: billboards, churches, and people of color. These things are in short supply in Oregon, at least the part we visited. You really take for granted all the churches we have in the south -- the "Bible belt". There are not that many in other parts of the country. I think I could count on one hand how many churches I saw, and only one of them was Baptist.