About Oregon

About Oregon :

For the most part Oregon is boarded by the Pacific Ocean to the West , the Snake river to East , the Columbia River to the North and the imagination of humankind ot the South.

While most people think of Oregon and Umbrellas in the same breath the truth is the majority of the state recieves less than 15 inches of rainfall per year .

Oregon is divided by two Mountain ranges ...the furthest west are the Coast range , the Eastern range are the Cascade Mountains , when you enter California these become the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Between the Coast range and the Cascades is the area referred to as the Willamette Valley ..the Willamette river is one of a handful of major rivers that flow South to North in the Northern Hemisphere . The Willamette river is major tributary of the Columbia river Which is the only river to divide the Cascade Mountains .

Oregon's major population centers are in the Willamette Valley . Portland Oregon which at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia river is the Largest city in Oregon . South of Portland is Salem the State Capital , and south of Salem is Eugene , home of the 2012 Rose bowl champions the Oregon Ducks .

For the rest of the Month of may we will be staying in a small town called St Paul , famous for its Hops and its St Paul Rodeo . For the Oregon Coast part of our stay we will be in Depoe bay . which is a very small Fishing port South West of Salem.

We are anticipating Sunny days and Stormy days . The storms can be quite powerful. The Waves crashing against the Rocky Headlands are beyond spectacular ...

The Oregon Coast line is dominated by a Series of headlands ..these were formed by under seas volcanic eruptions which ran from East to West ..the Harden lava pushed up the Beds ...as the State slowly raised from the ocean floor ...the softer sediments between the Volcanic Intrusions were eroded ...leaving the harder Igneous rock pushing itself into the Pacific Ocean..

What is left behind are long stretch's of Sandy beaches ..separated from other long stretchs by Rocky Headlands . the result is a Beachcombers Heaven , Gentle Beaches and rocky tidal pools and spectacular cliffs pounded by storm tossed waves . This is not bad hunting grounds for Photographers as well .

Many of the towns on the Oregon Coast are making the transition to tourism.

The major economies of the Area , Timber and Commercial Fishing , are in decline . Mostly because of over harvesting . For the most part it is not a Galtlinburg , Disneyland , Branson type tourism . Kite companies , Wind surfing , whale watching and Sport Fishing are popular attractions ....Of course there are plenty of wonderful family owned restaurants , lots of seafood , and manly steaks as well .

Oregon in winter is not for shorts and sunglasses , it is for people who really want to connect to the land . The layered look is in here . People in Oregon take great pride in their States beauty , you will see very little litter on the roads and there have been some cases of Litterbugs being staked out on the Low tide mude flats for simply throwing a cigarette butt out the window .

We hope you are gonna enjoy our winter visit .