Oregon days

I haven't posted in days, have to be quick. Oregon is relaxed, friendly. People talk to you in line in cafes, in hotel lounges,on busses, on the street. I rarely find this happening in the Bay Area. I have many ideas about why this is but will save them for now.

There are also a lot of down and out folks here. The state is having its own financial crisis - nothing like the one we have in California but worrysome. There are two initiatives on the ballot for the January election.. I don't know the details but I do know teachers are one group supporting them. They would increase taxes to support education, social services, etc. I hope they pass!

The state is beautiful of course. The Coastal region totally won us over. I need to do some research on the geology of the Coastal Mountains, that seperate the valley where Portland and other larger cities lie from the Coast. They may be volcanic; our Coastal Mts. in California have a different origin. They are formed from ocean floor sediments that were scraped onto the North American Plate when it collided with the Pacific Plate way back when. If the Oregon mts. are volcanic, you could say both ranges originated from the plate collision.

The Coastal Mt. forests are very different from the ones we have in California. Our mountains are dryer. We get chapparal and oak/bay laurel forests in the hills. Wet canyons that can gather fog can be the home of redwood trees. Here, there are douglas fir forests that are thicker and lusher than California's (except for the redwood forests, which are quite lush.) These forests grow pretty close to the ocean. I am not sure of how the trees survive the salt wind, which is toxic to many plants. Redwoods have to be a mile from the ocean.

The coast is rocky, of course... many of the offshore rocks look volcanic, but I'd have to research this. Oregon doesn't seem to get the masses of shorebirds that California does in winter. Sandpipers, dunlins, curlews and many others migrate to our region to spend the winter and forage along the beach for critters and food scraps in the sand. They come from the Arctic where they eat bugs in the summer. These die off in winters, so the birds visit us. I am guessing they can find more food in our region than they can here... I hope to find someone who can answer this question while I am here.

We are in Portland, and will be here until Tuesday. Portland is a relatively laid back city, more relaxed and friendly than many cities I've passed through. There are huge forest parks in town...
we hiked through a doug fir/red cedar/big leaf maple forest today, about 9 miles in all.

The city seems pretty shut down for Christmas. Almost no businesses are open. A few restaurants are operating - we just had a great Thai meal. The place was packed and getting busier; we noticed this in other businesses we passed. It's interesting - Christmas seems to be a very private holiday in the US. Things shut down and many people stay in their houses with their families. It is a more public holiday in some other countries. We found street parties in a town in Mexico's COpper Canyon a few years ago. People came out for a pinata breaking and music, and brought food from their homes to share. We also found a festival and a parade in Pokara, Nepal last year.

I hope the US can change to celebrate in this way. Thanksgiving and Christmas can be very lonely and sad days for people who are far from their families, or who have no family or community. Public events would improve the holidays for them.. and people who do have families around might enjoy attending them too.

That's all from me for now... much more to say but I'll save it. Take care.