R and J in the USA

Okay, okay, western United States – we get it! You are filled with the wonders of nature’s grandeur that surround you and infuse you with awe and wonder at every turn. Got it. You don’t have to be so in your face about it. Actually – that’s the whole point. Well, Oregon has kept with the party line and delivered grandiose views and striking scenery regularly.

Unlike some of it’s more flashy neighbors (we’re looking at you Utah – we are still catching our breath from the “I can’t even”ness that you threw at us), Oregon balances out it’s striking and jaw dropping features with the more approachable warmth of gently undulating rolling hills and green forests in parts. Then, before you know it – BAM – you are in a mountain pass with massive giants towering over you and rushing rivers cutting in around you. Or, you are just driving along when, BOOM, you are in a prehistoric setting where brown crags of rock rise up from the road with bright blues and greens popping into the rock layers, making you scratch your head in awe, wonder and a little confusion – I didn’t know they made mountains that color – well, in Oregon, they do. And it’s gorgeous. Then, of course, drive west for long enough and you are bound to find yourself gob-smacked by the most universally grandiose feature that nature has to boast – the mighty ocean. Whatever type of shoreline it encounters, it elevates it to a level of bigness and beauty greater than it could sustain on its own. Even so, Oregon meets the ocean coast with equal vigor, boasting massive rocks, boundless sand dunes and craggy mountains rising up from the sea to surround you in a feeling of both humility, wonder and peace. 

It is the blend of awe and approachability that gives Oregon its own unique charm and makes it a place that people love to live, There were moments, driving through it, where Julie found herself feeling a sense of familiarity to an eastern United States drive – taking in the kind of beauty that, while not as grandiose, seems to speak most directly into her soul, the undulations of land populated with greens and reds and oranges with the peaceful stillness and reflections of lakes and rivers peppered throughout. Just as she was settling into that familiar east coast vibe,then, around one more bend and those rolling hills become waves of undulating mountains and the size and scale of everything goes up to 11 and reminds us that we are DEFINITELY on the western side of this land. 

And then there is the Oregon culture that oozes out of whatever spot you are in – from the vibrant weirdness of Portland to the charming seasideness of a coastal town like Cannon Beach – from the ATV ready-to-roll towns in the Oregon Sand Dunes to the timber-lined mountain town of Sisters and every other town in every direction – Oregon fills each of it’s natural settings and wonders with people who revel in it and infuse the spot with culture that lets you know it. It is a state that is varied in every way – with natural settings that are as opposite as can be from its western side to its eastern side and people with lifestyles and world views that vary just as fully. It has heat that rises from the ground and snow that dusts that mountain tops. It has the mighty ocean and rivers that barrel through the terrain and peaceful lakes, all twisting and turning around and through each other. It all comes together to create a state pulsating with wonder and so many nooks and crannies to explore, so many more than we got a chance to peek at.

Our time in Oregon was a mixture of reveling in awe and beauty, peaceful adventuring, delightful encounters, pinball-like backtracking and missed opportunities.

Julie has lived in 5 states over the course of her life, and Oregon is one of them. She moved here with three friends after college. Two of them have remained in Portland ever since. Of the 5 states she has lived in, there are only 2 that she really put in the effort to explore outside the routines of her daily life and Oregon was not one of them. When Julie lived here, in Portland, she had a sister living just a few hours south in Corvallis and an Aunt and Uncle and cousins only an hour south in Eugene. Even once returning to the east coast, Julie would make regular trips out here to visit her best friend that remained in Portland and her family in the spots running south from there along I-5. Julie had been to the Oregon coast once or twice in her time living here, over to Sisters for a hike in the Cascades once and down to Grants Pass for a trip to the Redwoods with her Dad, sister and college bestie. Ryan had been to Crater Lake National Park on a cross country trip he took back in the 20th century (so long ago now!). Besides those few exceptions, other than the northern portion of the I-5 corridor, we hadn’t seen much of Oregon and we both knew there was so much more to see. Julie desperately wanted to finally see Crater Lake National Park and get a chance to explore eastern Oregon and the coast. Coming into Oregon, we wanted to see as much of the state OUTSIDE of that slice of the I-5 corridor as possible. But that dang I-5 corridor would hear no such thing and was determined to bring us back to her, over and over.

When we started our 50 States Tour, we had a list of things we were committed to prioritizing in each state, even if that meant sacrificing other opportunities for it.  Three things from that list all converged during our time in Oregon to have us hovering around that dang I-5 corridor, constantly pulling us back in whenever we would venture out like a rubber ball on one of those bouncy paddleboards that we used to use to entertain ourselves as kids. We’d get out as far as we could and, snap, we’d get pulled back in again. Alas, we tried. And, the good thing is, on this trip, there is no place to end up that isn’t also part of the adventure, no matter what the opportunity cost. It’s all tradeoffs and we are quite aware of how lucky we are that this is the closest thing we have to a real ”problem” during this time.

Those three prior commitments were: 

1. visit the capitol in every state, located in Salem, OR – smack dab in the middle of that corridor
2. Get Ryan on a plane home every 4-6 weeks to see his family – ESPECIALLY for Thanksgiving and Christmas – best flight was out of Portland – right at the top of that corridor
3. do a 5K in Oregon – the only one available would be on our very first day in Oregon, more than halfway up the state in Salem, OR

Well, you might be thinking, at least you can knock out 2 of those three in the same day. Nope. While we have found a great many state capitols are open on the weekends, not Oregon. So, to check “5K in 50 States” and  “Oregon State Capitol” off of our list, we had to drive from the northwest tip of Nevada PASSSSSSSSED Crater Lake National Park (can you hear Julie whimpering as we drive by the turn off for it?), up I-5, past Eugene, where Julie’s Aunt and Uncle live, up to Salem for our race on a Saturday morning, then get as far east as we could to explore as much off the beaten path as we could get to in the following 48 hours before coming back to the corridor to hit the capitol on Monday morning when it opened. Add to that, even though this trip is not about visiting people and we have skipped many visits that weren’t on our way, Julie’s Aunt has been a huge supporter of her musical and this trip, helping to arrange a small performance of her musical in Oregon back in April, reading every blog post (hi Nancy!) commenting on every postcard sent and enthusiastically supporting Julie’s odes to the 50 states – Julie could not stomach being within an hours drive and not swinging by for a quick hello (and a delightful shower while she was at it). So, on our way back from getting at least a little east, we went back down the I-5 corridor to stop in Eugene that we had already passed by on our way to our 5K, then drove BACK north up to Salem to hit the capitol before heading even further north to Portland in time to get Ryan on a butt-crack-of-dawn early flight home for the holidays.

Before committing to such an itinerary heading into the state we thought long and hard whether we were willing to miss a 5K or a capitol to tend to our other top priority, which was, see as much of each state as we can – especially trying to see as many of the various types of locations that exist within a state. Eastern Oregon being so incredibly different than Western Oregon, we really really wanted to make sure to see it. Life is full of trade-offs and deciding what matters most to you – and we decided our 5Ks in 50 States and capitol visits were non-negotiables, so we opted to be pinballs and left more than a few opportunities on the table when leaving Oregon. There is not a state that we leave without a long list of what we can’t and couldn’t do, so, in that way, Oregon is no different.  This is all sounding way much more dramatic than it is – of course, these are such minor problems to have amidst the most incredibly luxury of getting to take this incredible trip, they don’t even really deserve being labeled “problems”. And they are not – we enjoyed every second of our pin-balling and every “missed opportunity” we encountered was just another reminder of how lucky we are that we get to do any of this at all. You can’t do everything and we know that, but reveling in what we missed out on is a strange part of the fun – just the fact that we get close enough to see something to have a chance to be bummed to miss it is part of the privilege of this trip.  So, none of this is complaining, just reporting of how it went down in Oregon.

In order to make it to our 5K in time, our last day in Nevada and first day in Oregon included what was supposed to be 7:5 hours of driving. We are not exactly sure how it happened, but it took us over 10 hours to complete those 7.5 hours. We left Washoe State Park (between Carson City and Reno) in the morning and made our way up through Gerlach and passed the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada into Oregon through Klamath Falls. We managed to enter Oregon just when it was getting hit by a snow storm. We had intended to get as far north as McCredle Hot Springs, a bit north and west from the pull off for Crater Lake National Park for the night, but the storm and the mountain pass had other ideas for us. Even though it was painful for Julie to miss out on seeing Crater Lake National Park, it was made slightly easier by the fact that the Rim Road was closed for the season due to weather and it was unclear how much of it we’d even be able to see if we made it there. We spent our first night at a Traveling J Truck Stop parked next to a snow plow. Our race was at 10AM the next morning about 3.5 hours away. We woke up at 5AM, checked the road conditions and storm warnings and crossed our fingers and hopped on the road to pass through the mountains in the hopes that we would make it to Salem in time. Having grown up in Rochester, NY, driving in snow is not that intimidating and Julie hopped in the driver’s seat and we got going. The snow came down with somewhat limited visibility for the first 7 miles, we drove slow when we needed to and then, soon after that, the roads were easy. Along the way though, we reveled in the beauty of the winter wonderland in the mountains experience. 

We rolled into Riverfront Park in Salem in perfect timing, an hour before the race start – with plenty of time to get our bibs, get changed and warm up for what ended up to be a race that went so well that it felt like it made all that trouble getting to it worth it. You can read about it in our 5K section. After the race, before heading east, we stopped by the local laundromat to do a TON of laundry. Even though we had family only an hour away, the kind of laundry we needed to do needed a laundromat. This was the first time in our trip that we both were starting to run out of what we packed, down to our last undergarments and socks – we had at least 5 loads to do and the only way to get them done in a reasonable time was to have 5 washers going at once. We have come to deeply appreciate laundromats and the bounty they bring. 

We ended up having one of our most lovely days of the trip sitting there in that laundromat parking lot. We divvied up our labor based on our respective strengths – Ryan is a laundry folding whiz and Julie loves cleaning and organizing the van. What made it such a lovely day was the feeling of, for one morning, just enjoying a house day. On this trip, our house is our car and vice versa. So, we are usually eating, sleeping or driving in it. It was nice to have a day where we were tending to our home in place, the way we would on a weekend day at home in a home that is also a house. We’ve both always enjoyed those domestic days of taking care of our home, but, it’s not until living a life on the road with such a jam-packed and non-stop schedule that we realized just how special a day like that can be. By the end of the morning, all that had previously been clean, disorganized and some level of mildly disgusting was tidy and shiny. There is something so encouraging about a drawer full of fresh laundry. One of the few places in life that has a reset button, where you get to start over at the beginning and look at a bunch of things that are just potential – potential for the life that will be lived in them as the days yet to come take their form. We delighted in this among the many little luxuries that such a morning brought. We are fortunate people on many levels, and this was definitely a day with enough room in it to deeply bask in that good fortune by delighting in these simple and deeply satisfying pleasures. And, if you’d have looked at us from the outside, you would have just seen a van parked in a laundromat parking lot, in the shadow of a Carl’s Jr. drive through lane, lugging piles of laundry back and forth across a grey, rainy parking lot. Sometimes the spectacular views require a deeper look to see, but they are still there.

Once we were all clean and renewed, we headed east – as east as we would manage to get in Oregon. One of Julie’s fondest memories of the time she’d spent over the years in Oregon was a town called Sisters, so she was very eager to see it again and for Ryan to get a chance to take it in. It’s full of rustic mountain charm and surrounded by the beauty of the Cascades. We rolled into it just after dark. It was all lit up with Christmas lights and it was just beautiful. We grabbed some Mexican food for dinner and then headed further east to an RV park in Prineville. We had been parking in free spots for a great deal of the last week and it was nice to have hot showers and flush toilets.

The next morning we made our way to our furthest east destination that we would hit in Oregon, the John Day Fossil Beds. Not only was the drive there gorgeous, but we did not expect the landscapes we got to see when we got there. We went for a hike at Blue Basin that was aptly named and blew us away with it’s blue mountains. We enjoyed learning about the fossil history of the area and the perspective that is reached only when learning about histories that last over hundreds of millions of years. It’s nice to get to remember how small we all are in the grand scheme. We wanted to hit the Painted HIlls as well, but sunset came too early in the day.

We drove back west to spend the night in a town that Julie had wanted to visit for many years – Bend, Oregon. It wasn’t because there was something specific that we wanted to see there (though we did want to see the High Desert Museum, which we didn’t have time for – another missed opporunity), but just because, having lived in Oregon and visited there so many times, it was just a town whose name she had heard mentioned so many times and she had never found occasion or made occasion to go there. We had a lovely stay and enjoyed checking out the town and Ryan enjoyed a morning in a Bend coffee shop.

As previously mentioned, we didn’t have the stomach to get so close to Julie’s Aunt in Springfield and not stop, so we drove the extra hour to Springfield, were welcomed by a tremendous sandwich spread and a hot shower, got to drop off our recycling and compost, and show Julie’s Aunt and Uncle the van before getting back on the road in time to have a visit at the capitol, back up in Salem. We were so focused on getting back on the road in time, we forgot to grab a picture.

The Oregon capitol was two things. It was a beautiful building with a striking dome-like tower that was neither a tower nor a dome and cast a striking figure against a sunsetting sky.

The other thing it was, was closed for construction.

So, it was a mixture of climactic and anti-climactic. We were really glad to have gotten to see the building and the surrounding monuments. Parts of it were open, so we took what we could get. We got to walk into the office section of the building which had the distinct feeling that the 1970’s were alive and well in its decor. Was it worth coming back to the I-5 corridor and missing out on getting to Mount Hood or having time to check out the High Desert Museum, even though we didn’t get to see the whole capitol or get a look at its rotunda or whatever we might learn about the history, culture, government or values of Oregon amidst the architecture, dedications, exhibits and chambers of government? Let’s not waste time on such useless questions. It was beautiful to see, made for some great pictures and Julie got to get a stamp in her USA Capitals passport.

Next stop, Portland. Julie had lived in Portland for a year and appreciated it as a tremendous city that is fun, hip, creative, dynamic and also – just not the place that she felt at home – so she had been happy to leave. But, coming in as a visitor is another story all together. It is just a fun town. The biggest draw for her in Portland is the bounty of gluten free and dairy free food options and the fact that her best friend that she moved here from college with still lives here with her family – so we were excited to go to her house. 

We also had our first (and let’s hope last) vehicular incident in Portland. Julie had been looking forward to some gluten free pizza at a place she knew in southeast Portland. It happened to be a place with a very small parking lot. BUT, Ryan skillfully maneuvered teh van into a spot and we went in and got our pizza. Unfortunately, when heading out, we both were wrapped up in thinking about what Ryan needed to do that evening to be ready for his early morning flight and forgot how small the parking lot is and how big the van is and how much berth is needed to pull out of a spot. The little red car parked next to us never had a chance. When we absent-mindedly pulled forward as if we were in a sedan, we heard that awful noise of metal on metal. We went into the dry-cleaners next store to find the woman who was the owner of this car to report to her that we had just delivered her a very unfortunate holiday gift. We backed up the van, all three of us hoping that there would be no damage. Luckily, there was very, very little damage, but there was an unmistakable van-shaped dent in her front wheel bed. There is not a human being in the world that could have handled the situation with more grace, kindness and class than she. We exchanged insurance info, apologized profusely and wished each other happy holidays. We have her address form the information exchanged and are already planning to send a fruit basket or something, hoping that she can get something good out of this little incident. We got something good out of it – getting to see how kind, mature, civil human beings handle inconviences and challenges. She blew us both away and we hope the rest of her life is filled with way better things than what we delivered her.

We headed to Julie’s friend’s house. Oh, on the list of missed opportunities is the fact that, out of the entire 10 months of our trip, we opted to land in Portland during the one 2 week window when her friend was in Amsterdam with her family for a vacation (yay for them!), so we enjoyed their shower and the parking spot outside of their house without them. It was still fantastic. Hot showers are always great and, when there is someone you love, even just being near where they live their life, even if they are not there can still give you a shot of the warm fuzzies. We received the warm fuzzies in full.

At 3 in the morning, Ryan’s wake-up alarm went off and, after repeated good-bye kisses, Julie was, once again, alone in the van. It’s the same scene everytime. When it is time to go, we lament the necessity to part, grabbing one goodbye kiss after another, trying to delay the moment. Every time Ryan is getting ready to go home, Julie whines a bit about his insistence to do so, just not wanting to see him go. Then, as soon as the departure happens, we both remember how much we friggin love being alone and immediately forget about this whole “I’m going to miss you” thing. We do miss each other, but nothing more than a few “Hey, how you doing?” Phone calls can’t fix. It doesn’t feel crowded while we are in the van together, but boy does Julie notice how spacious it feels when it is a van for one. 500 square feet all to herself! And she love, love, loooves the quiet with her own thoughts. No matter how simpatico two people can be, there is just something different when you hear another person in the room breathing – sharing oxygen with someone is just different than having a room full of it all to yourself. So, even though we both get plenty of solo time in the van together when we do our mornings, Ryan in his front corner office of the van and Julie in her back corner van spot, it is just different when completely alone.

Julie loves it. And, so does Ryan. This is one of the things that makes our marriage work so well, how deeply we both understand each other’s love for alone time and how much we both feel loved when we feel fully free to ignore the other person completely. There is nothing more romantic than the freedom and security to leave one another the heck alone. Ah, marital bliss. Of course, we will both instantly forget this once we see each other again, because, luckily, we happen to really enjoy the company of others as well, and each other’s company, particularly.

Julie had a full morning before heading off to the Oregon Historical Society’s Oregon History Museum in downtown Portland – which she had never even thought to attend while living here. 

Next stop, the coast!

Julie was excited to get out of the familiarity of the I-5 corridor and make her way to the coast. She had been to it a few times, but not for a while and there was so much of it she hadn’t seen. Her first stop would be Haystack Rock. She was looking forward to it, but had no idea how striking it would be in person when arriving. The beach was crawling with living things – most of them people – but not all of them! She just happened to arrive there just at sunset which made for the most magical pictures.

Of course, before her time in Oregon was done, she would watch Goonies as her Oregon movie.

As the sun was just sneaking behind the horizon, Julie hopped back in the car and wound down the coast for 2 hours until reaching her destination for the night, Depoe Bay. She had read that it was one of the best spots to spot whales all year round. She parked at a viewing spot that had no “no overnight camping” signs and fell asleep with the sounds of 101 just outside the window. In the morning, she relocated to a slightly more scenic overlook and enjoyed a morning working on projects and keeping an eye out for whales. When it was time to go, she accepted that, because her focus had been only intermittent on the beautiful ocean down below, she wouldn’t see one. She crawled into the front seat to get ready to leave and got a glimpse of a humbback coming to shore just as she went to turn the keys! 

It was the day before Thanksgiving and she was looking forward to a short driving day with only one planned stop at the Sea Lion Caves. Unfortunately, she neglected to check the Sea Lion Caves for holiday adjacent hours. Turns out, they closed at 12 that day. If she had checked, she could have made it there on time, but she had left this one to chance. Luckily, while driving there, she drove passed signs for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Something in her gut told her to stop there, so she went for it and got to see all kinds of sea life, including sea lions. Nothing like seeing them in their wild habitat, but still, even though she didn’t know she was already too late for the Sea Lion Caves, seems her intuition did.

The drive down the coast was nothing short of stunning.

Julie arrived at Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park and decided to pay the bucks for a camping spot with full hook ups. It was the perfect place to spend a Thanksgiving morning solo, surrounded by RVs of families who had decided to make their Thanksgiving a trip to the Oregon Dunes. She went for a run around a gorgeous lake and checked out the sunset from the sandy dunes. Julie soaked up the setting and the blissful alone time in the van and woke up in the morning with the full measure of gratitude for what a wonderful and fortunate life she was getting to enjoy. Some may not understand choosing to spend Thanksgiving alone, especially when there was family celebrating just another 1.5 east (back on that I-5 corridor) – but Julie didn’t feel alone at all. She woke up awash in gratitude for all of the amazing people in her life and the privilege for getting to take this trip, have this amazing van and get to steep in awe and wonder, whether from the adventures and spectacular things we’ve gotten to see, or just from the joy of getting to be creative and find awe and wonder on the inside.

It was a great Thanksgiving morning. She hopped on her bike and headed back over to that lake to check “swim in Oregon” off the list. When she first stepped in the cold water, she thought, hey this is not so bad, no wetsuit needed. Soon after, Julie realized she may have, at some point in her life, destroyed the nerve endings in her feet. The deeper she got in, the more clear it was that she would DEFINITELY need her wetsuit. Luckily she had brought it with her on the bike. She put it on and stepped back in the water. By the time her hands were in, it felt like they were on fire. She took a deep breathe and got all the way in, took enough strokes, including head under the water to count it and then, once she couldn’t feel her face anymore, stood up and peeled her wetsuit off. She put on some warm clothes and took a short hike on the dunes before heading back to the van to empty the grey water tank and then hit the road. 

Her original plan would have her heading into California Thanksgiving afternoon, but she was glad that she had taken the time to revel and enjoy a relaxed morning. She would drive 3:25 to Ashland and hop in the hot springs there in the morning before finishing all of her end of state activities (postcards, blog, songwriting). Julie stopped for gas and met the most jovial gas station attendant she had ever encountered. You can read about him in our People Along the Way section.  With :25 minutes to go, she noticed a sign for Valley of the Rogue State Park and instinct led her to just pull off and grab a spot for the night. Julie had bought some turkey legs for dinner and, because the temperature readings have rubbed off the oven, she had no idea what temperature she had them on to cook. It was supposed to take 50 minutes to cook them, and ended up taking an 1.5. They weren’t the best, but they were good enough to complete a lovely Thanksgiving Day.

And that brings us up to the present moment. Depending on how long postcards and blogs and songwriting take, we’ll find out how far into California Julie will make it today to start her adventure in state #31. 

There are enough family and friends here for us in Oregon to know, with fair certainty, that Oregon is a state to which we will definitely return, though there are plenty of other reasons to do so. Crater Lake, Julie has her eye on your stunning blue waters and hopes, someday, to have her toes on you too!