When I moved to Oregon last year, I didn’t know they had cowboys. So when when I got a hall pass to write pretty much anything about the state recently for National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, I headed east — into cowboy country.
Experiencing all this is one of the ways I’m trying to become “Oregonian” as I explain in the article:
When I moved to Oregon last year, I bought a road map and started marking it up with things that captured my attention. I’ve highlighted the scenic drives I read about… and tape on color-coded tags for things I want to see (the Oregon/Oregon State football game) and famous footsteps to follow (the setting of the film Goonies). I call the ongoing project Becoming Oregonian, as I strive to understand a state I don’t really know. Increasingly I find it tilted toward the state’s less talked about east, a wide land of Oregon Trail landmarks, small-town rodeos, rugged high plains, and Pendleton blankets.
Also, here’s my daughter Ruby taking over the 76-Second Travel Show to share her “Eastern Oregon Bucket List,” from a trip several months ago:
What the heck is one supposed to do in Eastern Oregon? Besides traveling. But it looks nice.
Do you like travel? Then you’ll pretty much like Eastern Oregon. It’s ridiculously overlooked in terms of stunning scenery and unexpected things like Chinese-American museums, seven-man football, small-town rodeos, local breweries that score gold medals at national beer festivals, fresh jerky made by cowgirl poets, big fungus, bike towns of population 300.
Only have been in Portland, OR for a few weeks and consider it one of the most livable cities. But apparently I missed out on your new home territory. The beer and jerky should be reasons enough. Thanks for the good tip!