Here's a personal message from Mia. Pretty funny kid. I swear we have nothing to do with it. She's this weird naturally.
Click the picture below (or click the little triangle on the bottom left side of the picture) to play the video. It's a big file (18MB) so it may take a while to load. Patience.
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Well...
The Pacific Northwest isn't exactly like Acadiana. Nor is it an exact match for the mountains of North Carolina. I mean, you would think a couple thousand miles from the Gulf would mean a world away in attitudes and lifestyles. But I've got to say—it does seem to be a combination of the best attributes of the best places I've ever lived.
People are relaxed and friendly here. (hell, when you signal a lane change on the interstate, people actually slow down to let you in) This is a generalization, but folks seem to live here for reasons that point more to an overall quality of life, as opposed to any one thing, like, say economics, nightlife, arts, cost of living, etc. It's safe to say that nobody moves here for top ranked sports teams (although we do love our Ducks) or retirement-class Arizona style weather.
Ahhh the weather... Don't roll your eyes at this one, dear reader—actually Portland gets less rain per year than Atlanta. What you call a drizzle down South is a rainstorm up here. We just get wet weather for some of the fall, all winter and some of the spring. Moss grows on everything. Including moss. But it's weird, I gotta tell you. Even when it's drizzling, it seems as though the air in between the raindrops is lower humidity than fall afternoon in New Orleans. Raining and 40% humidity doesn't seem possible, but it sure as hell feels that way sometimes.
Mid-winter, the dopey weatherman will try to make us feel better with some positive spin and call it "Partly Sunny."
Yea. Right.
But sure, we get some socked-in gray weeks strung together during winter, and the rare snowfall, (like today!) but we also get oh, five or so months of sunshine. I'm not talking a couple hours here and there every day, I mean sun.
For five (give or take a few) months.
And not that "Partly Sunny" crap either. I mean the real deal cobalt blue sky, anthill under a magnifying glass, dawn at 6am, getting dark at 11pm, seratonin overdose, James Brown I feel good—SUN. As if she's feeling guilty, to make up for a few months of drizzle—Mother Nature goes totally overboard with the good weather.
But hey, I'll take it.
As far as the scenery goes; the topography is corrugated and the landscape's verdant. Everything is volcanic in origin it seems. We live at the base of an extinct volcano, Mt. Tabor. (only volcano in a US city's limits) On any clear day, Mt. Hood is visible from the kitchen window, and Mt. St. Helen's (what's left of it) can be seen from up the hill a bit. Mt. Adams and Mt. Bachelor are also on the postcards. Skiing in less than an hour and a half. Same for the beach.
Rivers... We got rivers. One of Portland's nicknames is "Bridgetown." Possibly because we have 10 (!) bridges over the Willamette River, which bisects the city. This city love's it's rivers as much as it's coffee.
And that's a lot.
on Hello to Mom and Pop, (and everyone else) from Mia!