Question:
I wanted to put my little bit in for how much I love and miss Oregon.I'm from Salem. Does anyone out there live in Salem? I never see anythingon here from fellow Salem residents. Right now I'm living in Oberlin, Ohio,the armpit of the US. - It's flat. No mountains.- No ocean coast. I long to visit Newport or Astoria.- No Fred Meyer. This is truly a travesty that you don't appreciate untilyou are out of the state. Freddy's is heaven-sent.- The weather changes here much too often. No kidding, last Satuday it was70 degrees, sunny and hot. On Sunday it was snowing. I hate this inconsis-tency. I miss knowing that it's going to rain everyday. And the rain hereis so dreary and awful. I can't explain it, but it is not like Oregon rainat all.

The good news in all this is that I will be home by the end of next month.Three months of bliss in our fair state. And I can't wait for the countryfair.

Answer: I've been to Northern Ohio, and I'm pretty sure that Northeastern Illinois(Chicagoland) is flatter. It is depressingly so. And all you see is milesand miles of concrete. And the sky doesn't get dark at night, it gets pinksince we're so close to the city.

Our campus is right on Lake (ugh) Michigan (it really isn't as bad as Ithought; it's actually quite beautiful to watch a sunrise over). It isalso our source of drinking water. It's awful compared to Bull Run, but Ihear that back in Portland, they're studying the feasibility of using theColumbia/Willamette as a source of drinking water.

While we don't have Freddy's, we do have Nordstrom! They're planning onopening a new store a few miles from campus by Fall. The store thatreminds me the most of Fred Meyer (maybe a bit lower quality, though) isMeijer. The chain is located in Michigan, though.

I road the Oregon 250 on my moto last Sunday. Left Beaverton around 7:30and did the backroads to Zig Zag and then over Mt Hood. It was yourtypical spring day. Cool, wet with drizzle. The air was fresh, therivers were full, there was snow on the edge of the road over the pass.Once into E. Oregon the sun broke out. Had lunch at Maupin and dried out.Followed the Deschutes for a while and then hit 197 to the Dalles. Bigbillowy white clouds and blue sky. Crossed the Columbia and road back up theWashington side on 14. Wind surfers were out. A pretty good breeze wasblowing. Wildflowers are out too. Could just see the tops of Adams andHood. Approaching Portland, it was still cloudy and cool but dry.