Random observation

Oregonians are an odd mix of hippies and fundamentalist Christians. Okay, well, it's not quite that simple. But between the sights we've seen and people we've met, there is clear evidence of both far right and far left. You have staunch environmentalists and racists, peace-mongers and Bible-thumpers. One can only imagine these factions battling for control of the state.

Portland itself seemed to have a liberal slant; it had a number of vegetarian restaurants, and news reports covered things like, "is Oregon tap water just as good as your bottled water, and what can we do to handle the environmental impact of all these plastic water bottles?" Amazing.

As we headed west from Portland (passing Intel in Beaverton) to the coast and turned south, this seemed to be the way of things. Somewhere past Lincoln City, however, this gave out and was increasingly replaced by ignorant country bumpkinism. Discriminatory talk of "towel-heads" and Mexicans was a huge turn-off. To make matters worse, all the restaurants were chock-full of country bumpkin fare. Fried everything, with tons of meat, cheese, and eggs. Accordingly, this is also where we began to see obesity in epidemic proportions. By far, most of the people we observed had weight problems, and this was also the starting point for seeing individuals who were morbidly obese. (Not that I have room to talk, mind you... just observing.) The prospect of enduring racism and homophobia while eating lettuce sandwiches for the rest of our lives was enough to scratch this place from our map for good.

This continued for a long distance and on past the California border. By the time we stopped in the redwoods and Arcata it seemed to be getting better, and we were pleasantly surprised by hickory-flavored tofu dip for your crackers (tastes like smoked cheese), vegan burritos, vegan soups, and other tasty delights in Arcata's local grocery. (We were unsurprised to see that the average waistline also fell dramatically.) I await San Francisco with watering mouth, in anticipation of the treasures to be found there.