The Pacific Northwest is gorgeous.  But, you probably already knew that.  I rented a car and drove a little over a thousand miles through Oregon in just under four days.  I made my way from Portland to the coast, down the coast, across the southeast part of the state and back up to Portland.

A recommendation, make this trip in weeks rather than days.  Oregon is too beautiful and vast to enjoy in four days. Here is another tip. Carry a mason jar with you.  Stop somewhere in the National Forrest. Unscrew the lid and fill it with air.  Screw the lid back on tight.  Take the jar home with you. On a particularly difficult day, unscrew that jar and breath it all in.  Second only to Oregon’s beauty is the air.  I’d do the whole drive again for those two things alone.

This trip was pretty a beat experience.  Changes in the plan pushed me in directions I hadn’t expected to go.  My plan became no more than the next day.  I drove. I stopped. I shot photos. I drove and shot more photos.  I repeated that sequence of events until I became tired and then I stopped for the day.  I rolled out a map and looked towards the next day. No good plan goes unchanged. Go with it.

Background

    It should go without saying that if you really want to see or experience a place, speak to the people that live there.  All along my journey through Oregon, the people I met contributed something amazing to my trip.  I’d sit down for dinner or a drink. I’d roll out my map and pull out my notebook.  Someone sitting next to me would look over and give me a, “Where ya headed fella?”  With that, they would make a recommendation on a place to see.  The old fella at the lodge in Diamond lake pointed me towards the waterfalls along HWY 138.  The kid in Bend pointed me to Government Camp just below Mt. Hood.  The Bloody Mary girl in Government Camp pointed me towards the lake with a pristine view of Mt. Hood. The photos in each of those places would have been enough.  The bits of their lives they shared with me well, let me say they will forever be a part of the story of each shot I captured.  Every photo is a reflection of everything that came before it.

    TLDR;

    Canon Beach – See the sunset.  See the stars.  Also, see the sunrise.
    Thor’s Well – Every few minutes the ocean presses water through the earth into the sky.  See for yourself.
    Heceta Head Lighthouse – A subtle reminder that light is the often the only thing keeping us from crashing into the ground.
    Dunes Nat’l Park – Go.  Rent a four-wheeler.  Don’t die.
    Crater Lake – See the sunrise.  See all of it.
    Toketee Falls – Just sit and listen to it. The other 5 or 6 waterfalls along HWY 138 aren’t bad either.
    Mt. Hood – Every angle is a great view.