Back in the Old Days...

Oregon is a relative young state. Our town, Port Orford, is the oldest township on the coast, founded in 1859 or so, as a fort, a military outpost to protect the lumber that was being cut and shipped to Eureka and San Francisco. Port Orford Cedar became a cash crop for young pioneers with money and resources to set up lumber operations.

Oregon Trail, wagons bringing young families to the  West, followed the Lewis and Clark expedition notes, settling down in places that promised riches and sustainability.  The Lewis and Clark expedition got in trouble for months up at the mouth of the Columbia, in present Astoria.  Pacific storms forced them to set up a more permanent settlement until they could resume their exploratory travels.

Oregon has these two sides, a stunning summer/fall weather and an incessantly wet winter/spring that can chill the bones. People who visit us in the summer, wonder why the place is still lightly inhabited.  We tell them that most people are chased off by the first winter storms.

Here, on the shores of the Great Pacific, my grandchild and her friend rode horses on the beaches for just an hour or so, stopping just long enough for photographs. The next day, they had to rest, as  aches and pains connected them to the pioneers whose mode of transportation was horses.

If you come to Oregon, you get this sense of history as you recreate on our rivers, beaches, back roads.