Oregon

Traveling to Oregon for me was like going to another world where all the trees and everything looked really soft and fuzzy. I loved the trees so much. I have never been around mossy trees before and so many were huge. Probably some of the biggest trees I have ever seen and I wanted to climb and touch them all so bad. I talk more about trees in this post. Getting closer to the coast some of the trees were slightly different and seemed to get taller and bigger around. The only huge tree closest to me was this one in my neighborhood I would ride my bike by growing up all the time, which I recently rode by and sadly found it cut completely down.

Everywhere I looked I saw green. But not just green. The area was full of colors all around. I thought Colorado was colorful and assumed Oregon would be mostly green but this trip proved me wrong. I was surprised about how about how many vibrant colors I saw everywhere- yellow, purple, pink, orange, blue, red, white of all shapes and sizes. I was shocked by the variety, honestly. All the vegetation was very distracting everywhere I looked.

Oh, and there were roses of every color growing all around Portland and the surrounding area. I saw some of the biggest roses I have seen several times just on the side of the road while stopped at red lights. So pretty.  I imagined that no one was tasked with going out to water them every day since it probably rained enough to keep them blooming. It seems like the roses I am growing have stopped blooming so I am wondering if that means it is already too hot for them or I am not watering enough. I have to keep up with watering them more now that it is getting hot. If I forget about them for just a day then they start wilting, which is way past due needing water.

The first thing I scanned with my plant identifier app (called 'Seek', more information in this post about plants) was this vibrant pink bush (pictured above) that I saw scattered everywhere in Oregon called Rhododendron indicum, a species of Azalea. There seemed to be other colors too which was exciting. Most of them are huge and the flowers seem very popular with bees. The next thing I scanned was out in the backyard which was a European Holly (below) with dark green spiky leaves and red berries. It was young and looked like it would grow into a huge a tree when usually the holly in Texas was more like a bush. I kept looking around the backyard for more things to scan and found so much.

There was this small looking plant growing by itself at the bottom of the fence which turned out to be a Lady Fern. Of the many types of ferns that was the first one I got to scan and I loved it already. It seemed so delicate but was growing through the fence no problem. I tried to have a fern plant at home once and it just got too hot for it. I don’t do well with inside or shade plants apparently. Anything too high-maintenance or not drought tolerant won’t last long.

I glanced around on the ground and saw more green and other colors. It looked like moss so I tried to scan it and it said ‘Redshank’ (above), and then I immediately spotted another type and it said ‘Pointed Spear-moss’ which sounds crazy I know but it was just a small tuff of it. Moss was blowing my mind because it was everywhere and seemed to grow on everything and did not need dirt to grow. We even saw it growing on roofs! Crazy. I have never been anywhere with moss like it is in Oregon.

Finally the rain stopped enough and we took a day to drive over and explore the coast, which is only about an hour from Portland and was a gorgeous drive ending with a curvy, narrow road through a mossy forest to park. I was looking around, not sure when to expect the ocean through all the forest and trees as the ocean and water in general has always excited me. Just being in the car was really difficult as I was seeing all types of plants and things I wanted to scan and explore. All the trees seemed to have a ladder of mossy branches going up the tree, basically asking you to climb up them and explore.  

 

The first thing I scan while walking to the beach from the car are these weirdly shaped leaves by the stairs. I almost thought they were morning glories since they had similar heart shaped leaves but with wrinkles throughout and wanted to know what they were right away. The mystery plant was called ‘Western Lily of the Valley’ (right) and is commonly found in ‘Sitka Spruce’ forests, which makes sense because that is what I scanned once we came back to the car. Both of which are native to the area as well.

Once we made it to the beach, there was not as much plant/wild life there, though several people had their dogs which made us miss our animals. It unfortunately was not low tide but we still found our way to this rock cavern (below) where water was coming out of the rock from somewhere. It was cool to look at and wonder where the water is coming from and how it got to be a cave like this. The rocks scattered around were smooth like river rock with various colors. I expected the rocks from pictures but the trees were something else.

There were trees all around and many tall cliffs, which was so weird for a beach area. When I think of going to the beach or the ocean I think of miles and miles of sand, maybe palm trees but not many trees for miles and hotter at the beach than on land but Oregon was a whole different world. Looking at the weather before we left, it was colder and cloudier at the coast than where we were staying. Definitely not what you expect for going to beach. 

Another cavern we found had green algae and was leaking as well (above). There were rocks all-around of various size so you had to watch where you walked but also had to watch the waves. It was a little nerve wrecking and I even found myself getting hot even though it was cooler than in the city.

While walking around the rocks, we spotted a sea creatures in the small pool of water which I was able to scan called an Aggregating Anemone (below). The name reminded me of a scene from Finding Nemo where he is trying to say Anemone and struggling, which I can identify with. I have a hard time saying certain words ever since I was little. Those Anemones were everywhere in the water too. 

Walking back to the car, I found ‘Trailing Blackberry’ (commonly found wildly growing all around), ‘Fringe Cups’, ‘Coastal Willow’, ‘Stinging Nettle’, these huge plants that reminded me of wild carrots my friends had growing in their backyard but these were bigger called ‘Common Cowparsnip’ (right). It is in the Carrot family though so that explained why they looked so much alike. Also, it and a few others are native to this area, which is really cool. The more you observe of plants the more you learn patterns and can compare. 

There was another fern I scanned called a ‘Western Sword Fern’ which is apparently the most abundant fern found in the coast (above). I remember my mom getting excited about buying herself a fern plant and I never understood it but I think I am starting to get it. 

Close to it was this plant I thought was a tree branch with pine needles sticking out but it was a plant called ‘Great Horsetail’ (below). The look and sound of it freaked me out a little so I didn’t mess with it much after. I found out later that they are both native to the area as well.

Then I got to scan the Sitka Spruce and the Douglas Fir, both are native to the West coast, and with the Douglas Fir being Oregon’s state tree. I had never seen such tall, fuzzy trees. I was sad to leave the ocean but I left with a different side of the ocean and beach that I really vibed with instead of what I used to love as a kid. It was very calming and there was even a person out there meditating, which I thought was the perfect place for it. Even with it being cold there was a few people even surfing, which I thought was pretty crazy with the huge boulders scattered everywhere. 

Back inland we had to stop for gas and I found a few plants to scan as I could not stay in the car any longer. I went around the perimeter of the gas station, figuring it wouldn’t take me long to find more things to scan. First was this dark pink flower that reminded me of thistle back home called Red Clover which surprised me as I would not have coined it as a clover. Apparently, it can also be used in teas and it adds nitrogen to the soil. Crazy. What was even crazier were how much more the gas prices were up there, but I guess this place can’t be too perfect.

Then I saw this plant near the curb with really fuzzy leaves and my app said it was called Great Mullein (above) and it reminded me of this other plant I scanned in Colorado called Whoolly Hedgenettle which had some very soft leaves as well. There in Colorado it seemed random and unexpected but in Oregon it made sense with everything else being fuzzy. Sometimes I see some being sold back home called Lamb’s Ear and those are really soft too. I am not sure if the ones I scanned were wild or planted though.

Once we got back and the rain subsided, I decided to take a walk so I could scan more plants around where we staying. I saw wild Absinthe Wormwood, Cherry Laurel (which is in the Rose family) and I finally got to scan these really pretty blue flowers scattered everywhere called Creeping Gromwell (above). Then I found one called White Clover which is the same Genus as Red Clover and in Colorado I scanned one called Reversed Clover which I am starting to see the resemblance. 

I went to the front of the neighborhood under one of the big trees and I saw this brilliant yellow succulent-like plant that was very soft called Reflexed Stonecrop (below), which later I mention about another I saw called White Stonecrop that had white flowers.

I spotted in a few places this small bush with round, delicate leaves called Japanese Barberry which I loved. I actually scanned it a few times thinking it was the different plant due to the color variation. One was a deep purple on the ends and faded to a green in the center so perfectly. I want to grow one now. Also, there were short Japanese Maples all over the place too that I wanted so bad. Anywhere you saw something growing low and dark was probably a Japanese Maple. I would love to have a little Zen Garden outside or something. If it seems like there were a lot of Japanese plants you are not crazy-I looked at a map and saw that Oregon and Northern California is on the same latitudinal lines as Japan, which made everything click for me.

Another deep purple flower I saw scattered around, which I found was a Dalmatian Bellflower (above). The flowers were relatively small and delicate but pretty. I kept seeing another I thought was the same but thought for sure it was lavender instead and I did find it called Topped Lavender and also another variety that was not blooming at the time, Common Lavender. I have tried several times in the past to grow Lavender but have not been successful, even with a variety more tolerant to the area. I am now determined to grow it.

A bright yellow one caught my eye and I was hoping was the same one I have seen all over Oregon so far called Bird’s foot Trefoil (above). At least that is what seemed to be the same one. They were always in the most inconvenient spots so I was just glad to scan one. 

Then the next bush we saw looked so pretty and cool looking called Wartleaf Ceanothus (below). It looked like the evergreen leaves were covered in bumps with lavender flowers at the end and it looked very different. It was very intriguing to look at and I want to grow one really bad now.

Walking the street around the area every house we passed seemed to have a rose bush or some colorful flower or plants, usually more than one different kind. All of them seemed very well-kept and loved. Our friends were telling us about a neighborhood rabbit with an outside enclosure/shelter with its name on it and everything. I got a laugh out of that. This place was crazy. I could tell there was a huge sense of community there, which I really liked.

While walking in the rain to lunch one day I found a random, wild strawberry plant growing which the app called it ‘Woodland Strawberry’ (above). Does fruit just grow here wildly or what? Apparently, blackberry grows wild in West Virginia and Oregon. Our friend living locally said that it is common to see berries and roses growing right by the road there, which sounds heavenly. I have not had luck with berries yet.

A few trees I saw around had these huge white flowers that I wanted to get a scan of and finally did. It was a Kousa Dogwood (above) which was not native but very beautiful. Every now and then I would see a different tree or bush that I had not seen before. I could not believe how much there was to see and look at, even with it raining. Just like the ocean and beach, I had to re-think even the rain in Oregon because where I am from, we freak out over any type of liquid falling from the sky. Driving or not driving. If we are not a home and it is raining, we do not know what to do. It seems to me like most people do not like to be out and about when weather comes through but there the rain is a part of life. People don’t usually use umbrellas. Crazy, yeah. The rule of thumb is if you have an umbrella there then you are not adapting well to the climate.

When the rain started to take over the day more, we took the time to explore more of the downtown area and, knowing we were obsessed with books and reading, we were treated with witnessing Powells City of Books. Oh my. Walking in the place I immediately got lost, but in a good way. That place is heaven. 

New and used books. One entire city block. It had a huge, diverse selection of books about anything you might possibly want to know about. Everything was separated into 9 color-coded sections of the store by subject matter, which the store had several levels. Check out their website if you don’t believe me.

https://www.powells.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoozk3tr2MvP_lqG26Kl3flueAqrAwcfOaYVI-fC-zblGKMQo8Nb

Thankfully they had a few help kiosks scattered where I found these bookmark-shaped pieces of paper of different colors. They each had a list of recommended books from different sections of the store and you could just grab whatever topic you were interested in. I saw one for Relationships, including non-monogamous relationships which I quickly found a book from the list I found in the store. Before going to Oregon, I told myself I was not going to bring a bunch of things back so I limited myself to one book and the one I chose is called ‘More than Two’ which I really enjoy so far.

I noticed there I did not see as many children in Oregon as I did back home, which is another reason why I really vibe with the area. It felt like a very mature, adult community where people take care of the area and each other. We pride ourselves of being polite in the south, but it seems like we are more judgmental and exclusionary than inviting or welcoming. Everyone seemed to keep to themselves but kept others in mind while existing in public, which is what I am seeing less and less of where I am from. It just seems to me I have out grown the area I grew up in.

There were many things about Oregon that reminded me of Colorado, though the forests were different and trees were larger. The vibe was a little different for me than Colorado. I still wanted to go out and explore but I was less in a rush or push to do it. I feel like I have been in go mode for so long it’s a default now and hard to slow down. Even when walking I consciously have to slow down. While there I wanted to slow down so that I did not miss any of the colors or plants. I wasn’t sure what I was going to see next, honestly. Intriguing and imaginative. When I saw a dark part of the forest, I felt a sense of wonder and curiosity when I usually felt fear. It was a hard time coming back home and leaving all the colors and forests.