Why I Love the Northwest

So, right now I'm going to school in Nebraska. The scenery looks much like you might expect it to look.

There's corn.

It's flat.

I drove 420 miles to the other side of the state and still there was corn and still there was flat.

While I do believe that Nebraska is beautiful in its own right (have I shown you the pictures of the fabulous bike trail I like to frequent?), it is not My Northwest.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Portland for a conference for school and since I had family nearby, my advisor all but twisted my arm to stay a few extra days to visit them. Graciously, I accepted the offer. In that time, I drove around the state of Washington visiting and staying with various members of my family.

In that time I saw mountains,

I saw rolling hills,

I saw valleys,

I saw rocky hillsides,

Desert,
Columnar joints,
I even saw flat. Very flat.

And I didn't even make it over to the coast where I could have seen sandy beaches, rocky beaches, ocean, and rainforest.

All in the same state.

That is what I love, and miss, about My Northwest. Beautiful, stunning variety.