Now let us get one thing straight my friends. Driving along the Interstate 5 corridor from the top of Oregon to the southern border is a thoroughly pleasurable experience. And for your information, Oregon is pronounced Orehgun, not Oreh-gone in case you ever go there. You don’t want to pronounce it wrong, you WILL be corrected. Being familiar with this fact, I was not faced with such an embarrassing situation.
I am surrounded by greenness in all its forms. Trees line the freeway. Picturesque fir, oak, madrone, maple, elm, cottonwood, cedar and pine all grow jumbled together in a friendly way. We have driven by fields where rye grass seed is grown, and multi-colored plantings of irises. It looked like Holland. Even the wild fields are green and lush. I think I have chlorophyll intoxication at the moment.
Sheep stand belly deep in grasses and Hub Man declared that they are very fortunate animals, eating all year long and getting one hair cut a year. What a life. Along the road, cow parsnips bloom along with plum trees and everywhere, as if to fill in any empty places, lest you think their state lacking in horticultural diversity, there are blackberries. Mountain ranges of blackberries, movements of blackberries, phenomenons of blackberries, yea, even awe inspiring masses of blackberries. A few months from now, we should go berry picking. Judging by the blossoms, there will be a bumper crop.
But my very favorite thing to see are the wild rambling roses that dot the landscape. There are white ones, pale pinks and a deeper pinks. And if they run out of fences to grow on, and get the opportunity, they grow right up into the trees. They are the most graceful of all the flora. Even in this riot of greenery, they will not be ignored.
In any event, all I have to say is, once in your life, if you get the chance, you must drive through western Oregon one fine day in May.
You won’t regret it. I promise.
Though Hub Man mentions to remind you that the natives must have 100 different words to describe “clouds”. For we barely saw our shadow until we reached Grants Pass or so.