ShareThisPORTLAND, Ore. - Ordinary just never happens in Oregon. The extraordinary jam-packs this huge state with snowy peaks, windswept dunes, vast desert, yawning valleys and old-growth forest. Oregonians breathe in the wild land and pattern their lives to match.
As people fly into Portland, they see Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams pierce the blue sky. Downtown is thick with solid, artfully embellished office buildings, department stores, specialty shops and museums. The landmark, Powell's Books, occupies an entire city block. The Portland Art Museum, a storehouse of French paintings, English silver, contemporary sculpture and the arts of North American native peoples, overlooks a linear city park where once a week a farmers market pops up on the green.
Forest Park wraps Portland in a warm embrace and residents return the affection. For many, it is a daily exercise to bike, hike, picnic and commune with this 5,157-acre green space, one of the largest urban wilderness areas in the country. At the International Rose Test Garden, people spend the afternoon observing butterfly aerobatics in the scent-soaked air.
Cars prove useless in this city crisscrossed with bike lanes, buses, streetcars and a light-rail system. Driving is a bad idea, too, because of the incredible number of microbreweries sprinkled across interlocking neighborhoods. Locals taste their way through coppery pale ales and malty stouts along North Mississippi Avenue and Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard. Open-air eateries exude a sense of food energy. Just as Voodoo Doughnuts pushes the envelope with its creations, so does Lucky Labrador Beer Hall with its vegetarian pizzas. Restaurants in the Pearl District reflect equally impressive sipping, though these establishments select offerings from Oregon's wine country to pair with equally superb cuisine.
In pursuit of more wine and fresh foods, Portlanders go east on historic Highway 30 through the Columbia River Gorge, a scenic route splashed with waterfalls, to reach the Hood River County Fruit Loop at Highway 35. Roadside fruit and vegetable stands, vineyards, lavender farms, bakeries and cheese stores supply the necessities for a picnic. People land at Panorama Point where they unfold picnic lunches and take in stunning views of Mount Hood (11,235 feet) and Mount Adams (12,276 feet).
A drive southward through the Cascade Mountain Range leads to Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters, a trio of volcanic peaks tipped in snow. At Crater Lake National Park, deep snow remains well into summer. The sapphire-blue lake rests inside a caldera created when Mount Mazama collapsed after a volcanic eruption nearly 8,000 years ago. It is the deepest lake in the United States, with a depth of 1,932 feet.
Guests at Crater Lake Lodge gather on terraces to view the sunrise over the lake. In the evening after relaxing under star-scattered skies, they warm themselves by the blazing fireplace in the Great Hall. In a setting of rustic elegance, guests enjoy flavorful regional foods and fine wines. The lodge's 71 guest rooms maintain the historic character of the lodge even though a restoration brought modern amenities. The lodge was built in 1915, a little more than a dozen years after the site was declared the country's sixth national park.
East of the Cascade Mountains, hillsides glisten with ancient black obsidian lava. Newberry National Volcanic Monument and the High Desert Museum showcase the beauty of a sparse landscape marked by twisting junipers, sagebrush and towering ponderosa pine. Rock climbers go nose-to-nose with Monkey Face, a challenging basalt pinnacle at Smith Rock State Park.
The Deschutes River runs through Bend, a city on the same wavelength as the climbers, hikers, bikers and kayakers who flow through the region. Phil's Trail is the locals' name for 300 miles of "fat tire" riding, and it's easily accessible from bike shops in town. Not surprisingly, Bend has plenty of craft breweries. And, with a slew of bistros, bakeries, performance venues, fashion shops and art galleries, downtown generates plenty of authentic quirkiness.
The ocean's lure may pull you from the interior's high desert to the Oregon Coast. Salt-laced winds blow against craggy headlands. A skein of lighthouses keeps vigil while harbor seals, sea lions and gray whales swim the currents. The scenic drive between the tourist towns of Yachats and Florence features postcard-perfect views of the Heceta Head Lighthouse. People gather at the tide pools below the Yaquina Head Lighthouse to identify starfish and other sea creatures. Whale-watching excursion boats depart from DePoe Bay.
At the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area Visitor Center, you can learn about the interconnectiveness of native people and the maritime forest. Trails lead into the adjoining old-growth forest, where wildflowers jostle for every inch of space. The hills recede inland, and 40 miles of coast turn into the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Some of these shifting sand hills are 500 feet high.
Just like seabirds flock to offshore rocks for nesting sites, people find refuge in the small towns along the coast. At Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock gives shelter to tufted puffins between April and August. Tourists migrate to this 235-foot monolith during their daily strolls on the beach.
Astoria may be an endpoint for motorists driving the coastal highway, Route 101. The mouth of the Columbia River was a final stop for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery after their 4,000-mile exploration. Locals say if the Fort George Brewery & Public House had been there, the explorers wouldn't have returned to the East. The watering hole has some of the finest dark, potent stout in the state, which is saying a whole lot. This blue-collar city has a cultural vibrancy flowing from artist enclaves, funky shops, indie music venues and retro diners.
Astoria celebrates its bicentennial in 2011. It has reinvented itself many times -- from fur-trading post to Victorian settlement to hub of the West Coast fishing industry. A boutique hotel now operates in an old tuna-cannery building.
For more information, visit www.craterlakelodges.com, www.travelportland.com, www.traveloregon.com.
(Linda Lange is a freelance writer living in Knoxville, Tenn.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
