13 Apr Why go to Oregon?

If you’re like me, traveling might be one of the reasons you chose to go to the US in the first place. It’s such a big country with so many destinations to choose from it’s almost impossible not to find a place you want to visit! But where to go exactly? You probably all thought about going to Los Angeles or New York and that’s cool, they are definitely some must-see. However, if you’re looking for something slightly more under the radar, I might be of help.

Portland, Oregon

Not what you thought I was going to pick, right? Well, if you had asked me a year ago if I wanted to go to Oregon the answer would most definitely have been no. I had no idea what you could possibly find in Oregon and had no intention to. For me, it was one of those boring states no one talk about for good reason. Well saying I was wrong would be an understatement.

One of my friend here was dying to go there. It was her first time in the US and when we brought up the Thanksgiving break Oregon is the first thing she said. Not New York, not Los Angeles, not even Miami. Oregon. First I dismissed the idea but after a bit of convincing, I started to wonder what was so special about this state. My friend and the internet convinced me and Oregon turned out to be unexpectedly awesome.

On this trip, we stayed in Portland, the capital. It’s not a big city but it is very charming. There you should try:

• The Japanese Tea Garden (way better than the one in San Francisco).
• The Rose Garden
• The Powell book store (if you’re a bookworm like me, this is a must. It’s probably my favorite book store in the entire world and I visited A LOT of them)

However, the most amazing things to do in Oregon are outside of Portland and for this, I strongly advise renting a car. Here are my favorite places:

• Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

This place is so big it should have a blog post just for itself. If you love hiking or just being in nature you should most definitely go there. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. You can’t do everything in a day so I advise picking your must-see location first. If you can, ask for a map with all the locations (this saved us a lot of time).

• Crater Lake (Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anything when I went there because of the snow. I will come back to see it in the spring because according to people, it’s the most beautiful place in Oregon)
• The painted hills

A park surrounded with majestic hills. Each of them has a unique color and it’s really worth seeing.

I hope this post inspired you to visit Oregon!