I love the secularism.

I love it enough to have moved away and move back.

More than anything else, what brought me back were the coast and the mountains. The Atlantic shoreline just doesn't compare to what we have out here, and they don't have the big mountains, either.

I love a big glass of Oregon Pinot Noir on a drizzly day.

I moved out here along with my new wife after we both graduated from college in upstate NY.

I was determined to live on the West Coast and had either the PacNW, Bay Area, or SoCal in mind. I'm pretty glad we settled on Oregon - the PDX area being 90 minutes away from skiing or the ocean. The nearby beautiful forests, mountains, and desert were the icing on the cake.

Over the years, I had the opportunity travel frequently throughout North America and many parts of Europe, Asia, and Australia. I call Oregon my home, and still prefer it over almost all the places I have traveled to. (Hawaii still tempts me, but it is an easy jet flight away if the urge hits!) My only disappointment when I moved out here was that the ocean was a bit too cold. . .

About 18 years ago, we did the grand tour of Oregon with friends, and we were able to experience most of what the state had to offer; it was a great trip that we still plan to repeat in the future.

Lately, we've been doing some serious thinking about where we might want to settle down once we both retire. My son is off to college later this year, and once on his way, we're going to be doing some traveling to remind us of the bounty we have here in Oregon.

When we moved to Oregon in the 70s, there was a lot missing from our east coast experiences, but those deficiencies have been filled for quite some time - we have a bounty of great restaurants, great food in our stores and markets, wonderful people and still accessible places for short and long respites.

In a word, we love Oregon. And for now, I'll refrain from any complaints, as they have been temporarily moved aside as I reminisce about how good we have it here in Oregon.

Happy Birthday, Oregon! And thanks for everything, too. . .

Well, let's see--

Everyone owns the beaches.

Best beer in the country.

Political extremists of all stripes usually get their hat handed to them.

Portland.

The Jewell Elk Reserve.

We tear up old freeways and put in parks.

Ashland and Shakespeare.

The Wallowas.

Crater Lake.

Christmas Valley.

and I could go on.

ORange. Black. Beavers.

That the never ending rain of winter brings us the most amazing springs ever.

I love that my wife and I are both native Oregonians, and so are our children.

Despite living here all of my life, I never get tired of the diversity in nature and geography, like Carla mentioned. There aren't very many states where you can visit a deep gorge, high desert, mountain, fertile valley, and beaches all with in a few hours of each other.

I also love the micro-brews this state has to offer!

In Plato's Cave:

We tear up old freeways and put in parks.

Bob T:

Well, that's kind of misleading. The only reason that Harbor could be removed was because by then most of the traffic that had been using that route was able to use the nearby Interstate system. People like to make it sound as though the city simply ripped up a freeway and then somehow traffic in the city was reduced or something.

This is why the real highway system is good -- because that's where traffic should be instead of along a downtown river where a park could be.

Bob Tiernan Portland

That someone would care enough to ask and really care what your answer is...

I like that you experience the weather of all four seasons in a year. And as others have mentioned, the diverse scenic beauty, from the coast, to mountains, to desert, to gorgeous backroads. Anytime a friend from out of state comes for a visit, we just go for a drive.

I was in the capital last year for the 150th. It was fun singing Oregon, My Oregon.

Hey Congratsssss :) Great place

Thanks for everything and Happy Birthday, Oregon Jyotika Pune

I love that the water, culture and retail supply are so brewer friendly. People appreciate good ale and beer, all the styles, the water is second to none, more microbrew pubs/capita than any city except Dublin...Beervana!

I also love that, since moving here from Indiana, I don't have to take muscle relaxers for the rest of my life, owing to the availability of Medical Marijuana. I like that if my condition finally kills me I won't have to slowly waste away, and can die with dignity.

And I still love the public referendum process, even after the January measures. I love yerts in the State parks.

I love all the different places and towns and how unique they are while still being more like Oregon than anywhere else. Also all the wonderful people I have met who care so much about their communities.

I love the diversity from oceanside to urban Portland, valley farms, Cascade Mountains, high desert, and Eastern mt. valleys.

My favorite spots are South Beach, Newport; Washington Park, PDX; Silver Creek Falls Park, Strawberry Lake, Prairie City; and all of Wheeler county.

So many places to choose from.

NO SALES TAX!

[Impersonation removed. -editor.]

[Impersonation removed. -editor.]

Being able to enjoy West Coast life, without having to live in California, or swear off sunshine for life in Washington!

The colors of Oregon. Green sidewalks in the spring, white mountains in the summer, russet potatoes in the fall, and green bluegrass in the winter.

Chef Morimoto's hazelnut ale. Being the biggest hazel nut producers in the world. More growrooms than Republicans.

(1. A picture postcard of Mt. Hood at sunrise; (2. A picture postcard of the Yaquina Bay Bridge, or the historic Alsea Bay Bridge, or any of several bridges designed in that era, at sunset; (3. Governor Tom McCall, for the legacies he left us; (4. The Schludwiller/Henry Weinhard ad campaign of yore, featuring Vern and Earl, the hapless truck drivers, and the infamous Oregon Beer Patrol. (I believe an Oregon-based ad firm produced those spots); (5. Fred G. Meyer, who introduced the concept of one-stop shopping to our state, and whose stores I sorely missed in my travels out of the region; (6. Voodoo Doughnuts, a local firm that has put an interesting new "twist" on a delicious old treat; (7. The bottle bill (this actually should have been higher on the list, my apologies); (8. The Quality Meat Market of Medford, who, to the best of my knowledge, is the only such market of its type to produce a concoction called ham loaf. Delicious!!! (9. Lincoln High School??? (now part of the Portland State University campus, I may have the name wrong), one of the places where now-deceased voice genius Mel Blanc practiced some of his famous voices; (10. The myrtle trees and cranberry bogs in SW Oregon.

All of the above. Today, though, I was thinking it was a bit odd that we've no proper Mardi Gras parties . Seems a natural for Oregon. Am I wrong about this?

Eh... hearkening back to Carla's 'Happy Birthday, Oregon' post, the character of this comment thread has become one of the things I don't love about our 'beautiful, wonderful,' and increasingly small state. Thank god he didn't write the speech talking points on his hand or I swear BO would be having a collective aortic aneurysm.

I AM 3RD GENERATION OREGONIAN AND I WELCOME SMART NEW NEWCOMERS.

OK, so don't laugh... Here is a poem I wrote in 1962 as a 5th grader at Lincoln Elementary School (now shutdown) in Ashland:

Oregon Grape our flower Meadowlark our bird Oregon, Oregon What a beautiful word

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