I recently got back from a weekend trip to photograph a wedding in Oregon, with the ceremony in Portland and the reception in Warrenton. It also just so happens that Christmas Day is on Tuesday of next week, there was a huge storm coming in on Wednesday, and the not quite-end of the world was Friday December 21st, 2012, so I expected a weekend full of sitting in traffic and rushing around in a busy city trying to get from one event to the next. What occurred couldn't be further from what I imagined.

The first thing I learned is that there really aren't too many people living in Oregon compared to other states, and most of them live or close by the major cities. With a little less than 4 million people total, most living in the Willamette Valley basin, and less than 600,000 in the largest city (Portland), the rest of Oregon can be classified into the 'quiet little towns and villages' section of America. I'm not sure why more people aren't living in Oregon, but I'll gladly take it as it is.

I rented a car and drove from the Portland Airport to the coast on highway 26 through the mountains. Despite the snow, every few minutes I wished I wasn't on a deadline so I could have stopped and taken pictures. The drive through the Oregon Coast mountain range to the coast is incredibly beautiful. I thought Portland was unusually green. Then I drove out of the city and through the snow-covered forest. I fell in love.

For most of my life I've lived in deserts. Between southern California (which is a desert), Las Vegas (splat in the middle of the desert), and the Wasatch Front in Utah (which is a desert, despite the very green eastern half of the states), I've only experienced forests in my adventures traveling. Following this trip, Oregon moved to the top of my list of places to establish the little homestead and cheese operation I have planned.