Hi all,

I am a Kansas farm girl, yup, Dorothy, Toto and all, transplanted to the beautiful northwest United States. The vegetation is lush, the summers spectacular and the landscape takes your breath away. I live in the Portland, Oregon metro area where we have two major rivers, the Willamette and the Columbia, flowing through our town. We are less than 2 hours from Mt Hood skiing to the east and the Oregon Coast and the Pacific Ocean to the west. As a midwesterner I was overwhelmed when introduced to the National forests here in the northwest. Who would of thought there could be this many trees in one place? And they are tall! The countryside is also sprinkled with volcanic mountains, all peacefully sleeping, with the exception of Mt St Helens. And did I mention the rain? Lots and lots of rain. Day in and day out rain. Sometimes nine months of rain. But our reward is our summers. Here in the Northwest, we are an outdoor people. Our climate is mild which allows us to enjoy the great outdoors year round. Boating, hiking, cycling, camping, swimming, mountain climbing, dune-buggying, we have it all. One has to tolerate the rain and dampness if you want to camp year-round, but it is definitely do-able. I am a hiker and a power walker. I drag my husband out as often as our schedules allow. More about that later. Welcome to my world. You should definitely put it on your bucket list!