Alyson Gagne

I have no regrets about the things I didn’t get to do last year, but I do have several places where I feel I have some unfinished business. Near the top of the list was Oregon. I had been looking forward to visiting Oregon from the way beginning of my trip. I had only ever been to Portland once for a friend’s wedding, and other than that I had no experience with the place beyond knowing that it was pretty rad (and what I had learned watching Portlandia). Last year I was on my way there – I was literally about to reserve a place to stay, when all of a sudden the entire state of Oregon was ablaze.

It turned into a record-breaking year for wildfires in the state. Thousands of homes burned to the ground. It was a tragedy on an incomprehensible scale. It’s not about me, obviously. But I was disappointed that it meant I had to miss visiting a place I was looking forward to seeing. Mostly I’m relieved that I didn’t get there before it started.

Now on “Phase II” of my forever road trip (also known as the 2021 portion), I left California and made my way up the West Coast with my sights set on Oregon and Washington. My home base for my time in Oregon would be Eugene – cute town, centrally located.

One of the most important things that happened during my time in Oregon – possibly the most important thing to happen to me on my whole trip – was that I finally got my covid vaccine. It’s a long story, but I managed to get an appointment for my first shot my first week in the state, and one for my last shot my last week in the state.

It was a strange feeling when I got the second shot – it felt at once very monumental and very anticlimactic. I think a lot of that was because even after you get the shot it’s not “fully effective” for another two weeks. But also, I was still alone in the far corner of the country with no one to celebrate it with.

So, even though I was partially to fully vaccinated for most of my time in Oregon, I still had to carry on as I had been for the months (and nearly years at this point, yikes) prior to that – socially distanced, mask on.

One of the things that Oregon is most famous for, and rightfully so, is their craft beer. I’m not saying that was the biggest attraction for me – but I obviously took full advantage of the opportunity to enjoy the local goods:

I also did what I do best, which is to explore the outdoors as much as possible. I explored the craggy Oregon coast, kayaked on water so clear and blue it doesn’t look real (the triumphant return of my kayak, which has been out of commission since I left Arizona on Labor Day!), and I snowshoed the rim of Crater Lake. I went bird watching in nature preserves and visited a raptor rehab center. Of course, I did lots and lots of hiking. You can see photos of all those adventures on my photos page.

But as the holiday covid surge was more or less over by the time I got to Oregon, the state was starting to open up again, so even with some restrictions and only partial vaccination I was able to enjoy some of the pleasures of The Before Times. I had some indoor meals, went wine tasting, got to see where the cheese is made, and even visited the very last Blockbuster Video on earth. I did a little shopping in the cute shops in Eugene and Bend. And, did I mention, I drank a lot of delicious beer?

My last stop on my way out of Oregon was to visit my friends in Portland. Like I mentioned, I have been to Portland before (for their wedding!) and I have to say that I love it – it’s such a cute and fun and funky town. It’s easy to see why it’s where young people go to retire. I only had one day in town before I had to hit the road again for my next stop in Washington State. But, my friends insisted that I come back on my way back south again – so I did just that. After spending a few hectic and fun and stressful weeks in Washington, I came back to Portland and had several relaxing days staying with them in their adorable home with their sweet pets in their cute neighborhood. By this point I was fully vaccinated, and I was comfortable doing things I hadn’t done since The Before Times – I went to an art museum! Somehow that felt very meaningful, since one of the very last things I did in Louisiana before the lockdown changed my trip forever, was to visit the Ogden Art Museum in New Orleans. Maybe I’m reaching for deeper meaning here, but either way it felt amazing to be able to go out and have a somewhat normal day exploring a cool city.

I ended up loving Oregon as much as I thought I would, and maybe more. It’s so beautiful, and the people are so nice, and there is so much to do and explore there. But I also have to be honest and say that during my time in Oregon I also started to feel myself slowing down. By this point I had been on the road almost a year and a half, minus the few weeks I spent back at home, and the couple months I spent back in Santa Barbara. Maybe it was my time in Santa Barbara that exacerbated it, but during my time in Oregon I started to really feel the strain of living in a state of constant impermanence. One day while I was in Eugene I accidentally spent an entire evening after work browsing the Ikea website and fantasizing about a future apartment, which felt like a pretty big sign to me that it was time for me to start winding my trip down. I still have a couple of things I want to do, and some things that I know I won’t get to. But if my experience in Montana taught me anything last year, it’s to listen to myself when I need a break.

So, I have just a couple more stops left and then I’m going to start making my way back east. But, in the meantime I have an adventure waiting for me on my next stop – in Washington State!

This post describes land that belongs to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Chelamela, Winefelly, Kalapuya, Alsea, Tillamook, Siletz, Molalla, Yakama, Klamath, and Wasco and Wishram people, among others.