NaBloPoMo Begins

[hollyking]

Since I’m thinking about writing some short fiction and it’s NaBloPoMo I thought I would post some things I have written before. So here is a comparative essay I wrote for a creative writing class. It’s not my favorite because I had to change a lot of it to satisfy the teacher. Enjoy!

Before 1996, I would have never thought about moving to Oregon. I would not have thought about visiting Oregon if a business meeting had not brought me here in July 1996. Instead of flying to the meeting, my wife and I decided to drive. I had visited the other corners of the country and wanted to look at what the Northwest had to offer. One trip through the Columbia Gorge on a sunny day and we were hooked. I knew that Oregon was the place for me and after two years, I have taken some time to think about the differences between Missouri and Oregon.

When my wife and I first arrived in Oregon, it was February. We had just driven for four days and were amazed at how green everything was. In Missouri where I had grown up, winter turned all the grass and plants brown and all the trees lost their leaves. There were evergreen trees to be sure, but not anywhere close to the numbers we were seeing in Oregon. As the trees gained their coats of leaves and the grass began to grow, Missouri becomes just as green. During autumn, the leaves turn the Ozark hills into a mass of colors. Red, orange, yellow, brown and even purple dot the hills as far as you can see. In Oregon, most of the trees keep their green color; the few trees that do change color make up for quantity with quality. The vibrant red of the maple trees reach out and smack you in the head to say, “I’m red! Look at me!”

The next major difference I found was the weather. I had been warned by lots of people that it rains all the time in Oregon. Well after a couple of seasons here I can state with authority that it doesn’t rain much more in Oregon than it does in Missouri. The difference is that in Oregon it rains a little bit each day during the rainy season. In Missouri, the skies open up and dump enough precipitation to make you wonder how long is a cubit. There are long stretches of time between the rains. The yearly total for Portland and Kansas City is just a few inches apart.

Missouri wins the ribbon for hottest and coldest seasons. I think that the proximity of the ocean works to keep the weather in Oregon stable. Growing up in Missouri I can remember months of single digit temperatures and triple digit temperatures. I can only think of a handful of days in Oregon that came close to matching the extremes of Missouri. Even when the temperature is sometimes over 100 degrees in Oregon, as soon as the sun goes down so does the temperature, while the humidity in Missouri works to keep the daily high and low a few degrees apart.

Oregon gets my vote for fun and entertainment. Not only can I go to the beach and play whenever I want, but we have Mount Hood close by too. The best you can do for a beach in Missouri is down by a riverside or on one of the lakes in the Ozarks. Mount Hood is great because I can go play in the snow whenever I get the urge and then I get to come home. If I wanted to play in the snow in Missouri, I would have to wait for the snow. After playing, the snow is still around to causing traffic problems and backaches.

Even though I was raised in Missouri, I call Oregon my home. Both states have their beauty and unique traits, but I have seen all that Missouri has to offer. Oregon still has a wide frontier for me to explore. I’m glad I chose to drive out here that summer, otherwise I would have never seen the beauty of Oregon and I wouldn’t be here today.