oregon
today i went for a tour of the area surrounding redmond, or. situated near the centre of the state, the terrain is relatively flat, with less grass than you’d expect and mostly scrubby small trees. i guess there’s not too much rainfall here. i could look that one up, but who cares.
coffee stands and barber shops
there are countless drive through coffee stands. they are in every parking lot. there are also many, many barber shops. it’s funny to joke about the abundance of coffee shops back home, but there is what seems to be an unsustainable number of them here.
prineville
prineville is perfect small town USA. everything is old masonry and two story buildings. bought a coffee from a lady who used a home espresso machine to make it. there were postcards for sale, some of them used. most were from the great smoky mountains, which are across the continent. three were from victoria. none of them were from prineville. the place looks like everyone opened the shop of their dreams but somehow none of them went out of business. how can a tiny town support a large store dedicated to quilting?
bend
bend is a great town on the deschutes river. i had a croissant in a cafe that was a converted waterfront house with the requisite coffee pun name “the looney bean”. felt like oak bay if oak bay had useful shops. someone had tied the leash of their cat to a fence as they went into a shop. the cat didn’t really like bicycles.
in summary
oregon is the best place to find yourself. i checked the department of state’s website and it looks like they are just now issuing green cards to people who applied six years ago. that’s for business-sponsored educated people who have a job offer.
