Became an Oregonian by Accident
By Andy Van Oostrum
Portland, Oregon
It must have been around 1986, when I was in Junior High back in SW Oklahoma. I picked up a Consumer Report, and read about the quality of life in Oregon. The weather, bike paths, access to the mountains and ocean, were too much to imagine for a 7th grader living in the scrub brush, dealing with extreme heat, cold, wind, rain, drought, and floods on a daily basis. From that day on, I decided that Oregon was the place for me.
Low and behold, on my first day at University in Japan, the first person I met (who I would also end up marrying) was a native Oregonian. After graduation and a few years working in San Francisco, we packed up our apartment, put everything in Portland storage, and bought 1 way tickets to Paris with no near future plans of returning. That flight turned out to be on the morning of 9/11, and our one way trip turned into a 3 month tour.
Here we are 7 years later with 2 kids, a house, and no intention on living anywhere else.
