oregon flowers – Tales from the Hutt

Early March, 2024

Oregon is simply magnificent in the spring.

Seriously – I love New England, and can’t wait to explore (and love, I hope) Europe, but I can’t imagine anywhere else in the world that has the same explosion of flowering growth that Oregon does in the spring. It’s staggering – it really feels like one day there’s empty tree limbs, and the next day the entire world is covered in the beautifully delicate flowers falling from Dogwoods, Magnolias, and Cherry Trees.

Alongside the explosion of flowers, the warm days have crested over us pretty solidly at this point. Shorts and tee shirts are the name of the game, and the Mustang is getting a lot of top-down driving time in. It’s lovely, beautiful, and all of those great adjectives that make us all happy for the growing things in the world.

I won’t wax on any further… instead, just enjoy some of the beautiful views that I’ve had:

Sunday, 30-Apr-2023

I’ve been hearing about the Wooden Shoe tulip festival since… well, pretty much since I first moved to Oregon. That whole time, I’ve loved the idea of going, strolling the rows, and enjoying the ridiculous colors. I’ve… kind of always wanted to go with a partner, so we can be all cutesy together… but you know. First things first. Gotta go.

This year, I came close to locking down both goals!

I wasn’t quite able to get both goals completed unfortunately, due to a bit of a mix-up in terms of temporal coordination, but I did get the chance to wander the fields and appreciate the ridiculous colors!

I came close to strolling and being cutesy too – Jess and I totally did, but we didn’t have much time to do so unfortunately… thanks to that previously mentioned temporal coordination mix-up.

Anyways the morning started great, we had a nice quick breakfast, and Jess raced off on her bike toward the festival. See, she was volunteering with a photography booth… specifically, a dog photography booth! Raising money for a nearby shelter, they’d take donations from folks in trade for a professional photoshoot – Jess had the enviable role of assisting with the pups, which I was super jealous of… but not quite jealous enough to get moving as early as she had to be.

Instead, I took my time in the morning, and caught up with her at the festival itself… unfortunately, with maybe 30min to spare before she had to head out to her next adventure of the day. Coordination issues, as I mentioned. But still, we used the time as best we could, and then she was off on the motorcycle and I was off to stroll the lanes and appreciate the sheer magnitude of colors, all backdropped against a gloriously moody sky.