October 31, 2008 — We drove north on I-5 today towards Portland. Since it is Friday — the most expensive day to get a hotel room, we decided to stay just outside of Portland in a little town called Wilsonville.
Our first impressions of Oregon are very positive. It feels familiar to us New Englanders — it feels like Maine, or the Berkshires or maybe even New York State. Only the mountains are bigger, the trees are straighter and the even though it is basically November 1, the leaves are still in full autumn colors and are still on the trees. The day temperatures are similar to Nashua — but the night temps are a lot milder.
Rainbow on I-5 highway
There is also a whole stretch that reminds us of central valley in California — lots of vineyards and other vegetables.
The hotel that we chose to stay at says a lot about the climate here. The buildings are not attached to each other and you must walk out doors to get from one floor to another. That tells us that it never gets too cold here.
Pumpkins outside of Coffee shop -- which one would you vote for?
We arrived in Wilsonville around 1:30 in the afternoon and we decided to stay in and relax (and do laundry). It is kind of nice to actually use the hotel room that we pay for! We went into Wilsonville to grab a bite to eat later in the afternoon. Cute town. I looked it up an it was only incorporated in 1969, so it is a rather new town.