True Confessions

Ok, I’ll admit it. I used to be a Gorge snob. Anything East of Mosier I thought to be, well, less than desirable.

I love the lush trees, mountains, and greenery. I was incredulous when Nebraska visitors say that they come here and feel ‘claustrophobic’. What?? It’s SO flat in NE. It feels like a cozy hug here.

My description of the Gorge east of Mosier would have contained words like dry, barren, ugly. I wondered what on earth people saw in “Eastern” Oregon??? Then we fell in love. With a building. We thrust ourselves into the very topography we felt was like Cinderella’s ugly step sister.

As we shared our excitement about the purchase of the hotel with friends and family we had a surprising number of responses like this, “Oh, I LOVE it there, it’s SO beautiful!!”

“Really? You’ve GOT to be kidding.” I thought (silently).  At least I had my wits about me to keep my mouth shut and let them revel in their memory moment. I politely nodded my head and smiled.

You know, it’s tough to admit all this, especially since our lives are here, our business is here, and now new friends and relationships are here in Dufur as well. It’s risky! Exposing my less than lovely first thoughts about a place we now call home.

The first fall we spent in Dufur working on the hotel we were surprised at how many people from Portland, Vancouver, and the Willamette Valley were ’out for a drive’ and stopped by to check out our project. What on earth were they doing out HERE we wondered? Well, after our first fall and winter we found out what the hub-bub was all about!!

Sunshine. Beautiful sunshine. Open spaces, rolling hills, stars, the rich lovely smell of alfalfa and harvest. People from the city crave it!! Yes, I’ve changed my tune. Drastically.

I still love the lush green forests in the Gorge. I like to visit them.

Here I love the sunshine, the smell of our neighbors wheat field in the evening, the cool air that wafts in nearly every night taking you from the 90’s to the 50’s, the sky. We have stars!! Lots of stars!! I love the soft flowing wave-like wheat as it matures in the early summer. My friends have marveled, stunned. They say it makes them dizzy and when driving they have to look away; it’s like waves of water rushing up the hill. I love that my neighbors will give me the key to the store after it’s closed. Often I’ll open my P.O. box to find a doggie treat for Kahlua and some human treats too! I love our little oasis at the hotel and the connections people have made. I love the love and emotion of a wedding and seeing the pride in a father’s face as he enjoys a moment before giving her away. I tear up at EVERY wedding thus far! I love the things that make us uniquely beautiful. – the people I meet, what photographers see. . .

Maybe this should be titled, “love story” instead of “true confessions”! It’s certainly turned out to be just that, a love affair. We feel so blessed to live here; there’s such abundance of beauty. Of course, when you love something you want to share so I invite you to come be captivated, changed, and amazed by this little slice of Oregon.