Our crazy family vacation day two- Oregon is the Best State

(Multnomah falls and the old “I’m drinking this waterfall” shot)

So day two we got up and headed for Oregon.  Once over the border the elevation got higher and the weather finally cooled off a bit.  This was only my third time in Oregon and my first outside of Portland.  And I have become convinced that Oregon is the Best State, in terms of things it can help.

I don’t mean this to be an official state ranking because I haven’t even been to a majority of states.  At least count I was somewhere around a dozen.  I’m just saying that Oregon has made a lot of great choices and seems exceptionally well-run.

This may be old news, but all gas stations in Oregon are Full Service.  Several people have related this to me as- “you’re not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon” and I don’t like the way this sounds.  I prefer-

In Oregon, people pump your gas for you.  Because Oregon is nice, wants to employ people and isn’t trying make you do another job on top of the one you already have.

Mini rant-  While I’m on the subject, I refuse to bag my own groceries.  What’s next?  Ringing myself up?  OH YEAH, THAT’S PART OF WHAT I’D HAVE TO DO AS WELL IN THE SELF-CHECK-OUT LINE.  NO WAY ASSHOLES!

Oregon also has no sales tax.  $5 footlong at Subway costs… $5.  What genius thought of this?  I love you Oregon.  Also, their roads are nice, they have rest-stops that are clean and well maintained.  We stayed at a State Park and the showers were FREE!  Oregon not only provides nice facilities, but makes sure their campers aren’t stinky.

Mini-rant NUMBER TWO- I tried looking up state income tax rankings, and it turns out Oregon is on the higher end.  You know what state has even higher income taxes?  CALIFORNIA.  Have you been to a California rest-stop?  If you came here to visit from some sensible country, you were probably highly scarred by the experience.  The jewel of our city, Balboa Park, has public restrooms that are nightmarish (not all of them, just the ones by the children’s playgrounds… which really makes it worse), as does half of our public beaches.  San Diego is supposed to be a city inviting to tourists, hopefully none of whom are ever in need of a toilet.

What this says to me is that Oregon is run by competent, far-sighted people.  As opposed to my native California, which has been run for decades in the stupidest manner possible.  I’m still working to figure out why, but at this point I would point to- the ballot system and term limits, but let’s get back to Oregon.

There’s not much to say about what we did in Oregon because we mostly just drove straight up the I-5 to Portland, then over to Multnomah Falls.  We got lucky and found the last camp site at the nearby Ainsworth State Park.  To be continued…