*Placid, Oregon, USA

Placid, originally uploaded by Tomaocron.

*placid [ˈplæsɪd]
adj
having a calm appearance or nature
[from Latin placidus peaceful; related to placēre to please]
=========================
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries respectively.
The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843; the Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 30th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 582,130 (2009 estimate) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area.
The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the most densely populated and agriculturally productive region of the state, and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities. Oregon's 2000 population was about 3.5 million, a 20.3% increase over 1990; it is estimated to have reached 3.8 million by 2008. Oregon's largest for-profit private employer is Intel, located in the Silicon Forest area on Portland's west side.
The state has 199 public school districts, with Portland Public Schools as the largest. There are 17 community colleges, and seven publicly financed colleges in the Oregon University System. Oregon State University in Corvallis and the University of Oregon in Eugene are the two flagship universities of the state, while Portland State University has the largest enrollment.
Major highways include Interstate 5 which runs the entire north-south length of the state, Interstate 84 that runs east-west, U.S. Route 97 that crosses the middle of the state, U.S. Route 101 that travels the entire coastline, and U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 26 that run east-west, among many other highways. Portland International Airport is the busiest commercial airport in the state and is operated as part of the Port of Portland, the state's busiest port. Rail service includes Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway freight service, Amtrak passenger service, as well as light rail and street car routes in the Portland metro area.
Oregon enjoys a diverse landscape including a scenic and windswept Pacific coastline, the volcanoes of a rugged and glaciated Cascade Mountain Range, dense evergreen forests, and high desert across much of the eastern portion of the state. The towering Douglas firs and redwoods along the rainy Western Oregon coast provide a dramatic contrast with the lower density and fire prone pine tree and juniper forests covering portions of the Eastern half of the state. The eastern portion of the state also includes semi-arid scrublands, prairies, deserts, and meadows. These drier areas stretch east from Central Oregon. Mount Hood is the highest point in the state at 11,249 feet (3,429 m). Crater Lake National Park is the only national park in Oregon. Oregon is the United States' leader in forest fires[citation needed]; in 2007 the state had more than 1,000 of them.

more @: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler

Cape Kiwanda Oregon City, USA

Cape Kiwanda - 2010, originally uploaded by Jesse Estes.

This is the beautiful Cape Kiwanda area in Pacific City Oregon. I left the house at 4:30am in hopes of catching a nice sunrise on the coast. This is always hit or miss (usually miss), but on this particular morning, I wasn’t dissapointed. Those are 20 foot swells crashing into the sandstone cliffs below.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler






travel

USA, Mount Jefferson

Mount Jefferson, originally uploaded by Media Lizzy.

Mount Jefferson
is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, the Cascade Range and is the second-highest mountain in Oregon. Situated in the far northeastern corner of Linn County about 60 miles (97 km) east of Corvallis, Jefferson is in a rugged wilderness and is thus one of the hardest volcanoes to reach in the Cascades though USFS road 1044 does come within 4 miles (6.4 km) of the summit. Many people consider Jefferson's craggy, deeply glacially scarred appearance to be especially beautiful and photogenic.
The peak has therefore frequently served as a backdrop for automobile and alcohol advertisements in the United States.
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Το Όρεγκον (αγγλικά: Oregon) είναι μία από τις 50 πολιτείες των ΗΠΑ. Βρίσκεται στην δυτική ακτή των ΗΠΑ και βρέχεται από τον Ειρηνικό Ωκεανό.
Πρωτεύουσα του Όρεγκον είναι το Σάλεμ αλλά η μεγαλύτερη πόλη είναι το Πόρτλαντ. Πληθυσμιακά βρίσκεται στην 27η θέση σε σχέση με τις άλλες πολιτείες ,καθώς έχει πάνω από 3,7 εκατομμύρια κατοίκους, ενώ όσον αφορά την έκταση το Όρεγκον βρίσκεται στην 9η θέση.
Το επίσημο σύνθημα της πολιτείας είναι το λατινικό Alis volat propriis που σημαίνει Πετά με τα δικά της φτερά.