Take a Refreshing cool vacation in Oregon’s rivers and lakes.

by Glenn Tuttle
(Reedsport Oregon)

Well I grew up on an Oregon river called the Umpqua river in a small town called Reedsport.

It was a great place to grow up if you liked the great outdoors.

For the 1st’ 18 years of my life I spent most of my free time hunting and fishing all over mostly douglas county, which encompased the Umpqua river watershed.

It wasen’t unusual for me to take my fathers 67 chevy 4X4 truck and scope out new and often unexplored fishing sites and hunting places.

When I wasen’t doing that I was down on the beach crawling around on the man made jettys that jutted far out into the ocean.

Fooling around on the sand dunes, or starting a campfire just for fun and staying late into the night.

Enjoying the four seasons was something I always looked forward to.

Autumn was my favorite time of year.

All the leaves turning brilliant colors of red’s and gold’s, purple’s and brown’s blended among all the douglas fir trees which stayed green all year around.

Autumn was the best time to fish the rivers and streams, Jumping from rock to rock fishing the holes all the little 3 ft waterfalls made over many years

When I was 18, work was a little scarce and my girlfriend and I were planning our future together, So her mother suggested I try the Air Force because it would give us a good life and a good starting point in life.
So I joined up and went away to basic training and then to airplane mechanic school right after.

My girlfriends brother was in the army and stationed in Germany so I asked to be stationed there also thinking that would be a cool surprise for my girl.

Well when I was ready to go home back to Oregon with my surprise orders for Germany my girl was with our mutual best friend, (I’ll bet that has never happened to anybody before).

So off to Germany I went, Not really wanting to go there but that didn’t matter, Orders were orders.

Well turns out my girlfriend was smarter than me, I had the time of my life.

Traveling every weekend to castle tours, Wine tours, Snow skiing year around,and the beer, Well let’s just say the beer in Germany is it’s own food group.

Well two years passed quickly and soon I was bound for Miami Fl.

"Wow", what a cool place, I had never been in a tropical environment before.

I had never imagined I would ever swim in the ocean, Even growing up on the Pacific Ocean it was always too cold.

So I there I was enjoying South Florida, South Beach and the keys, swimming, got my scuba license and life was good.

I always thought that I could go home to Oregon anytime I wanted to.

I finished up my tour of duty, decided to get out and do something else for awhile.

Well I bounced around from job to job a bit then I landed a solid job at a Dodge car dealership.

I had to eat right ?

Well there was this pretty young thing that always handed out the ketchup to everybody at burger king and I really like ketchup. (Another food group thing).

To make a long story short my happy ketchup baby and I wound up getting married, which was tough because she didn’t speak english and I don’t speak spanish, But with the help from friends, family, and complete strangers our relationship held.

We would drive all over Miami with 3 translating dictionaries trying to "talk" to each other, We finally ended up with our own version of "Spanglish".

Then about nine years later my wife had a big accident with a tree.

Among her many injuries were 2 open chest exploratory surgerys, a brain contusion, and paralysis from the waist down.

Well life just changed It was no longer "about me"

Things like that only happen to other people on tv.

So now what ?

Well one thing about me is I was never one to run away from my problems, so I looked in the mirror and told myself "it’s your turn so deal with it".

It soon became clear it was going to be tough to return back to Oregon due to the multitude of doctor specialist and therapy sessions she needed.

So, since I was missing Oregon a lot, the only place I could consistantly turn to was the internet.

Reading about my home town and looking at all the pictures and seeing the four seasons everybody was enjoying, I really grew homesick.

Oregon rivers Come see the beautiful Oregon rivers and discover why you must visit here at least once in your lifetime, But be careful you might never leave.

When you are Mt Hiking in the state of Oregon, there is no end to the amount of outdoor activity available to enjoy year round for anyone, no matter what age, physical condition, or skill level. The outdoor natural habitat of Oregon provides a wonderful landscape and playground for those who find it exhilarating to spend their spare time among Mother Nature and all that she has to offer.

One of the most amazing scenic byway’s to travel thru is just outside Oregon Beaverton a suburb community of Willamette River and follow the historic columbia river highway to Oregon Hood River and enjoy a town born out of mother nature with it’s own micro pub and wineries and while your there ask the locals about the 11 mile "Fruit Loop" tour.

Oregon has 5 climate zones to chose from, all with different ecology from rain soaked non-sub-tropical rain forest to high mountain desert that see’s less than 5 in. of rain per year and everything in between all within a few hour’s drive of each other.
So if you just want to relax with mother nature, or grab life by the horns and fly down class V rapids of come for the photography Oregon has it all.