Thoughts About My New Home in the Northwest

Despite the fact I've been here for more than 10 years it still feels like a new  place to me, and I’m not exactly sure why. Perhaps because there are so many places we haven't seen or visited within the huge area of land that the Pacific Northwest actually encompasses. From my perspective these are Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. As far as Idaho, only been there once and I really don’t consider it part of the quintessentially northwest mentality and identity, as the other three regions are to my mind. Sometimes I’d like to claim northern California as far as San Francisco as part of the roaming area of a Northwestener, but that would be a stretch. San Francisco, nevertheless, is an agreeable city to a true Northwestener. Another aspect I love so much about this area is that people don’t realize how young this section of Northwest America actually is, at least from the perspective of non-native American new comers. Seattle was founded around 1850, for example. If you look at the city and its surroundings now it’s really hard to believe, since 160 years is really not a long time at all. As far as the beauty of this place, it is hard to exaggerate but we should never forget it is the result of a very active mother nature.  Anyways, I am happy we made this place home and I hope Mount Rainier will not decide to explode anytime soon and that the big tectonic faults around here stay quiet for a while!

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