Every single summer it happens. The skies turn from gray to blue, the temperature is a perfect mix between warm and hot and the scenery of Oregon is the most beautiful it will ever be. These 3 months of the year make us never want to leave Oregon. It is, truly, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen at this time of year. Summer in Oregon is pure perfection.

Our summer has been filled with BBQs, beaches, friends and adventures – it’s flying by WAY too fast! It’s the middle of July already?! How did that even happen?

This past month has been packed with “let’s go somewhere!” types of weekends (not that this is any different than any other month). My little sister was here over the 4th of July and it’s always fun to have someone from out of town come to visit because I absolutely LOVE showing off this city. We spent the first night at Cartopia – a Portland staple – eating delicious food from a mouth-watering array of food cart choices; this is also a prime spot for some great people watching. Not exactly knowing what’s “cool” or “not cool” to a 16- year old, I took her to Oaks Park on the 4th of July (our closest thing to an amusement park). It’s definitely no Six Flags but hey…it’s all we’ve got. Plus the Screamin’ Eagle is actually a pretty good ride. The weather was absolutely perfect and again…outrageously great people watching. We ended the night watching fireworks from the dock on the river which is only a block from our apartment.

After celebrating the 4th we headed to the coast! If you have never been to or seen the Oregon coast I would highly recommend adding it to your list of “Places to See Before I Die” – it’s incredible. We call it the “coast” and not the “beach” because no one really treats it like a beach. It’s too cold to swim, it’s generally in the 50’s or 60’s for temperature and, in a lot of places, there are just cliffs that drop off into the ocean. However, there are these freak summer weekends when our desolate sandy beaches are actually…beaches! It’s actually really strange to see people in their swimsuits on the Oregon coast but when the weather is nice and warm here…nothing in the world beats it.

We had to say goodbye to Alyssa last week – it’s always so hard to say bye to family since I don’t have any family members that live here. Thankfully, Kile’s family lives close so I have my in-laws nearby which is awesome. We’re able to BBQ and hang out outside while we watch our adorable niece and nephew play. Ahh yes…summers in Oregon.

And of course there’s the camping. Hands down one of our all-time favorite things to do in the summer. What’s better than spending time in nature, having beers with friends by a campfire and waking up to the amazing smells and sounds of the Pacific Northwest? Nothing. Nothing at all. We’ve been cramming in as much camping as possible (when we’re not tied up with other plans) because come the fall, it’s just really not that fun (this is when you move to yurts!). We had a super fun trip out to Mt. Hood a couple weeks ago and camped with a bunch of friends – played bocci ball, amazingly didn’t hurt anyone with a bow & arrow, schooled everyone in Cards Against Humanity and basked in the sun. Pure perfection of a weekend.

These 3 months of the year make it extremely hard to think that we want to pack up and leave. A good friend showed me an amazingly written blog called So Many Places. I love the way Kim writes. Her and her husband are living their dream which is uncannily similar to mine and Kile’s (selling everything they own, bouncing from country to country, etc.) – she has a post from the beginning of their journey about their last day in Portland (yeah! she was in Portland too!) and how emotional it was to say goodbye to everyone and everything. I was crying just reading it because I have a feeling I will be feeling the exact same way she was, I’ll be a complete mess. Why would we ever want to leave such a beautiful place with so many great friends? Sometimes we’re not really sure. All we know for certain is that we’re going to enjoy this summer to the fullest. Who knows? This could be close to one of our last ones here!