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Old World and Scenic City on the Pacific Coast

February 27, 2008

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Old, World, and, Scenic, City, on, the, Pacific, Coast

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Medford, a City the Railroad Built

February 27, 2008

Medford traces its origin in the early 1880's to the construction of the railroad that runs through the heart of the Bear Creek Valley. The decision of the Oregon and California Railroad Company to construct the railway in what is now known as Medford is what gave birth to this city, which originally had only 400 inhabitants.

Originally known as Middleford due to its geographic feature since it crosses the stream of Middle Creek, railroad engineer David Loring shortened the name to Medford as he was from a town of the same name in Massachusetts. It was incorporated as a town on February 24, 1885 and is governed by a board of trustees, an early prototype of what is now the present City Council. From 1955, Medford is governed under the Council-Manager form of government, with the Mayor and an eight-member Council serving as the governing body, responsible for appointing a City Manager as well as providing executive direction; the City Manager serves as the chief administrative officer of Medford’s different city departments.

Medford has developed from a dusty, small town with unpaved roads to become the largest city in Southern Oregon; it is the seat of the Jackson County Government and has become a booming regional trade center.

It is fondly referred to as The Center of the Rogue Valley and is Southern Oregon’s most diverse city in terms of businesses and population. It is home to unspoiled surroundings of historic wealth, cultural attractions, and rich tracts of farming land.

Medford also has a host of award-winning wineries, creameries and gourmet artisan chocolate facilities. Its recreational facilities offer hiking, biking, skiing, rafting and fresh water fishing. In Medford is also Oregon’s only National Park, Crater Lake and the Oregon Caves, which visitors to the area would surely enjoy, and take pleasure from.

One of Medford’s main pride is its 175-acre golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., which Golf Digest rated 4-1/2 stars!

Outdoor enthusiasts can take their fill of fun boating, shooting the rapids at the Rogue River, and thrill to the exciting ride in a jet boat excursion down the Hellgate Canyon! Medford also offers 23 hiking trails aside from chute skiing in a glacial cirque called the bowl, even during nighttime!

However, not everything Medford offers is for athletic and sporty types of visitors. The city is also home to over 120 specialty stores and shops at the Rogue Valley Mall, where people can shop till they drop, tax-free! The wide choices of goods offered at Medford’s specialty shops and antique stores would really make a visitor go wild over the available choices and low prices. It is a shopper’s heaven!

The quaint town of Medford has become a visitor’s destination in Southern Oregon and has not lost its genteel appeal for a slow-paced life and healthy, clean living. The city takes pride in the fact that it is now the acknowledged as the business, medical and preferred residential center of southern Oregon.

Medford, a, City, the, Railroad, Built

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Hood River, World Capital of Windsurfing

February 27, 2008

Hood River County in Oregon is strategically located at the center of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Agriculture, lumber and tourism are the main sources of revenue and commerce in the county. However, the region’s rich natural resources also make the valley so fertile that Hood River is acknowledged as the world’s leader in Anjou pear production. The pears, apples, cherries and peaches grown in the Hood River orchards are extraordinarily of very high quality because of the county’s exceptional and advantageous location in gorge. People from all over Oregon and neighboring areas make it a point to regularly visit Hood River just to stock up on the area’s fresh produce, which are available by season.

Hood River has two ports and boat basins which does double duty both as a commercial and leisure boating anchorage especially during the summer season, a time when the local population dramatically increases with the influx of thousands of visitors from all parts of the country and even abroad.

However, Hood River is famous worldwide not only for its delicious fruits such as apples, pears, cherries, and peaches because of its unique and fertile location but also claims prominence for the breathtaking and picturesque view it offers to visitors of the impressive snowcapped peak of Mt. Hood. Aside from these, Hood River’s latest claim to worldwide fame is as the acknowledged wind surfing capital of the world. Hood River is considered as the Mecca of wind surfers all over the world. The strong, swirling winds from the Columbia River Gorge generate the best and most perfect conditions for riding the waves that the place has become a regular venue of both local and international windsurfing competitions.

There is also the Mt. Hood Scenic Railroad where old railcars of years gone by are pulled by diesel locomotives that offer regular day trips through the town’s amazing apple and pear orchards. Visitors can also choose from the many train rides available including a mystery train ride, a dinner train ride, a brunch train ride, and even a Christmas train ride that allows you to pick a Christmas tree in Parkdale that you can take home with you as a souvenir.
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Crown Point, Columbia River, and Multnomah Falls have all contributed to making Hood River a famous tourist and recreational center not only among Americans but also among people from around the world. The town is always a busy place for both amateur and professional windsurfers who want to take on the challenge of surfing at Columbia River Gorge even for just one time in their lives.

Hood River is an impressive place to visit with all of its water sports activities including whitewater rafting and kayaking, shopping, sightseeing, and year-round skiing facilities. It has a wide variety of antique shops, great food, and one of Oregon’s best winery. There is also The Hood River County Historical Museum with pioneer-era artifacts and exhibits of Hood River’s history on display.

Hood, River, World, Capital, of, Windsurfing,

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Beaverton � Oregon�s City of Parks and Greener

February 27, 2008

Beaverton is a bustling community that is part of the Portland-Vancouver, Oregon-Washington metropolitan area located in Washington County. It sits near the Williamette and Columbia Rivers and derived its name from an old Indian settlement called Chakeipi – Place of the Beaver – that its early settlers translated as Beaver Dam until it was eventually changed to Beaverton. The farming community’s growth was stimulated by a railroad built in 1868. In the year 1893, the City of Beaverton was incorporated with an initial population of only 400 residents. Beaverton is the fifth largest city in Oregon and the largest incorporated city of Washington County.

Originally, the Tualatin Valley and what is now the Beaverton area is the ancestral domain of Native American Indians who call themselves the Atfalatis. They are a hunter-gatherer tribe that rely more on plants than animals for their food, clothing materials, and houses. White settlers however mispronounced the name as Tualatin.

Visitors to Beaverton are welcome to play in its highly rated golf courses and experience diverse recreational activities such as outdoor summer concerts, art galleries, museums, a remarkable and extraordinary farmers market, award-winning wineries, hot air ballooning, county fairs and festivals. The community also offers natural, historic and scenic day trips, waterskiing, camping, hiking and fishing activities to locals and tourists. There are adequate and well-maintained public swimming pools, tennis courts, and softball fields available for the use of residents and visitors alike.

Beaverton’s Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District provides access to a 30-mile network of hiking trails and a 25-mile bike path network throughout the Beaverton area.

Beaverton residents have regular access to a wide range of public services and amenities including Portland’s metropolitan west side’s biggest shopping district and numerous churches for the various religions of people who live in the area. Even more remarkable about Beaverton is the vast expanse of Green Space its residents are provided with. The city has more than 100 parks with a combined area of more than 1,000 acres. Every home in Beaverton is located within half a mile of a park at the most.

Residents are able to enjoy great outdoor living to the maximum all year round - rolling hills, rivers, verdant forests, wetlands, ski slopes and beaches are all barely an hour's drive from the city.

One event visitors would not like to miss is the weekly Beaverton Farmers Market which showcases the area’s most excellent agricultural products delivered in the morning right after harvest or picking and sold by the growers themselves. Approximately 90 to 100 vegetable and fruit growers, gather every Saturday to sell their produce in a carnival-style market environment that includes live music. Beaverton residents and their neighbors who prefer an old-fashioned farmer’s market experience has made the weekend market a habit. It has become an institution, a place to shop and have a taste from the wealth of the produce, artisan foods, plants and flowers grown in the rich and fertile soils of the Pacific Northwest.

Beaverton, �, Oregon�s, City, of, Parks, and, Greenery

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Ashland, Picturesque Vacation Spot in the Foothill

February 27, 2008

Ashland City in Jackson County, Oregon, lies near the northern California border nestled in the south end of Rogue Valley, in the foothills of a snowcapped peak, surrounded by mountains. The name Ashland derives from Ashland County, Ohio and Ashland, Kentucky where some of its original settlers and founders Abel Helman, brothers Eber and James Emery, Robert Hargadine and others originally came from.

Originally, what is now Ashland City, is the former ancestral home of the Shasta Indians and a well-known trail among hunters and trappers along the Siskiyou Trail; the Donation Land Act and the discovery of gold near Jacksonville set off an influx of white settlers into the Rogue Valley from other parts of the United States which set off a violent conflict between the settlers and the Shastas until the mid-1850s.

The area officially became known as Ashland Mills in 1855; in 1871, the United States Post Office dropped Mills from its name. In 1872, Reverend Skidmore founded the Ashland Academy, which later became the Southern Oregon Normal School and what is now the Southern Oregon University.

It is an important and strategic rail trade connection between Oregon and California from the 19th century into the first quarter of the 20th century; rail trade greatly contributed to its economy, and made Ashland’s orchard products famous. Most notable is the Ashland peach, which garnered top honors at the 1893 World's Fair held in Chicago.

Ashland City is renowned among local and foreign tourists for its Mt. Ashland Ski Resort, Valley Orchards, Rogue River, Rogue River National Forest, Crater Lake National Park, Peter Britt Music Festival, Klamath National Forest, Emigrant Lake Reservoir, Ashland Ice Rink, Stewart State Park, Valley of the Rogue State Park, Casey State Park, and Rogue River Round-Up.

It is also famous for its annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which held its initial performance in the 1993 Fourth of July celebration. The efforts of Angus L. Bowmer paid off as the festival developed to become what is now an award-winning and nationally acclaimed regional theater company. The Shakespeare Festival, which attracts thousands of tourists annually, traces its origins in the Chautauqua movement, which introduced cultural entertainment to rural areas of the country. In that time, residents of Southern Oregon and Northern California travelled to Ashland to watch performers John Phillip Sousa and William Jennings Bryan perform during Ashland Chautauqua's 10-day seasons. At present, the outdoor festival has become a regular attraction in Ashland from February to October, which includes both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean plays in three venues.

The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory, also in Ashland, is the world's only crime laboratory dedicated to wildlife, and serves law enforcement agencies in the United States and other parts of the world.

The population of Ashland is generally comprised residents who have lived in the area for generations, and émigrés from urban areas of the neighboring states who prefer a more relaxed and better quality of life. Tourism incomes make up a significant portion of Ashland's economy. Hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, and restaurants support visitors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as well as other attractions in the area. Ashland City’s five largest employers are Southern Oregon University, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland Public Schools, Ashland Community Hospital and the City Government.

Ashland, Picturesque, Vacation, Spot, in, the, Foothill

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