The Oregon of the East Coast

Pouring rain, taken from the deck.

I have an amazing, wonderful coworker named Mary. Being the amazing, wonderful person she is, Mary allowed Les and me to take our vacation in her cabin on the shores of Lake Champlain. It was gorgeous and, in the tradition of all our great vacations, it rained the whole time.

This led me to compare Vermont with the Pacific Northwest and I realized something, Vermont is the Oregon of the East Coast. Let's compare the two shall we?

Vermont is a lush, green state full of liberal, gay and granola people. Everywhere you look you see people with kayaks and bikes strapped to their vehicle, and bumper stickers and signs supporting legalizing marijuana and buying local food. The speed limit is lower than the states around it and the people actually drive the speed limit for the most part. The tax structure is extremely progressive. And when you say you are going on vacation there, everyone tells you to go see the place where they make that really awesome cheese.

Whereas Oregon is a lush, green state full of liberal, gay and granola people. Everywhere you look you see people with kayaks and bikes strapped to their vehicle, and bumper stickers and signs supporting legalizing marijuana and buying local food. The speed limit is lower than the states around it and the people actually drive the speed limit for the most part. The tax structure is extremely progressive. And when you say you are going on vacation there, everyone tells you to go see the place where they make that really awesome cheese.

I'm working on editing photos from this vacation now and will post more about it soon.

Lush and green, but is it Vermont or Oregon?