Yes, you read that right. The perspective from a citizen of the PNW living in the South.
1. Georgia = Tennis Armpit
There’s nothing wrong with a little heat. It can get up to the 100’s occasionally in Central Oregon. But with Georgia, there’s 100 degree weather, a deceivingly clear sky, and still it feels as though I am breathing massive amounts of water.
2. Oregon Mountains vs. Georgia ‘mountains’
Georgia has a mountain range called the Appalachians and they all range around 6,500 feet tall. Snow isn’t even on these ‘bad boys’ all year long. In Central Oregon, there are mountains literally all around me that are all above 10,000 feet tall with snow all year long. I call for a movement to call this cute ‘mountain’ range, the Appalachian Hills.
3. Chain Restaurants
I don’t know if it’s because of the fact that I enjoy local everything or just because I grew up in Oregon. But there are chain restaurants all over the South! Bojangles, Chick-fil-a, Zaxby’s, Biscuitville, Cook-Out, and the all too famous, Waffle House. You might be asking yourself, what do they sell? They sell everything fried. That’s what they sell.
4. There’s Too Many Trees
There’s very few openings in between the trees here in Georgia. Me and a friend of mine from Georgia were driving around Georgia a few weeks ago. There was this open expanse where I could actually see hills rising above the trees in the background and I exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Look at the hills! They are beautiful!” She just looked at me and said, “Only people from the West Coast say things like that.”
5. Hipsters
I sure do hate using this word, but this is incredibly relevant. Oregon has an incredible abundance of originality in humans. Vaccuum museums, organic everything, transplanting bamboo, coffee everywhere, professional cuddlers (never hired one, but I respect their gifting), and even a Darth Vader riding a unicycle while playing the bagpipes with flames coming out. Other people might think they’re a hipster. But if you say you are, then you really aren’t.
6. Georgia Bugs & Spiders
Just stahp.
7. Rebel Flags
Never in my life have I physically seen a rebel flag. Until my 2nd day in Georgia. They double up on the back of trucks, hang higher than the American flag, and are even on clothing. I don’t know if I detest them because I believe in honoring authority, or because they are poorly designed.
8. Windy Roads
You would think that the roads of the west would be windy because of all of the nature you have to go around. But in fact, you generally go in a straight line in any direction until the road hits something that it can’t go through. Here in Gainesville, everything is built around a massive lake. And because of that, everything is 20 minutes away because you are constantly moving around this many fingered lake. This is the time when hovercars would be useful.
9. The Bible Belt
I have said this to AIM thousands of times, but evangelizing in the South is practically flipped upside down in comparison to Oregon. In Georgia, there has only been one person that I met who isn’t a Christian. Everyone here was raised in the church. In Oregon, atheists and ‘cool’ religions are breeded. Going out and asking someone in Portland if they want prayer, gets you death threats. Scary, blunt, but true.
10. Southern Hospitality
There hasn’t been a single house that I wasn’t completely welcomed into, here in the South. I love Oregon and all of the people that inhabit it. HOWEVER, it takes the most tragic of stories for someone to open their home up to you. While in Georgia, it takes a matter of you just walking by.
In conclusion: both states are odd, quirky, disastrous, and home to me.
