Pendleton, where I live, is a small town (about 17,000 people) located about 300 miles from any major cities. It's a very "Old West" type of place with many men wearing cowboy hats and boots as their daily attire, and there is also the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation located just 5 miles east of us. They have recently put in a casino, championship golf course, hotel, cultural institute, and are planning much more expansion. The biggest event every year is the Pendleton Round-Up, a 4-day rodeo that brings approximately 45,000 visitors to town every September. |
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| Grazing Lands in Eastern Oregon Rolling hills of arid grazing land cover an expanse of Eastern Oregon near Pendleton. USA. |
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| Pendleton, Oregon |
| Pendleton, Oregon, USA |
| Since just about everyone has heard a million things about the US, I will instead focus on Oregon State and the town of Pendleton in Eastern Oregon, where I now live. Oregon's landscape offers just about everything - beautiful beaches, huge mountains, rolling wheat fields, desert, lush green forests and hundreds of miles of sagebrush and rattlesnakes! Wind surfing on the great Columbia River is very popular, it is supposed to be one of the best places for windsurfing in the world. Portland, our only major city, has many exciting things to see and experience. There are also historical activities including tracing the Oregon Trail (the wagon ruts still exist in some places). Oregon's myriad of outdoor activities are why many people vacation here - skiing, fishing, hunting, boating, rock climbing, cycling, hiking, camping, rock hounding, snowmobiling.... it is a diverse, beautiful state with a little something for everyone. |
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I think that any visitor to Pendleton should come during the Round-Up, especially if they are interested in cowboy and Native American culture. I could also take them to a local racetrack (auto, not horses), spend a day at a working cattle ranch, attend a bluegrass music festival, etc. Someone expecting big-city type entertainment wouldn't probably enjoy a visit here, but anyone interested in western, small-town America would have a good time. |
| I would also make sure that they visited the Cultural Institute at the Reservation, which is a terrific presentation of native american culture, history and artifacts. |
| In the US, our most sacred holidays seem to be Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July (our Independence Day), but it really depends on your ethnic background and religion. My family most enjoys Thanksgiving, Christmas and St. Patrick's Day, because those are the times that we all gather together and spend quality time catching up on each others' lives. |
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| Hunting is a major pastime for many men (deer, elk, and many kinds of birds), as well as fishing. Many people spend a lot of time on the Columbia River enjoying water sports. Young people of course like to go out to the bars, almost every bar has Karaoke at least once a week. Some enjoy local auto racing (small tracks), skiing, snowmobiling, hiking... as you can see most of the activities here are outdoors. I grew up in an even smaller town (pop. 1400) in Eastern Oregon, and my childhood was idyllic. We played all over town all day long, and came home only for meals. We played the typical childhood games, tag and hide-and-seek, but we also caught crawdads in the creek, built treehouses, went fishing... it was a typical country childhood, and it was great. |
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Baseball is by far the most popular sport - around here our favorite team is the Seattle Mariners, who are very impressive this year! Also most people (especially men) enjoy American football and basketball. Soccer is also becoming very popular. People here also get very very involved in high school and college sports. I think there is too much emphasis on sports and not enough on education, but I must be in the minority. |
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Regarding how others perceive my country, I think some people may still believe in the "American Dream," and perhaps the US offers more opportunity than some countries, but there are many that are just as good. I think some people also see Americans as arrogant, and they are right to an extent. I think our government can be very arrogant, and it is not right to push our culture (or lack thereof) on other places. Like everywhere else in the world, we are not perfect. America is over-commercialized, over-concerned with money, prestige, youth and beauty. Big business has too much power. What makes me so proud to be an American is that we do have the freedom to be whoever we want, say whatever we want, believe whatever we wish, and those rights are protected by our police, courts and government. That is a remarkable opportunity, and we have had the luxury of growing up in a country that hasn't seen a war on its own soil since the Civil War, and is not likely to in the future. American culture is a combination of every culture. Everywhere you go in America you will find similarities, but also great differences. The US is so large and includes people from so many different cultures and walks of life, it's exciting just to visit another state Oregon is a great place to live, and fun place to visit. Come to Pendleton the second week of September and see how a very small town can throw a very big party! |
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| by Sofi Smith |
| Oregon - Outdoor Paradise and the Old West |
| To learn more about Oregon, Sofi recommends these sites: |
| Oregon http://www.oregon.com Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/main.html Tamastslikt Cultural Center http://www.tamastslikt.com/home.html Pendleton Chamber of Commerce http://www.pendleton-oregon.org/ Pendleton Round-Up http://www.pendletonroundup.com The East Oregonian (Where many of the photos for this Keepsake were taken from, good coverage of previous Round-Ups, plus a lot of other local information) http://www.eonow.com |
