Transition: Italy to Oregon

That's all the travel information I have for Italy at this time, but I will always hope to go back. There are lots of places that I haven't seen, and even if there weren't there are still wonderful cousins.

One thing we have talked about is them coming to visit us. For family visits, it is easier to send people from the one family in the States to Italy then to bring all of them here, but it would still be nice to get some of them here and show them what Oregon has to offer.

There are a lot of things to think about there. Travel involves the sites that are beautiful or interesting, but it also involves how normal life goes.

So even in a fairly localized area here, there are many ways of experiencing Oregon. If you want to do your mountain climbing and biking and hiking and windsurfing, that is one type of experience. Going to a Timbers game would be a different one. (Though it would probably seem pretty tame to them.)

Even just showing them pizza in America would raise questions. Chicago Deep Dish is a legitimate style, perhaps hard to find here, but then there is think crust New York style too. Completely different; both valid.

(I feel comfortable saying that, though if I were from Chicago or New York I think that could get me in trouble.)

So we could order Pizza Hut or Domino's, and that would be one type of experience, or Schmizza or Nonna Emilia's, and none of them would be like what we get in Vicenza; which would be most important to experience? If I wanted to introduce them to casseroles for American food, or a steakhouse or a place that focuses on fresh local food, those are all possibilities. Personally I think one of the best things about here is that we have restaurants with food from so many different countries. I don't really go out for US food.

I guess food carts would be a necessity.

The next few posts will cover places we have gone as a family in Oregon this summer. Close may not be exactly the right word, because they include jaunts to The Dalles and Florence (the Oregon Coast is way different from being on the Adriatic), but they were all day trips.

And while I value those trips on their own and for the blogging material, there is always that question, would I want to share this with my cousins? Would they enjoy this thing more, or that other thing? There never enough time for everything, so you have to choose.