Welcome to "Forever on Our Mind: 1,859 Love Letters to Oregon"
Introducing my brand-new weekly newsletter
Welcome!
Ten years ago, I stumbled across a new ad campaign from Travel Oregon that touted the 7 Wonders of Oregon. In just 60 seconds, I saw the ruggedness of the Oregon Coast, the technicolor landscapes of the Painted Hills, and the angular granite peaks of the Wallowa Mountains.
Until then, I’d only really spent my life in the top-left corner of the Beaver State. To me, Oregon was forests. Craggy cliffs. Mount Hood. It was waterfalls.
And, as that commercial showed, it was so much more.
Almost immediately, I started plotting trips to every corner of the state. I camped on the shore of Wallowa Lake, visited every brewery on the Bend Ale Trail, and drove all 363 miles of the Oregon Coastline—a few times. For a while there, if I wasn’t traveling around Oregon, it’s because I was home and planning my next trip around Oregon.
In the decade since that first commercial rearranged every synapse in my brain, I’ve been obsessed with Oregon—even turning my love of the state into a writing career that’s included hundreds of articles and three guidebooks for Moon Travel Guides.
Today, on Oregon’s birthday, I’m taking that to the next level by announcing Forever on Our Mind: 1,859 Love Letters to Oregon.
What’s This All About?
In my first decade of travel around Oregon, I’ve accumulated countless stories about my time with the people, places, and attractions that make the state so special. I’ve written some first-person essays about those experiences, all under the guise of eventually self-publishing a book about my travels.
I shelved that project for years while I focused on work that had a more immediate pay-off. (Freelance life, you know?) Eventually, enough friends asked about those stories and encouraged me to do something with the unpublished essays, so I figured I’d finally oblige them. And that’s what this newsletter is all about.
Starting Monday, I’ll share one essay each week from my travels around Oregon. Some will be serious and introspective, some will be lighthearted, and some fall in the mushy middle. Some will be three paragraphs, and others will be 3,000 words; most will fall somewhere in between.
Over the coming weeks and months, you’ll read about (among other topics):
My attempt to eat a steak the size of my head in the Oregon Outback
That time I bared it all for the World Naked Bike Ride in Portland
Drinking dozens of stouts amid stilt walkers, ice carvers, and blacksmiths at Fort George Brewery’s Festival of Dark Arts
Falling in love with Silver Falls State Park
Through these essays, I hope to share my personal experiences—along with some history and insight into what makes each worth celebrating as an essential part of Oregon’s culture. And if they inspire you to hit the road for your own Oregon adventure, all the better.
(Also: Why 1,859? Oregon became a state on February 14, 1859, so the number made sense. Besides, I couldn’t narrow the number of reasons to love Oregon down to anything smaller than that.)
How Do I Subscribe—or Unsubscribe?
If you want to subscribe and are reading this in your email client, good news: You’re already in! I migrated my audience from Substack and will send this newsletter through Buttondown. If you’re reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded you this email, you can subscribe here.
If you subscribed to my old Substack at some point and lost interest when I never did anything with it—it’s been a while, I wouldn’t blame you—feel free to unsubscribe at the bottom of this email. No hard feelings—promise!
How Do I Support Your Work?
I’m so glad you asked! If you’d like to support this newsletter, you may do so through the Buy Me a Coffee platform—click the button below to get started:
Basically, that lets you chip in a few bucks to support my work—with an option for an ongoing monthly donation.
Full disclosure: I don’t currently have plans for paid subscriber perks. That may change in the future, but for now: Whatever you donate goes toward supporting my work as a writer, the eventual book that will come from this, and my travels around Oregon. If you decide not to donate, I’d love for you to share your favorite essays with friends and loved ones.
I’m grateful for whatever you decide to contribute—even if that contribution is your time. It all matters. More than anything, I’m glad we’re on this journey together.
What’s This About a Book?
Oh yeah: When I’ve written all the essays, I’ll clean them up and turn it all into a book. But we’ll get to that soon enough. For now, I have 1,859 love letters to Oregon to write and share with you.
See you on Monday,
Matt