Sometimes I feel blessed to live in this wonderful state of never ending beauty. A person can go from the ocean to the mountains then desert in a three hour drive. Then I hear those people on television and radios who pronounce Oregon, Oregone. So hopefully this humorous little article will help.                          

Lets look at the word Oregon, there is no E at the end so how can gon be pronounced gone. Maybe it should be Oregun. No matter how you pronounce this wonderful state it is still green on the west side of the state and arid on the east side of the Cascade mountains. Which separates the webfoots from the highlanders. On the west side you have a town every five miles or so, and have farms. Compared to the east side where there are ranches and you can travel hours with even seeing a house.

One can understand how hard it is trying to pronounce all the Native American names that are in this state so the confusion can some what be understood. Some towns are hard to pronounce, like Yaquina, Yoncalla, Mishawaka, and Tutuilla. There are some more familiar and easier places to pronounce in Oregon such as Umatilla, Umpqua, Tualatin, and Willamette (Go Bearcats). The pronunciation of these towns are hard but the beauty of these words when pronounced are just as beautiful as the towns that have these names. These towns can understand how confusing the pronunciation of there town is so no problems there, but most of us Oregonians have a problem when our state is pronounced Oregone. Maybe we should change the spelling to Orygun.                                                                                                    

Remember if you decide to visit Orygun we welcome you. Enjoy our coast, wineries, and mountains. Bring lots of money and spend it. We have some of the best fishing and hunting anywhere. Enjoy a walk along the magnificent beaches or in the wilderness along Crater Lake. Mt Bachelor, and Mt Hood have some of the best skiing anywhere. Yes there is still gold in the Orygun mountains free for the taking. No matter where or what you do be careful that you do no run into one of Oryguns biggest mysteries, Sasquach.