Yes, this is the very first blog post for “Things To Do In Portland, Oregon.”
Writing it feels like getting on a bike and trying to peddle uphill for those first wobbly few feet, until you finally gain… momentum.
One of the first things that fascinated me when I arrived in Portland, Oregon, after living in the parched Arizona desert, was the moss growing everywhere — especially the plush moss carpeting the trees, and how screaming green ferns sprout straight out of the moss — creating little microcosms outside my living room window.
For some reason the natural creativity and resourcefulness of this made me laugh. It was a bit like seeing a mouse riding on a cat, riding on a dog. Which, strangely enough, is something I’ve actually seen at a roadside attraction.
Somehow everyone gets along and enjoys the ride — which is much like Portland, itself. There’s a lot of symbiotic fusion without a lot of honking.
So this fern-moss-tree trio makes a happy sight. You see it all over Portland and throughout the northwest on forest hikes, in front yards, along major highways, and in shopping center parking lots.
The ferns proliferate in the winter and scale back during the dry season.
Little squirrelly feet run up and down the trees all day, loosening and knocking off the moss, which comes raining down in clumps from on high.
This fascinates Greystone, the co-author and fact checker of this blog to no end.
And, if you see people in Portland with clumps of moss in their hair, you know why.
At the height of summer much of the fern action is gone… but not to worry. As soon as the rain kicks back in, the moss and ferns spring forth again, making the trees look like emerald vertical gardens.
And once again, I’m laughing at this little Portland miracle.
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