Every time I visit my home state of Oregon, which incidentally usually occurs during the summer, I breathe in the state and enjoy my time to its fullest. Family, friends, green as far as the eye can see, inexpensive (relatively speaking) housing, roadside wild blackberries, no sales tax, no getting out of the car to pump your gas; Oregon is easy living at its best. After a visit, I need to remind myself that the wonderland of greatness in the summer turns into a sunless, rainy, gray, borderline depressive state during the remaining eight, sometimes nine months of the year.  Continue reading the cure for homesickness in a dip →