Southern Oregon this Appraiser's perspective

I think less often now of the Mendocino Coast. When I first arrived in Jacksonville, Oregon in December of 2006, I could not get the magnificent Coastal Redwoods out of my mind, and the hillsides of Southern Oregon paled by comparison. Yesterday morning however I did not recall the massive trees, as I gazed at the south facing hillside from my office window. The sun was just sticking it's nose over the hills to the east and there were many flat-bottomed clouds hanging over the valley. The mosaic created by the new grass, rock outcroppings, the sun's light brushing just the top of each undulation of the hillside, and the cloud shadows made me smile. Who would have thought 2 years earlier that I would be looking upon the "barren hillsides" with such awe. As I have said often when I describe what I like about Southern Oregon, "It's just a different kind of beauty".  Here there is also the excitement that comes with the changing of the seasons - on the coast it is ALWAYS green. Last summer I bought a couple of Dawn Redwoods, thinking that I would plant them and have "Redwoods". Around October they died - or so I thought. Fortunately I didn't throw them away, just put their pots in out of the way places to be filled by other prospective trees in months to come. In March I stumbled on one tree and the leaves were pushing themselves out of the dry stick of a trunk. It turns out that the Dawn Redwood is really a relative of the Bald Cypress and is deciduous! Imagine that!