The Baby Boomer Oregon 8

Where Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep.

Walking past a local salon full of baby boomer women with a friend who said, “Looks like they’re doing good business in there.”

He moved here from the Midwest and prides himself on a certain standard of beauty.

“I’m not sure why so many Oregon women go to beauty salons,” I said. “We’ve got so much natural beauty already.”

He was quiet. After a few steps he stopped to explain. “Natural beauty? Like a mountain, the Columbia Gorge, or a sunset? We’re talking about women who work to keep themselves up. That’s why they’re in there.”

This is a man who knows beauty. He’s a landscape artist, a clean freak, and someone with a sharp eye. I trust his judgment, but not on this.

“Oregon women could skip the treatments and still be better looking than the rest of America,” I said.

We walked on.

“That’s nice if you never leave Oregon,” he said. “For the rest of us, we know better. An eight in Oregon is a six and a half where I come from.”

He broke out the rating system? Men who break out the 1-10 ratings past college need to grow up. NW Boomer is one of them because of things like The Oregon 8.

It’s not fair, but why not leave it alone? Because Boomers meddle in things better off left alone. This is one of them.

Which cities have the most beautiful women? New York is the fashion capital, LA the film capital. From the media representation, they must be crawling with knock-outs. And they are, but does that make them the top?

Ranker.com doesn’t think so. Their list starts with Minnesota, then Michigan. Maybe my Midwest buddy has a point? No, because ranker.com uses celebrities born in those states as proof of beauty.

A better standard is the states with the most Miss Americas? Let’s give it a try.

California comes in with six Miss Americas, followed by Ohio and Oklahoma also with six. Then it’s Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania with five each.

Down at the bottom you’ll find Oregon with one Miss America along with seven other states.

Is this my pal’s proof? Not at all. Here’s why:

Beautiful women in Oregon come in all ages. They don’t peak at eighteen then slide. Because the state itself is one of the most gorgeous in the Union, local lovelies don’t always jump at every chance to show off.

They would rather hike Mt. Hood than spend a weekend in Seaside indoors. Even the current Miss Oregon brings something different to the contest. Allison Cook’s pageant platform: Athletic Concussion Awareness. Her talent: electro-acoustic violin. If that doesn’t spell knockout, what does?

Oregon fills all it’s citizens with the wonder of natural beauty. Meet an Oregonian out of state and ask about their homeland. They practically gush with praise. I know I do.

If you rank a set of people for their appearance, widen the scope and take a bigger sample. Oregon the beautiful makes us all better looking.

What about that Oregon 8? They’d be an 11 in other states. In photos with a baby boomer blogger in a beer hat, they’d be 12.