for winter blues

February in the Willamette Valley is not a time of excessive flash and glamor. It doesn’t represent the state’s best angles, makes it near impossible for her to ever find her light. This is the month when the residents are generally clamoring for an escape. They see the cabin fever creeping up in the distance, a fate impossible to outrun in mud boots and damp attitudes. California. Hawaii. Mexico. These are the ones stealing our rainedout hearts this time of year. Hell, even neighbor Bend can tempt our most loyal members the second February steps in to play its one gray note. The truth is, however, that this place, at this time, is its own brand of good-looking. The diehards know this. And so does Photojournalism student

Kalissa Clark. Venturing to the Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge, she documented all that flourishes this time of year, all the brightness this valley has to offer. So don’t be fooled. Oregon’s fog and drizzle is actually just smoke and mirrors — this state has beauty in spades.