Summer is, and always has been, my favorite season. Growing up on the Oregon Coast, it felt like we had two seasons: Winter and summer. In between nearly nine months of nonstop rain, there were three glorious months of summer. Everything was green, lush and beautiful, and the humidity was always relatively low. Everyone and everything appeared to have been "re-born" once summer began, because people could actually leave their houses without getting wet (Oregonians don't believe in umbrellas).

As a child, my dad would take us up the Wilson River in Tillamook, Ore., and we would spend entire days swimming in the ice-cold river. At night, we would often take a 15-minute drive to watch the sunset on the Pacific Ocean. After the sunset, if we were really lucky, we would have hot chocolate with whipped cream at Roseanna's, one of the local restaurants near the beach, followed by a bonfire on the beach.