Oregon, a pacific northwest state, enjoys a diverse landscape including a scenic and windswept Pacific coastline, cascading mountain ranges, temperate rain forests and arid deserts. The states population is largely concentrated in the Willamette Valley, which stretches from Eugene in the south, second largest city in Oregon, through Corvallis and Salem (the capital and third largest) to Portland, Oregon's largest city. Bend, near the geographic center of the state, is one of the ten fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States.