Photo by electra-cute
I’m sorry. You’re going to have to hear more about my beloved Oregon. Thank goodness, I didn’t move very far away after I got married. The south side of Seattle is close enough to the big city for me. True, I have to drive to get to my weekly events (class and church each week) and Todd has to really drive to get to his soccer games, but we love our neighborhood and we do love living where things are slower and kids meander home from school each day. I love that they race to it in cars in the morning and just shuffle along in the afternoon! I did the same thing! Ha!
Sure, we were in a cult, but we lived in Oregon, far away from cult headquarters or major ministry opportunities. This meant we had to fly to get anywhere near and while it was a hassle when we wanted to actually see people, it was a blessing when we just wanted to be left alone, far from it all on the West Coast, independent, enjoying the small things, not worrying about saving the world and whatnot.
From our perch on the side of our hill, the Willamette Valley stretched out like a patchwork of green fields as far as I could see. Only in the distance could I see the looming shadows of the coast range. When we were feeling too land bound, we would venture that way, through all those dazzling green fields, and up into the coast mountains, which after they put in the new highway, were gently looping and much easier to drive. But there were areas of that Corvallis to Newport highway that still harbored hairpin turns that are now embedded into my memories of Oregon. Often we would drive those corners in the family car, but as we got older, my sister or I would often volunteer to drive our own car.
We’d put on a cd of some movie soundtrack (usually Babe or Muppet’s Treasure Island; kid’s movies were our favorites and “approved”) and would sing and joke and laugh all the way through those hills. And then it was always with baited breath that we would come over that last hill and there was the Pacific, a giant mass of blue that one forgets is there because of the thick coast mountain forests.
Our first stop was usually Yaquina Beach with a lighthouse that my husband is still mesmerized by and usually whales breaching about 70 yards away. The beach is all rock, rounded smooth into marble-like pebbles. When the tide goes in and out they bounce off each other and make a ricochet sound that then echoes around the entire Bay. It’s my favorite place . . . until we get to the next stop.
Before Lincoln City is a small inlet called the Devil’s Punchbowl. Here surfers brave the crashing waves and my husband is strangely compelled to take hundreds of pictures of the churning water crashing into the rock. Here is where my friend and I saw a one-legged seagull! And where we’ve eaten our lunch countless times, enjoying the sunshine, or cowering in our car from the pounding rain.
And then Lincoln City and D Beach, a touristy spot where parking is hard to find and the beach is cut into two by a small, flowing stream. Our favorite lunch/dinner spot is here, the salmon and pasta is to die for (their cheeseburgers aren’t bad either). Here we sat the day after my brother’s wedding, just soaking up the sunshine, stifling a giggle as the baby niece fell head first into the stream and came up looking so surprised. No tears though!
Farther north is yet another favorite beach, at our usual hotel, with the most amazing breakfast spot!, and also quite populated on a sunny day, but we love it.
And on our way home, we’ll stop at Bethany Beach, park east of the highway and troop through the tunnel cut into the rock to get to the sand, just to gaze at the glittering ocean.
Hubby and I have recently discovered Pacific City, where you can drive your car out on the sand. A huge tourist attraction, but a fabulous beach nonetheless.
In Washington we live right by the water, even closer than I did in Oregon and hubby did in California. He often takes me to a pier/beach on the weekends where I just sit and watch the waters of Puget Sound, lapping, crashing, soothing.
My writing teacher lives on the edge of the Salish Sea and that’s my dream someday. A place to go for refuge where the water is bigger than the land. That’s a Good Thing.
{ 4 comments }
Oh. My. Goodness. Girl, you just described our FAVORITE family vacation spot when we were younguns! Devil’s Punchbowl? We’d stare at it for hours, and eat clam chowder at Mo’s.
And Bethany Beach? That’s where we’d camp for ten days with stacks of books to read. Lincoln City? That’s where we’d go to scour the second hand bookstores for treasures. Sigh. Such fabulous memories, my friend. Thank you! 
Krista, yes! I’d forgotten that we both vacationed on the Oregon coast. We were probably there at the same time a lot! Fantastic. My brother got married in 2008 just south of Lincoln City overlooking the beach, and it was fantastic!
….and all of those beloved trips to the used book stores! Oh, and remember we would drop off Dad and Nate at the miniture golf place….so we could shop a couple hours more of course! Love ya!
Yep! Oh those were the days! We should do it again sometime this spring. Daph would love it!
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