Oregon Coast

In the seventeen years I have lived in California, I have long heard about the remote, rugged coastlines that lies north of the state border. It wasn't until last year however, that I felt the calling to go and see the Pacific Ocean in the North. Thankfully, my adventurous family was up for a road trip that would allow us to touch, explore, experience a place that we discovered felt welcomingly remote, ruggedly beautiful and full of surprises. Some days were foggy, other days sunny. Both brought deep breaths of awe at a coastline that is unique and inspiring.

For close to 300 miles, from Brookings to Tillamook (were were veered East) we drove, stopping randomly at beaches, beach towns and eateries, all the while having the sense that we were witnessing sea/landscape that welcomed the hearty and the confident. For many of the small towns were far and few between and many of the conveniences of modern civilization, like box stores and cell phone service lay somewhere east, over mountains and valleys.

As we drove North, I could feel the energy of those who first settled the land that met the ocean. I found myself a bit envious of life that while strenuous, was aligned with the natural world. I also couldn't help but wonder what it was like for the first Europeans to cross a harsh and challenging continent, ending in the vast Pacific Ocean. It felt to me that one would think they reached the end of the world; happy and content but with reality long settled in, that life along the Oregon Coast was not for the faint but for those who could appreciate all that encompassed the far removed place.
During our many stops, we found shells, jellyfish, crab, stones and a few human friends. The sea and rock seemed so much darker than what this East Coast native was used to on the Atlantic Ocean, some 3000 miles east.  And I fell in love; with all it.