On Sunday my sister and I drove out to Pacific City (home of the dory fleet!) to meet up with an old friend and her husband and kids visiting from Texas. They are having an All Our In-Laws Camping Trip. Good times!!
My one day visit was perfect (Bec went back again today) -- I had all the fun of camping with none of the fuss. Well, there was a little self-generated fuss as we tried to not be completely horrible examples to the small children present. I think we did pretty well in the limited swearing department, but completely fell down in the area of responsible fire behavior.
One of my favorite moments came when the shy 5.5 year old middle child (and only boy) warmed to our presence enough to climb up in a tree and say "hey, I'm that guy! I'm THAT GUY, everyone!!" (That Guy, I soon found out = The Lorax.) This was topped many hours later when he was in another tree, but this time he was "YODALOR!" (who, as it happens, is a hybrid of Yoda and the Lorax.)
it was 80+ degrees and humid in portland when we left to go to the beach. It was 60 degrees and WINDY with lots of random huge flashes of lightning when we arrived in Pacific City. This did not seem to bother many (if any) of the surfers out enjoying the waves. They were all in wetsuits -- perhaps they are insulated against lightning? Or maybe they just think they are! Or maybe the lightning insulates against sharks, which seems like a safer bet than surfing without lightning? I have no idea. All I can say is that I was cold and there was a whole gaggle of surfers to the left of this photo. I love the Oregon coast in any weather, and that's the truth. My hair gets crazy curly under these wet air circumstances. (also the truth. Coiffure Confessionals!)
Mostly overcast all day, with about 20 minutes total where the sun would peek out long enough to fool us all into thinking that the clouds were blowing over. I keep falling for it!
My hair still smells like campfire 24 hours and a shampoo later.
Campfire Cuisine -- Pink marshmallows taste like you'd expect: an unholy yet strangely appealing mix of regular marshmallows and strawberry qwik. I think the urge to sample them came from the same dark, perverse place that urges me to try dubious Chinese restaurants in places like La Grande, Yakima and Milton Freewater. (one day I will have to type up the recipe for Yakima Chinese Almond Chicken. It can be assembled straight out of any gas station deli, as long as that deli has properly aged brown gravy.)
In summary, I love the beach all at once and one day at a time -- Yodalor sightings, strawberry marshmallows, foggy lightning sharks and all.
My one day visit was perfect (Bec went back again today) -- I had all the fun of camping with none of the fuss. Well, there was a little self-generated fuss as we tried to not be completely horrible examples to the small children present. I think we did pretty well in the limited swearing department, but completely fell down in the area of responsible fire behavior.
One of my favorite moments came when the shy 5.5 year old middle child (and only boy) warmed to our presence enough to climb up in a tree and say "hey, I'm that guy! I'm THAT GUY, everyone!!" (That Guy, I soon found out = The Lorax.) This was topped many hours later when he was in another tree, but this time he was "YODALOR!" (who, as it happens, is a hybrid of Yoda and the Lorax.)
it was 80+ degrees and humid in portland when we left to go to the beach. It was 60 degrees and WINDY with lots of random huge flashes of lightning when we arrived in Pacific City. This did not seem to bother many (if any) of the surfers out enjoying the waves. They were all in wetsuits -- perhaps they are insulated against lightning? Or maybe they just think they are! Or maybe the lightning insulates against sharks, which seems like a safer bet than surfing without lightning? I have no idea. All I can say is that I was cold and there was a whole gaggle of surfers to the left of this photo. I love the Oregon coast in any weather, and that's the truth. My hair gets crazy curly under these wet air circumstances. (also the truth. Coiffure Confessionals!)
Mostly overcast all day, with about 20 minutes total where the sun would peek out long enough to fool us all into thinking that the clouds were blowing over. I keep falling for it!
My hair still smells like campfire 24 hours and a shampoo later.
Campfire Cuisine -- Pink marshmallows taste like you'd expect: an unholy yet strangely appealing mix of regular marshmallows and strawberry qwik. I think the urge to sample them came from the same dark, perverse place that urges me to try dubious Chinese restaurants in places like La Grande, Yakima and Milton Freewater. (one day I will have to type up the recipe for Yakima Chinese Almond Chicken. It can be assembled straight out of any gas station deli, as long as that deli has properly aged brown gravy.)
In summary, I love the beach all at once and one day at a time -- Yodalor sightings, strawberry marshmallows, foggy lightning sharks and all.
