in the winter, when it drizzles

I know I do a lot of complaining about the winter weather (it's too wet! it's too cold! it's too wet! did I mention that it's raining?), but truth be told, there's a certain shiny shimmery quality to the Oregon sky in February that is hard to beat, particularly near the ocean. (This is just a little background so I can get to the part of my road trip on Saturday that involves the giant Elvis portrait with EYES THAT FOLLOW. eyes that follow, people!) But as I was saying about nature and its many wonders...

The photo on the top is from the Baskett Slough, which is between Salem and the Ocean. There are many ways to get to the central coast from Portland -- this time my companions and I decided to drive straight down I-5 to Salem/Keizer and hang a right, drive over the mountains and then ta-dah, the ocean. Whichever road we choose usually takes about two hours and it is worth every single minute every single time. I did not see any of the bald eagles which are alleged to winter at the slough, but I did see geese. I probably could have seen more, but I got cold and hungry so I went back to the car.

Once we got to Lincoln City we had to eat before doing anything else. (collective blood sugar is one of the most important things to monitor on any road trip longer than 2 hours, for the safety and sanity of all involved.) We ended up eating at this diner-style place that had the aforementioned Giant Head of Elvis mounted in the women's bathroom. So bizarre yet hilarious!! It was a photo glued to a huge slab of wood and finished with a thick coat of resin. Just like the Mona Lisa, his eyes followed me wherever I went. Unlike the Mona Lisa, he was wearing a red plaid shirt.

It started raining in earnest while we were having lunch, so we did a little shopping then headed down south to the Devil's Punchbowl by way of Cape Foulweather. I thought for sure there would be a lot of surfers out, but despite being a saturday it was relatively deserted.



The photo above was taken on our way back north after visiting the punchbowl. The rain (which was COLD, I might add), had just stopped. We pulled over because the silver on the water was so beautiful. and also because of the...




I do some of my best thinking while riding or driving in the car. Something about the motion or the rhythm of the road lends itself to problem solving, or at least working out what the problem might be. I had already made peace with a lot of the things that have been bothering me of late (mostly with the reminder 'Don't Borrow Trouble' which I should have reverse-tattooed on my forehead), so this rainbow vision was like an affirmation: Rainbow Agrees; Everything's Gonna Be All Right. If I had been desperately grasping for some kind of "sign," I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten one -- somehow that makes seeing the rainbow when I did a lovely bit of synchronicity I won't soon forget. (I suspect Watchful Elvis will be on my mind as well.)