Day 5- Back to Reality

This post is not as exciting as maybe the last few but you cannot live your life on vacation...or at least I haven’t found a way to yet, but believe me I am fast at work trying to find a one J. 

So day 5 started very early, I am talking at 4:30 am. We really did do ourselves (and our camping neighbors) a favor by doing the majority of the packing the night before. But we left a few things for the morning. We figured that it was worth it to pack our tent and our bed in the morning. Sleeping on the ground without a tent would be an interesting idea, but interesting ideas are not always GOOD ideas. I did mention before that adventure was the main purpose of this trip and packing up a tent and rolling up sleeping bags in the dark was an adventure J. We were louder (carrying a bag of empties to the recycling is not quiet) and brighter (had to use our lantern for some things) than we planned on being but one key factor that is not to be overlooked, since it was so dark and since we were gone when everyone else got up.....they cannot be sure who it was...genius!

We were all packed up and ready to go when 5 am rolled around. We were 80% sure we had everything and 20% didn’t particularly care if we did or not. We were still half asleep and trying to be as considerate as possible. Then we were off! I was in a strange sort of haze where I was obviously awake and coherent but still felt like I was in a dream like state, but don’t worry I was fine to drive J. It do not take long for Shannon to slip off into dream land and I did not interfere, she had done her job helping with the packing and we do not have the type of car that allows two people to drive at once so I had no reason to stop her. There is a strange calm when it comes to driving, running or really doing anything, at a time when you are, for all intents and purposes, alone in the world. I know it will not be a popular recommendation, but I will still recommend trying it sometime. It gives you a whole new perspective which can be especially refreshing for anyone living in big cities where you constantly have to share your environment with a large volume of people. It is not something I plan to make a habit of, but I appreciated it in the moment.

We decided to drive up the coast on the way home. It would take a bit longer than other available routes, but we budgeted for the time and were excited to take the scenic way home. After a few directional issues were ironed out with the GPS we had our route programmed in and we were ready to go. The early part of the drive was virtually uneventful. The sun was rising from the east and the water was to the west, plus on top of everything it was heavily overcast....and don’t forget still very dark out. It was a few hours and many miles before there was much of anything to see. Things started to pick up a bit after we stopped for a healthy sausage and egg mcmuffin as we were pushing through the veil of darkness. After that we took in some small fishing towns speckled along the river side when the road took us inland and some quaint beach towns located along the coast. Many picture opportunities missed by our camera but well established memories in our minds. It was a good thing that the roads were clear because I spent more time gazing at the coastline looking for an excuse to wetsuit up and catch a few waves, than I was on the road ahead. The waves were visually stimulating but not to the point where it warranted unpacking half the car to get my gear and repacking around a wet board and a soaked wetsuit. I did, however, start a list of places I want to visit my next time down the coast, and that was good enough in my books. Knowing that the water would be colder than a witches’ tit also helped keep me out of the water. I continued to drive until we hit the renowned Cannon Beach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_Beach,_Oregon). I did this for a chance to get out of the car to stretch and wake myself up, but I was not disappointed. It was beautiful! I imagine it would be beautiful anytime, in any weather, but the early morning fog gave it a ghostly, haunted feel, not creepy, more mysteriously engaging. We snapped some amazing landscape photos, traded positions in the car and were back on the road with my lovely wife behind the wheel.

It did not take long for me to check out of reality and into the Sandman Hotel (get it *nudge *nudge??). Our touristy stop at Cannon Beach was as much for the sightseeing as it was to avoid falling asleep behind the wheel. So, needless to say, I have very little to say about the next part of the trip. I awoke once while on a bridge with no land in sight, freaky but fun, and then regained consciousness close to Westport, WA our usual surfing destination. This brought back some good memories for us, but none that are really interesting enough to share in this post.

There were only a few other things worth mentioning on the ride back. One is the Quizno’s miracle, and two was the awesome time we made on the way back. The Quizno’s miracle was when Shannon told me that she really wanted to eat a Quizno’s sub for lunch and she wanted to eat between 10 and 10:15. Fast forward now to when the car clock moved from 9:59 to 10 and the roadside sign we passed immediately after was for a Quizno’s at the next exit....BOOM, mind blown! Second, I ordered an arrival time of 2pm and we arrived home at 2:15...not bad at all. Plenty of time to get to my ball game and on time....and we won the game too! Brilliant!

So that was our trip to Portland, and the Oregon Coast! I hope you enjoyed the tales of our travels! The next question is; what do we have to look forward to next? Well seeing as this took me sometime to get through (I do have a day job after all) I should have two more trips to write about, our random trip to Penticton and our Labor Day Classic Camping/Surfing trip in Westport. Stay tuned, I promise I will make it worth your while J.