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.
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