Back…

We are back in Oregon.

I felt like I should have, but didn’t put an exclamation point behind that statement because I still feel a little weird about being back here.

We have actually been back for two and a half weeks, but it has been a whirlwind since we returned. We have driven to The Dalles, then drove to Walla Walla to visit with Brit and Collin (which was great to see them after so long away), then back to Bend for one night, just to drive to Medford to move my mom from one assisted living facility to another.

There were a number of things that we had forgotten about (or conveniently blocked from our memories) about living in Oregon.

Yup. We pulled into Bend on day one, greeted in perfect Central Oregon fashion by a seasonally inappropriate temperature for the day. That sign says it all.

Wearing puffy coats and pants, standing on a giant snowbank. I refused to wear shoes! Even on the snow in the blue Mountains. Unfortunately, I have now put shoes on ONE time in the last year and a half. No, not because of the snow, but because we were walking in the woods looking for morel mushrooms and there was poison ivy everywhere. Damnit. Had to wear shoes.

I haven’t seen snow covered mountains in a while. And I had definitely forgotten about how badly bug-splattered the windshield gets here. Mostly this is because the tuk tuk didn’t go fast enough to actually splatter the bugs. They were generally going faster than we were (it’s a bit demeaning constantly getting passed by flies and bees while driving).

After that whirlwind, and a week and half moving mom and helping her with life and getting settled, I felt like I needed something else. Something maybe a bit relaxing and healing, so I drove from Medford to Bend via the Oregon Coast (yeah, I know, that is not the shortest way possible).

We have been traveling in all these beautiful places for so long now, but I think I needed to re-experience some of what Oregon has to offer. The drive down the Smith River, through the Northern end of the redwood forest has always been one of my favorites, and it was a beautiful drive again. I made it into Brookings in the nick of time for a great sunset, a walk on the beach, and another half- hour of driving to Gold Beach.

It is amazing to me, that, even in early summer, you can find these great uncrowded spots. There were only a few people on this beach in Brookings, but it is expected to be crowded as it is right in town. Still though, not too many people around.

One of my favorite spots on the Oregon coast is the area around Bandon.

There is a great little kiteboarding spot on Floras Lake about twelve miles South of there.

Floras Lake

I had to stop in there and walk down to the dunes on the water’s edge because that is where Pete is buried.

Had to stop and say hi to the old guy.

Just outside of Bandon is a two-mile stretch of beach that is always gorgeous, uncrowded, and great for exploration.

It is a maze of crazy, wild, rock formations, cracks, caves, and spires to explore, set in a wild chaos of waves and moving water. As you can see, it is the definition of uncrowded. In my three hours of exploring and wandering, I saw less than ten people.

Which means that you can find all these cool things: like this dislodged kelp foot.

Or these crazy pieces of driftwood that find their way into the rocks.

Of course, driving North up the coast means you have to pass a bunch of Casinos. I am not a gambler, but Tam and I have always stopped by one or another of them to give them our money. Normally we limit ourselves to one hundred dollars, but I always feel guilty if I lose that much (especially now that I am an old retired guy). Driving through Coos Bay, I stopped at the Mill Casino, checked my pocket for the twenty-seven dollars in cash I had in there, and decided to go in and try my luck. Tradition is tradition, yes?

I lost the seven dollars in two tries, and was down to the last six bucks of that final twenty dollar bill when the machine started making a lot of noise. Over the next fifteen minutes of watching the machine play over a hundred bonus spins without me (I still wasn’t sure what was going on), I ended up winning some money! And, like the terrible gambler I am, I cashed out and hightailed it out of there before I got any crazy urges to play (lose) more. It actually helped to pay for some of the ridiculously expensive hotel prices on the coast.

Yeah, I won some bucks!

Over the years I have found a bunch of “private” walks and paces to explore up and down the coast, and one of my favorites is in Newport. It is strange that, for such a busy tourist town, nobody seems to walk to the South end of Nye Beach. It gets super wild down there. You can then walk around through the dunes and under the bridge for stunning views of the underside of the bridge and the bay, then continue walking up and around and right into the old waterfront (there is some amazing food at a place called Local Ocean down at the end of the waterfront).

It was really windy on Nye Beach, and me, with no kite gear. Bummer.

I love the effect of the wind moving sand over sand, and that it creates the most amazing art: intricate shapes and textures that seem so unlikely to form in nature.

Sand sculpture.

This walk of mine in Newport has the best views of the old Isaac Patterson bridge carrying the coast highway over the bay. This bridge was built in 1936, and it seems to me it has held up really well in all that saltwater and weather over the years.

It is still a beautiful structure.

And now we are back in Bend. We have a bunch of work to do on a couple of our rentals, and, in spite of being busy with that, we are trying to enjoy Oregon for what it is.

I have always said that Bend is the best, most idyllic summer anywhere in the world, and for two weeks or so every year it really is.

I did miss walking along the river on those beautiful early-summer nights, under a perfect Central Oregon sky still unsullied by fire-season. The air here is so noticeably clear. I love the tropics in a thousand ways, but hot humid climates do lack that crisp, infinite, clarity to the air you get up here.

Yes, it is pretty, it’s just so damned cold though.

I do miss my walks in the woods around here sometimes.

So, yes, we are back in Oregon, and I find myself balancing the good (friends and family) and the bad (its so fucking cold) fairly effectively, and despite all my passionate vociferations I am actually enjoying the time back here.

What remains to be seen is how long we can last here. Bend is great, but it lacks the one thing I absolutely have to have in my life every day now: the ocean. The warm, welcoming, clear, therapeutic, loving, and adventurous ocean. I already feel some withdrawals, feel myself getting a little twitchy for saltwater. We will see how it goes.

In the meantime, I will try to keep myself occupied with tasks and toys, productivity and play, friends and family. It shouldn’t be too hard, there are good friends around, and good conversations to be had over good beer and good whiskey. The wind is blowing in the gorge, and the weather is warming up.