International Caroline’s Day

Caroline Wise and John Wise in our corner of the ghetto, Arizona

It’s about 5:30 in the afternoon and the sun is low in the sky. Caroline and I had walked to the store and on our way back I noticed how beautiful her face was in the glow of the setting sun, so we had to stop on the edge of traffic and grab a photo. To those who might have thought her face color was due to the reflection off my shirt or that somehow she’d gone King Cheeto on me, both thoughts are wrong.

That today is International Women’s Day seems like a great reason to pause in my lament series and share a photo of the most important woman in my life. It’s simultaneously unbelievable and wonderful that somehow she and I have been walking hand in hand (always my right and her left as they just seem to fit better that way) for over 30 years. I certainly see my aging face like that of a man growing older but a lot of that has to do with the gray hair I’ve been cultivating. On the other hand, when I look into Caroline’s eyes I see exactly the woman I’d first fell in love with and it seems like hardly a day has passed.

While we’re apart during the middle of the day we try to chat at one another at least once an hour, much longer than that, and the pining to reach out becomes unbearable and one or the other will leave a nudge, a smile, a kiss, hug, or expression of affection that lets the other know they are almost constantly in their heart and thoughts.

Tomorrow Caroline will be away with some ladies working on their looms learning some new technique or other and I’ll be missing her a little bit more because on those days when she’s deep in her craft of exploring the world of fiber arts, I know her concentration is a little more focused than at other times and can understand that our communication is a bit less intense. All the same, I’ll think of her often and look forward to the latter part of the day when we’ll be back together so I can celebrate another moment of International Caroline’s Day.

Heli Jafar

Yesterday didn’t work out, but today did. Jeffrey has been trying to get me to go flying with him in his jet helicopter for nearly 6 months. Back in the summer, I wouldn’t go because he was getting out to the hangar in Mesa by 7:00 a.m. due to the heat of the day and the fact that his copter doesn’t have air-conditioning. As it cooled down our schedules simply weren’t coinciding to allow me to go up with him. Truth be known I also needed Jeffrey to get over 200 hours in the pilot’s seat so I could rest assured that he knew what he was doing.

Fountain Hills, Arizona

Of course, I should have trusted him more than that, as he has been after this goal since October 2015 when he started flying lessons. So he and I met up and drove out to Mesa this morning and by 9:30 we were in the air flying out over Fountain Hills towards Carefree. His takeoff was perfect though I think he took measured steps when we began hovering while he gauged how much weight I added to his bird. Towards our east side, things were hazy and getting cloudy and by the time we reached our turn around point, we were only about 200 feet below the clouds which put us flying somewhere near 1,000 feet over the desert.

To the west, the sky was relatively clear and after passing over a V-shaped wedge in the McDowell Mountains just left of Tom’s Thumb we were soon over Fountain Hills again. From there we turned west to buzz a corner of Scottsdale and then pointed the helicopter southeast for the quick trek back to Mesa.

Was I nervous at all? Of course, I was. But it turns out that Jeffrey is an excellent pilot attentive to every detail with great focus on everything around him. From take-off to landing he moved assuredly through every maneuver. Prior to take-off, he went through a comprehensive check of all systems while visually inspecting all key areas that are essential to the proper function of this craft that is a million times cooler than any Ferrari.

Will I go up with him again? Absolutely and most likely that will be as early as next week. I shot some video today that I hope to edit into a short clip this weekend, though as I write that I’m thinking that I should consider something more in-depth that talks to him about his motivation and ambition that got him here. To that end, I gifted him a blog website on his birthday last year where he could write about his adventure. While he’s not very vigilant in that effort, it can be found at HeliJafar.

Oregon Coast – Day 9

The Inside Range of Coos Bay in Charleston, Oregon

The bittersweet last full day doing the vacationy stuff is at hand. The goal is not to dwell on this being an end but an incredible gift of a day that will stand out in a singular fashion of having been a great collection of moments in its own right. I try my best when we are out on epic journeys not to see their conclusion, so much as an appreciation of the idea that asked, “What if this were the only day in my entire life to be out here and this had always been my dream to be right here on a day such as this?”

If you read yesterday’s overly long post, you’d know that we stayed at Sunset Bay State Park last night. What I hadn’t shared is that once more, we slept in one of our favorite dwellings ever: the mighty yurt. From there, the nearest breakfast joint is in Charleston, where we stopped at the new-to-us Cape Cafe. Soon after, we were out driving around town near the Inside Range of Coos Bay when we snapped this photo. I don’t know about you, but this looks about as perfect as perfect gets.

Cape Arago Lighthouse in Coos Bay, Oregon

Cape Arago is home to one of the four lighthouses on the Oregon coast that cannot be visited by the general public. Even seeing this one is a bit off the beaten path, and this is about as close as one gets. Also, this isn’t the original lighthouse that first stood here back in 1866; that one was built further to the left, but erosion threatened it, so it was ultimately moved. Then, the second lighthouse was also in danger of being lost to the encroaching sea, and so finally, in 1935, this current structure was built. Until 2013, there was an old bridge to the island, but without maintenance, it had degraded to the point that it was finally removed. Prior to Europeans/Americans setting up shop here, there’s evidence that the Coos indigenous people had a village out on the island. The other island on the left in the foreground is called Qochyax, pronounced “Quay-KEE-awk,”  which means “women and children” in the Coos language.

Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon, Oregon

Nothing like the call of nature to direct where we head next. Typically, a state park is a safe bet when it doesn’t look like we’ll be hitting a town for a while, and so it was that we pulled into Bullards Beach State Park. Seeing we’re here, we simply must go up over the dune for a walk along the ocean on such a beautiful day.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon, Oregon

These are the faces of contented happiness where the chill wind is a welcome reminder that we are still in Oregon. While I’ve wished it before, I’ll wish it again with a plea that we could easily take sound photos so that years from now, we could also listen to the ocean in the background when returning to this blogged memory. We probably walked around here forever until reaching the edge of infinity, where the horizon of time started to fade, so as much as we would have liked to have never left, we decided that we’d leave anyway as infinity is only so big.

The Famous Langlois Hot Dog in Langlois, Oregon

Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind;” with those sage words, we try to pay attention to all that is around us; otherwise, we risk missing important details. Good thing we saw the sign directing us to try the World Famous Langlois Hot Dog. We weren’t really hungry yet, but we were not going to miss the chance to experience something that has gained the attention of people around our planet. We ordered but one of the dogs in order to split it and verify if the claims rang true with us. One bite of this spectacular wiener, and we ordered another. Hailing from Frankfurt obviously makes Caroline an expert in Frankfurters, and my being married to one also makes me an expert. And while these wieners are a bit short and stubby, they are still greatly satisfying. Where exactly does one find a World Famous Langlois Hot Dog? Why in Langlois, Oregon, at the Langlois Market served by the Langloisese. This probably leaves you wondering just what is a Langlois. It’s a disused French word meaning England.

Beach south of Cape Blanco Lighthouse in Port Orford, Oregon

We are on the verge of straining to stand up against a fierce wind blowing over the bluff here at Cape Blanco in Port Orford. Not only is it piercingly cold, but occasionally, the wind carries tiny drops of rain, though maybe it’s bringing ocean spray from the crashing waves below.

These kinds of scenes ignite a spark of imagination where my mind kicks into wondering about our primordial beginnings. Long before creatures had arrived on primitive lands, prior even to the arrival of plants, our still naked earth would have spent eons with a hostile atmosphere, the only witness to these views. Here and there, the sun would poke through the clouds to illuminate a tiny spot on the ocean while not a soul in the eternity of the universe was ever on hand to see what was at work behind the cloak of evolution. Lands were forming and convulsing while magma ran over the surface to extend the reach of where we humans would one day walk along a shore. After billions of years, we should be so lucky to bask in this symphony that plays the elements with a skill mostly unknown to those who gaze into this abyss.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse in Port Orford, Oregon

Cape Blanco Lighthouse is an elusive outpost we are yet to pillage with our senses. Someday, we may arrive during the time of year they welcome visitors, but so far, we are consistently here at the wrong time of year. You may wonder what our shared fascination is with lighthouses. They are one of those intrinsically interwoven icons taken from the tales of the mariner. The lighthouse speaks to the symbiotic relationship between land and sea, man and machine. This beacon worked to help the seafarer navigate the treacherous coastal waters while transporting their cargo of people and treasure, be that food, products from another area, or gold itself. During times of stormy weather, the lighthouse received the full force of the gale, and in the cold dark of night, it was the job of the keeper to maintain the beam that can reach 50 miles (80 km) out to sea. It is that light that allowed the oceangoing traveler to know they were about to be safe once again as they landed on terra firma. The lone sentinel in the night is such a romantic notion that it sits squarely on our bookshelf of dreams.

Chicken Bomb from Wild Oaks Grill in Port Orford, Oregon

We drove right by Wild Oaks Grill on the side of the road on the outskirts of Port Orford, but then Caroline told me this place was getting some great reviews, so we pulled a quick U-turn and headed right over. Rob, the owner, greeted us and told us all about the process he uses to smoke everything he makes. He has a knack for doing everything large, including today’s special, “The Chicken Bomb.” This concoction is only for the serious of appetite and could easily sate two, maybe three, people. What is it? It’s a homemade sausage stuffed into a chicken breast filled with cream cheese and then wrapped in bacon before the entire thing goes into the smoker. The mac and cheese that was served was a spicy mix of jalapenos and habanero and was introduced to the smoker as well. Rob serves up some quality BBQ, but his less-than-ideal location leaves him looking for new digs farther south. We’ll be stopping in on our next visit to Oregon should we find ourselves in his neck of the woods again.

Shark Fin Rock at Gold Beach in Oregon

I feel that I’ve shared a photo of this location too many times already, but I cannot find a previous post of it. Maybe I never identified it formally, and so I am being denied finding it. This is Shark Fin Rock at Meyers Creek Beach near Gold Beach. Off in the distance, where the sun is still shining through, and behind these clouds on the left is sunny California, just a mere 35 miles away. Oregon has arranged the cloud cover to scare away the hordes from their southern neighbor who might otherwise recognize that the Oregon Coast is a magnitude more beautiful than theirs and consequently start migrating north.

Samuel H. Boardman Monument on the Oregon Coast

Then, like a wink to those who are already up north, the sun peeks out to reassure us that its golden light is never far away. This view and the monument reflecting the sun is in honor of Samuel H. Boardman, the Oregon State Parks Superintendent who oversaw the establishment of the state’s roadside parks. The lands put to the side are an amazing collection of beautiful places that no one landowner is able to monopolize. The views are permanently available to all of us who make the effort to travel this coastal road and the highways that supply access to the parks on the interior.

Caroline Wise at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon

On our first visit to the coast of Oregon 15 years ago, we stayed right here at Harris Beach State Park in the Winchuck yurt. Tonight, we are staying in Chetco, named after the local indigenous people of southern Oregon and the river that runs through Brookings.

Caroline Wise at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon

All those years ago, these yurts were a lot cheaper to rent per night in the offseason than they are now, but they still represent one of the best bargains for being close to the ocean. Driving up from Arizona, we are able to bring all the bedding we want. Wrapped up and ready to unroll is a sheet atop a Pendleton blanket (made in Oregon, 550 miles away in the northeast corner of the state) and our feather comforter.

Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon

With the heater on, the bed made, and Caroline and I set up at the small desk, the only thing missing is the patter of raindrops on the canvas roof. We can hear the low rumble of the ocean that’s only a couple hundred feet away as we smile at one another and revel in how perfect these cozy moments are. If today were the only vacation journey of our lives, it would have been the most amazing experience anyone has ever had. To see it any other way would mean that we had become jaded and undeserving of seeing the magic all around us.

Oregon Coast – Day 5

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon

It’s windy out here at Cannon Beach in the shadow of the Haystack Rock. Prior to venturing out on the beach, we’d walked down the street to one of our least favorite breakfast establishments called the Pig ‘N Pancake. There are times along the Oregon Coast when choices may not be many. Early, as in well before 8:00 in the morning on certain days, the only option might be this coastal version of IHOP. We certainly prefer the funky little joints instead of the chains.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

The wind was intermittently kicking up with a bit of driving rain thrown in, ensuring those of us who wear glasses would try avoiding walking into it. After dinner last night, we’d heard the area was supposed to get hit with a gale starting in the late afternoon today, but there is conflicting information on the internet, so who knows? And in any case, that’s later.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Sleepy Monk coffee in Cannon Beach, Oregon

What is out here right now is wetness. So, we are using the falling rain as an excuse for taking refuge at the Sleepy Monk coffee shop. Caroline is plugged into an audiobook while she whittles away at knitting my next pair of socks with yarn we’d collected in Vienna, Austria, this past summer. I’ve got the notebook propped open, trying to find words to accompany some of the images from this traditional journey along the Oregon coast we seem to be on every Thanksgiving.

Bathroom art at Insomnia Coffee in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Our goal for the day should be stated as to just what we are trying to accomplish here and that is nothing. From our sheltered outdoor table, we stepped next door to the Cannon Beach Hardware & Public House for some lunch. Their motto is “Screw and Brew,” and might be the only hardware store in all of Oregon, or along the Pacific coast for that matter, that sells wrenches and lunch all from the same place.

Caroline Wise knitting socks at Insomnia Coffee in Cannon Beach, Oregon

As the Sleepy Monk reached the end of their business day at 3:00, we had no choice but to transfer to Insomnia, a coffee shop that stays open until 5:00. The wind is certainly picking up as the day progresses, but it is still a far cry from a gale-force onslaught. After we closed Insomnia, it was dark already, and it felt that we were keeping with our lazy day ethos by grabbing an early dinner. Back in our room, I found enough wakefulness to play with patch cables and knobs on the synthesizer while Caroline, buried in the couch next to the fire, finished the first sock of my new pair.

Going to sleep with the wind howling was a chore, and by 11:30, we lost the electricity for nearly 30 minutes before it popped back on, only to go out again 15 minutes later. Not sure this rose to the level of a gale, but the wind hammered at the trees and drove the rain hard on our roof making for a fitful night of sleep for me while Caroline slept soundly through most of it.

Oregon Coast – Day 4

I could have posted a photo of our yurt from the night before, but I’ve probably posted that exact yurt half a dozen other times. Last night, though, we had a new experience here on the coast as we stayed in a cabin, and so here’s a photo of that deluxe cabin complete with shower, toilet, and rudimentary kitchen. Was it worth $100, considering we had to supply bedding and head to the store to buy two towels? Nope. Had we been better prepared with wood for the fire pit, coals for the barbecue, and had a couple of friends with us it would have been a great deal. While I’ve said it before, it bears repeating that coastal Oregon State Parks are amazing for their proximity to the ocean and their fully equipped campgrounds.

You are looking at the mouth of the Columbia River and the endpoint of Lewis & Clark’s journey across the western United States. It’s blustery out here and significantly colder than other places along the coast we’ve been so far, must be cold air blowing in from Washington across the river.

From there, we drove into Warrenton to find some breakfast at Arnie’s Cafe. They do a great job, so great that you have to wait for a table. Breakfast foods don’t often photograph well, so instead; I present you with a small lake we drove by after our morning feast.

We checked in with Fort Clatsop National Historical Park to make sure Caroline wasn’t missing any levels from her Junior Ranger badges, as she thought there was an award she didn’t have. Turns out there was a consolidation of awards so she already had everything she would ever earn here. While in the visitors center, I noticed a road through part of the park we’d not previously traveled and so that’s where this part of the story picks up. We are at Netul Landing, taking a walk over to the South Slough Trail.

The first part of the path is flat and takes us along the Lewis & Clark River. We could stay on this trail, which would bring us back to the visitors center, where we could turn left and hit the “Fort To Sea Trail,” which is a 6.1-mile hike, but we are more interested in the slough today.

At a fork with a sign pointing to “Steep Trail,” we crossed the road and nearly immediately climbed the equivalent of about 15 flights of stairs (not pictured). This was a thigh-burning climb that had us thinking that we wouldn’t want to go down the same path on a wet trail. Fortunately, it’s a loop, so there won’t be any backtracking today.

The area shows heavy evidence of a clear-cut done in the past with large old tree trunks still rotting on the steep hillside. The entire area, including the slough, is going through restoration to restore the habitat that had been left in ruin.

How long has this tree been dead? How long until what remains today no longer does so? Time and nature provided the fertile ground where the tree lived, performing its job of helping keep the surrounding soil stabilized thus allowing the other plant and animal life to also thrive for a moment. When men came along, they harvested the trees and, in their wake, left the hillside torn to shreds. A fire could have just as easily done the bidding of mankind by disrupting the balance, so in some ways, all things are equal. The flames that catch hold of dry terrain don’t consume out of greed or malice, while we hardly have the patience to work sustainably and will move against nature and our own best interests.

The lessons are all around us: live symbiotically within your environment, and your place on earth will sustain you. We are a reckless species armed with the knowledge that should allow us to know better, and yet we continue with our destructive ways while the information abounds but is ignored. We too often deride those as kooks and crackpots who advocate for a healthy attitude towards planetary well-being and recently have lumped scientists into the same bag. Yet nature continues while the biped that claims superiority lives with poor intentions and worse practices.

Whenever we find ourselves away from home in any of Earth’s biomes, we have to stop and look deep into its ecosystems and reflect on how unnatural we live in comparison. True, we have 7 billion fellow humans with complex needs and a kind of mobility that no other species can claim. Collectively, we have the skills, knowledge, and, more importantly, the need to make our nest the most healthy and beautiful place it can be, just like this little garden of moss and lichen perched on the edge of a fallen log that is thriving and apparently doing well to my untrained eye.

Islands of hope are where restoration begins. The engineers and scientists who worked to rebuild these wetlands had to dig channels that would allow an exchange of waters in an area that had long been fouled. Over time, opportunistic pockets of life take hold and lay a foundation for further expansion of more complex ecosystem elements until things can fall back into balance, thus negating our previous abuse of the lands along the river.

So, being out here on the South Slough at this stage of its regrowth can be seen as a treasured peek into our futures. The trail forward may be steep, and the damage under repair disheartening. We took things to the brink of total destruction, but there are glimmers that cooler heads will prevail. I remain ambivalent that as I write this and have a desire for more people to take an interest in these lands, there is a consequence of too many of us being personal witnesses as we often bring more damage.

In front of us is the network of water veins and grasses that filter the environment and thus do the bulk of the work in restoring this system back to equilibrium. Knowledge within people works much the same way, but where we can use a bulldozer to move earth around, we haven’t found an equivalent tool to move stupidity out of the way of the masses. At this point, my hope for our species takes a nosedive, as I’m afraid we’ll have to nearly extinct ourselves before restoration is able to take place.

A bridge as a metaphor is needed here, along with a spark that ignites hope that our way ahead is achievable. Will we flow with the river of life or fight the current of survival with outmoded, archaic thinking that places the will of humanity in the hands of an unseen deity that has failed to show its face to any of the 7 billion souls on earth that require a healthy thriving planet? Why are we diseased with this lack of will to knowledge at this critical juncture in our evolution? How have we been so corrupted by our embrace of blind stupidity masquerading as some kind of perverted intelligence? Is that the sound of Nero fiddling while the fire roars?

Time to leave the frying pan and flames behind and head somewhere else, like up this grassy knoll over to the beach here at Gearhart. My aching desire to find beauty and drag others to help celebrate what we have before we lay waste in such a totality that we’ll never again be able to crest the hillside is a burden I can’t tell you that I love. I do wish I could leave my concern behind and go about every waking moment blind to everything other than my own existence and happiness, but I don’t seem to have the DNA to muster that disregard.

Even though the day may be gray and blustery with the threat of the tempest beyond the horizon, I still have something worth celebrating in the most joyous way.

That celebration is found in the incredible love Caroline and I share, where our smiles are genuine and heartfelt. I believe that we equally enjoy the sensation and elation of each other’s touch and presence. We comfort one another in hugs, and the spark in our eyes allows us to look forward to another day indulging in the beauty of the world we are exploring. Maybe it’s my dream for others in love to one day share in the wonder of seeing the magnificence that can be had walking through their world and being witness to things large and small, beautiful and stupendous that motivates these musings.

When all else fails in saving the planet, there’s always more yarn. Welcome to Seaside Yarn & Fiber, which just opened this past October here in Seaside, Oregon. This nice little shop is next door to a bakery, and next to it is Beach Books. After collecting more yarn, we headed to the bookstore, where Alexa, a very enthusiastic bookworm herself, recommended we grab a copy of Rising Out of Hatred by Eli Saslow. Her solid endorsement convinced us, and with it as one of three books we bought, she asked that we reach back to her and let her know our thoughts when we finish it. We will.

Into Cannon Beach, we had enough time for yet another yarn store and even more yarn. If you are thinking that we are running out of room in the car for anything else, you’d likely be right. This isn’t our first time to many of these yarn stores, and here at Coastal Yarns we once again leave with sock yarn that will one day likely grace my feet.

Before dinner, I finally dragged this small fragment of my synth out of the trunk and played with a patch for a short while. By the time we were stuffed to the gills following dinner, I was hardly able to focus on a return to playing with knobs and patch cables and instead allowed thoughts of the cozy bed to lure me to another great night of coastal sleep and dreaming.

Oregon Coast – Day 3

Long fall nights and short days in the cool climes of Oregon make for some serious, cozy sleep as we consistently fail to wake up with the sunrise. Being in a yurt requires you to bring your own bedding and so having our feather blanket and pillows from home only adds to the comfort, making it easy to sleep in. Another contributing factor is that we are in a darkened forest and use the justification that there’s not enough available light to take photos, so we may as well stay cozy and warm. By the time we finally emerge from the yurt, we are already packed up and have had a bite to eat in preparation for exploring the familiar trail awaiting our visit. We know this routine as everything that is going on this morning has been done before; we are well-practiced. Our next steps take us out on a loop trail that heads into this most southerly of temperate rain forests here at Carl G. Washburne Memorial State Park.

Trying to find something new to say about this trail will probably take my words down the path of those already written here more than a few times. Talking of the quality of light, the shades of green or dew-covered mosses are now well-worn tropes I will have to revisit unless I can find some other angle to deliver how they talk to me on yet another trek through their home.

Maybe our visit is more like small talk made with an old friend where you needn’t say anything in particular but simply walk through old memories, reminiscing about the warm thoughts you keep around. Caroline and I rarely actually talk with one another here in this forest, as we are both intent on hearing every detail that makes itself available. From the trickling streams to water dripping off the lichen upon the ferns below, we listen. Occasionally, a bird offers a quiet call, and we strain our ears to hear if another bird in the distance answers. Sometimes, I stand especially still, hoping to catch the sound of a mushroom breaking out of the earth or maybe a newt stepping gingerly over the damp forest floor.

The sun enters silently, though its light screams vibrantly through the mist, delivering god rays upon areas of the forest that seem to receive direct sunlight only rarely. We look into that light flirting with blindness as subtle rainbows on the edges of the rays can be seen from just the right angles. When a mushroom or particular patch of undergrowth is the beneficiary of the fleeting light show, we scramble over to see the magic of momentary full illumination and once again exclaim our incredible good fortune at being here.

This is a common pose on the trail; we call it “imitating trees.”

We are lucky to be out here early in the chilled morning before others start down this trail. I cannot tell you that they are as observant of this pristine forest as I believe we are. We’ve heard people in the distance who are apparently trying to be the apes of the forest, letting their call be heard in order to establish primacy through loud vocalizations. Others bring their dogs and must be oblivious to their barks or believe the noise is keeping bears at a distance. These acts of serenity pollution only work to spoil their visit by ensuring they miss fully half the experience of being in such a beautiful place. Too bad this isn’t called a church or hospital as I believe then they would at least make some small attempt at being respectful.

No matter the number of times we’ve visited Carl G. Washburne, we’ve seen something new; even the old feels new. This mushroom that looks crocheted to Caroline is one of those new things. As for the old things, we are content to not only be such ourselves but have thoroughly enjoyed our time among the others.

From this favorite spot, nearly in the middle of the Oregon coast, we continued our drive north, stopping in Newport for some lunch. The Newport Cafe was once again chosen, though this time, we opted not to up the ante and go for the 8-pound burger. Though I worked hard on trying to convince Caroline that the photo opportunity alone would make it worthwhile. Instead, it was time for an oyster sandwich for her and a seafood scramble for me. Even though we had coffee with our lunch, we still had to stop at Dutch Bros. for yet more coffee because Oregon demands that you always drink more coffee.

Our destination tonight is the most northwestern point in Oregon at Fort Stevens State Park, and so that we don’t have to drive a lot under dark skies on narrow, twisting cliffside roads, we try to get serious about moving ourselves along. We didn’t get far before we spotted the pull-off for Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge we’ve passed many times, but today, we stopped.

Every time prior to heading up the coast, there’s a feeling that we’ve seen the majority of what’s to be seen. Then, once we arrive and start looking deeper at the landscape, we discover places that we’ve been aware of and are even somewhat familiar with, but we realize that we’ve never properly gotten out and spent time there. The trail map shows us the best way to witness Siletz Bay, traveling by small boat. Unfortunately, we don’t own kayaks, nor do we know where to rent them nearby, so we’ll have to be happy to walk the short trail around Alder Island.

Alder Island is undergoing a restoration in what looks like an attempt to save the shore from disappearing into the wetlands. When we pulled up to the small parking lot there was one other car here, but there’s been no sign of others. Maybe they had a canoe with them and were somewhere out on the looping waterway?

If only Caroline and I could figure out a way to eke out a living here on the coast we could call this home. Time to hit the road again.

That stop at Siletz wasn’t our last one. We had a date with the Tillamook Creamery and their newly finished supersized visitor center. While others stop for a factory tour or maybe to load up on some cheese, Caroline had her sights set on a scoop of Marionberry Pie ice cream. Note to management: she’d prefer you leave the pie crust chunks out of the ice cream and focus on the marionberry.

After checking into our deluxe cabin at Fort Stevens State Park, we drove into Astoria for some dinner. Our first choice proved too laden with darkness combined with a limited menu, so we headed over to a little Bosnian place called Drina Daisy, where we split a rotisserie roasted lamb plate for two. A quick stop at Fred Meyers because we didn’t bring towels, and we were once again in the super dark forest ready to write and knit. Well, that lasted maybe an hour before we were lulled to sleep by the serenity of the woods and nearby ocean.