What a weekend! Between this and last weekend I feel like I have visited some of the most magical places lately. Places that make you feel small, you know?
Originally, we had big plans as a family to explore a trail along the St. Joe river on a three day backpacking trip. Unfortunately, the forecast called for rain, going so far as to issue a "flash flood warning." Backpacking in the rain with kids sounded miserable, so on Friday afternoon we reevaluated our options. It basically came down to one question- where can we go that isn't on fire and doesn't have rain? The answer? The coast! And so, just a few hours later we had the kids and the trailer ready to go and we were off on an adventure.
I have to interject for a brief moment here, because I have been known in the past to sort of pooh-pooh the entire idea of beach vacations. This trip though, opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at things. I had been doing it all wrong! Before, I had seen the beach mostly as a playground with toys that I didn't care to play with. Sand. Waves. Um...more sand? I dunno. That was about it. And people. Lots and lots of people fighting for their tiny little spot in the sand and waves. And lots of other people trying to sell you stuff. In short, the beach has always held the same spot in my mind as amusement parks and video arcades. I just don't care for the atmosphere.
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| Ugh. In what way is this a vacation? It looks stressful. |
Imagine my surprise then, when we pulled up to the beach, and saw this:
It was breathtaking! Remember last week when I described the overwhelming feeling of going above tree-line in the Cascades? Well, all those same emotions came back- pure reverence and awe for the natural world. This time though, instead of sparkling, the flavor was deep and moody and brooding. Heavy, but in a really good way. It was powerful.
The landscape of the Oregon coast is something special. Dramatic shorelines colored in with unmatched biodiversity, and then accented with light streaming through the omnipresent clouds. The combination is something that is transformative. The experience was enough to wrench the ocean out of that pigeonhole of my mind reserved for commercialized distraction, and to place it gently- respectfully- into the same category as mountains, art, and music. This wasn't a playground- it was a church.
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