One of my favorite stops along the Oregon Coast is at Devils Churn within the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. The entire Oregon Coast is quite magical, but this little spot has stood out since I first visited in 2008. In 2009, I went back and shared it with another friend because it was on my mind. Sadly, I have not been back since 2009 and I need to remedy that sooner rather than later. Enjoy some “okay enough” photos from my visits and keep an eye out for future photos.
If you’d like to listen to me read this vs. actually reading it, play this video.
I’ve had the Pacific Northwest on my brain every day for the past month, at least. Living in the desert has me thinking more and more of the places with trees and water.
My favorite band is playing in Portland, Oregon on the first Wednesday in November so I bought a ticket to the show. I then found myself looking at plane tickets and rental cars, booking each one of those as well. I haven’t requested the days off of work yet, but I have a nonrefundable rental car so I’m going.
I will fly in to Portland in the early afternoon before the show and then go see some music and then I’ll vanish from the city for a while. I love the food, the beer, and the people I know in Portland, but I don’t usually fly to the PNW to see people… I fly there to go hide out in the trees.
I plan to visit family for holidays this year, so i figure this could be my last quick long weekend out west for the year. It’s proving to be more difficult to take a “quick” weekend to Seattle or Portland from here in New Mexico versus when I lived in DFW. I used to grab a Friday evening flight and then catch a Sunday night/Monday morning flight so I had a full two days and didn’t miss any work.
I hope to be back near a major airport or closer to nature sooner than later. I’m not far, here, but I’d like to be even closer as in living among it or within an hours drive of some treelined water.
Ever since first visiting the Pacific Northwest in 2008, I’ve been hooked. I felt home, I felt safe, and I vowed to live there someday. Now, the world is ending and I’m wondering if I should make that someday more sooner than later.
Life has me torn right now. I have family who I’d love to be close to, but I have dreams of living in the cool, green woods of the northwest. If I moved to to a city near Seattle or Portland, I could easily fly back to Detroit like I did when I lived in Dallas/Fort Worth. It would be a bit more difficult to drive there, but it would be living the dream. If I moved back to Michigan, or nearby, I would still have great trees and water to play around in and be close to family and friends whom I miss dearly.
I realize the privilege I have even debating this. If I find a remote job, I could visit my family for weeks at a time without even using PTO. I could easily navigate between the two and still live both dreams. I’m often caught in a daydream. I want the ease and convenience of living near family, but I want the adventure of living somewhere I have only visited. I’ve got some time to figure this out, thankfully.
*the future is all hypothetical, if anyone from work reads this*
It was August of 2013 and my other half had a little time before starting back at college so we took off for the west coast. The drive from Fort Worth to Portland is about 31 hours so we decided to break it up a little with a stop in Arches National Park along the way. We set out in my car on a Tuesday night so we could breeze through Texas and make it to Arches in the daylight. We hit Albuquerque at dawn and enjoyed a quick stop for coffee and food. On the way to Arches, we stopped at Wilson Arch to get our first taste of red rock in Utah.
Arches was amazing, as always, and welcomed us with sunny skies and plenty of wind. We drove to the scenic sights and did the little trail by Balanced Rock. We didn't spend a lot of time at Arches, but the little we did was beautiful. Onward! Our next stop was for dinner and coffee in Salt Lake City. We visited Temple Square before heading out for our last leg to Portland.
Our first time in Portland, back in December of 2012, we stayed a classy downtown hotel and and ate at nice restaurants. This time, we stayed at the Howard Johnson (the Ho-Jo) out towards the airport and ate at medium to low level places. We were trying to keep it cheap and interesting all at once. I purchased a Groupon for a beer tasting at a local pub and we enjoyed dinner there. The Portland Japanese Garden was a gorgeous space to visit and was one of the highlights of the trip.
From Portland, we headed west towards the coast with a stop at the Tillamook State Forest center along Route 6. It was neat to learn about the forest and walk up to a forest tower. Our destination for the night was Coos Bay at a Super 8. We stopped at a few spots on the way to the hotel including Cape Lookout State Park, Devil's Churn, and a few roadside viewpoints. The hike at Cape Lookout was longer than we though, as we didn't really plan well for it, and we managed to get confused going back up from the beach. The weather was misty and gray, but finally cleared a little as we neared Coos Bay. Once at the hotel, we ordered pizza and crashed after the long day.
We woke up and headed back north towards Portland. We were going to explore the city a little and then attend a concert the next day featuring two of our favorite bands together. The concert was a Mississippi Studios and the concert was one of the most memorable of my life. Said the Whale and Kopecky (known then as Kopecky Family Band) were two indie rock bands that played their hearts out ending our days in the northwest. We left after the concert to head back to Texas, with a detour through Colorado just for fun.
In 2007, I saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Two of my friends and I were on a road trip to see the country because we grew up in Northern Michigan without many trips out. When I tell stories about adventure or finding my passion for public lands, they all start with this road trip in 2007. I was 23 years old, didn't know what I wanted to do with myself, and was STILL in school because I was afraid to move on/got real lazy towards the end. The trip of 2007, that had me seeing mountains, deserts, and the ocean for the first time really did change my perspective on life.
Since the 2007 trip was adventurous and successful, we wanted more for 2008. In 2007 we planned a bit, but much of it was improvisation. For 2008, we planned a bit more and added thousands of miles to the itinerary to include a variety of landscapes. In 2008, I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Ten years and one month ago, I was driving south on US-101 from Washington to Redwood National & State Parks. To this day, I can remember one of the morning drives and the smell of the sea air. My first visit to the Pacific Northwest/Pacific Coast was memorable to say the least. We stopped at many little beaches, got our feet wet, and watched the sun dance on the water. Here are a few photos from that time in 2008 that continued to change my outlook on life, one gorgeous rest stop after another. Is it any wonder why I've been obsessed with the Pacific Northwest since 2008?
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