Daytime highs here have been round 60 degrees. Overnight it drops into the low 40s. It amazes me how many people are out camping in this weather. By camping I mean in a tent.
This is a YURT. They have wood floors, electric, water, heat and furniture. You can rent one for $39.00 per night.
A couple on a motorcycle pulled into the site across from us last evening. By the time they got here I would call it flat out cold. They were all bundled up with motorcycle garb. The motorcycle has several large saddlebags. They began unpacking bag after bag. They set up their tent, gathered firewood, stripped off the motorcycle garb and went for a walk.
This morning they are up and packing everything up again. They are conveniently parked next door to the restrooms and showers. Everything has its place in those bags. They fold everything neatly and stow it away. It is cold out there. The last thing I would want to do is go for a motorcycle ride. With the money I was saving on gas, I think I would splurge on a motel.
Yesterday people were running around in shorts and tee shirts while Darlie and I were all bundled up with sweatshirts and jackets. We have decided this must be the annual Oregon meeting of the Polar Bear Club.
After breakfast and our morning choirs, we headed down the trail to the beach. It winds around the rock outcroppings down along the cliff to the beach below. Most of the rocks contain a high amount of quartz. When the waves grind the rock up into sand it sparkles like it is full of diamonds. It is very different from back home. There seashells make up the sand. Here it is the rocks.
It was low tide. There are many big red and orange starfish clinging to the rocks in the tidal pools. The tides are very high here as evidenced by the barnacles and mussels clinging to the rocks far over our heads. The Pacific is very blue unlike the Atlantic which is an emerald green until you get way offshore.
We came across people surfing and swimming. Both of us are bundled up like it is winter. One man who is disabled was dressed in a thick wetsuit. He was surfing. When he came up out of the water it was obvious he was having difficulty so I approached him to be sure he was ok. The told me of his disability and asked if I would mind going over to a rock and get his canes for him. Darlie took our picture together, naturally.
Darlie is doing real well with the hiking. She has a brace on her knee which is helping with the pain. She doesn’t complain. She climbs up steep grades and climbs over huge rocks, things I didn’t think she would be able to do. I don’t remember the last time I saw her really enjoying herself like this. She always has a big smile. The scene is awesome. I think that helps.
Years ago some Oregonians with foresight, obtained all the shoreline of the Oregon coast for a continuous state park. I know of no other state to do such a thing. No development has occurred on the coast so it is open to the whole world to enjoy. I wish we had some people in Florida years ago with the same foresight but I think they were seeing dollar signs rather than preserving the beauty of the state for future generations. I can only imagine how beautiful Florida would be if the coastal area had been preserved in its original state like this is.
We worked our way into an area where a tidal pool had formed through a large split in a rock formation. We found a comfortable place to sit and have our lunch. It was only a few minutes before a brown squirrel showed up begging us to share. He sat right at our feet, pleading. You are not supposed to feed any wildlife but it was apparent this guy knew the routine. We shared some of our lunch with him. He packed it away as fast as we gave it to him. When we were done, we started up the beach. He was following right in our footsteps. If we had met a ranger it would have been hard to deny that we had fed him.
The air is very cool and the wind is blowing hard. I had to dig out another jacket from the backpack. By the time we hiked back to the top of the cliff, I had it off again. The temperature is in the tweenies, not warm enough to go without a jacket but not cold enough to keep it on when you exert yourself the least.
We have paid for two more days for this campsite. The weekend is filled, so we will have to move on. Weekends are the only time we have problems finding campsites but the Lord always provides a neat place in the end. We will probably we boondocked somewhere.
A few weeks ago we missed home. Now we don’t look forward to this time running out. We are really enjoying each other’s company and the experiences we are having together. It doesn’t matter where we are as long as we are doing it together.
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