Our Oregon Coast Journey, Part Three

Tillamook Bay

As part of her Brownie work this summer, Anna is taking the Wonders of Water journey. Because she’s currently between troops (for reasons I won’t go into here), she’s taking this journey over the summer with us, and our Oregon Coast trip was a big part of it.

Our first full day on the coast ended in a little town called Garibaldi. On our second day we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory and the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, both in Tillamook, and then drove the Three Capes Loop down to Pacific City.

The first cape on the loop is Cape Meares, home of the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

Cape Meares Lighthouse

At only two stories tall, it’s the shortest of the Oregon Coast Lighthouses. The height of the cape made a taller lighthouse unnecessary. Built in 1890, the lighthouse guarded the entrance to Tillamook Bay until it was deactivated in 1963. The lighthouse was spared from demolition by public support, but suffered several major acts of vandalism over the next few years before the State Parks department took over the site in 1968.

Where I Belong

Photo: Anna Ozab

When I’m on the Oregon Coast, I feel like I belong there.

I love the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean. I love the beautiful rock formations, the stunning cliffs, and the cold wind. I love the wildness of the beaches, so untamed compared to the tidy and overcrowded stretches of hot sand in Southern California.

I love the lighthouses. I’ve visited all eight on the Oregon coast, and several in Washington as far north as Puget Sound. I own a collection of lighthouse figurines made by a regional artist—one for every beacon I’ve visited.

I love the coast and I got to spend the last four days there. Now that I’m home, I miss it but I realize that I don’t belong there.

I belong here, in Eugene, with the fans running throughout our apartment to keep cool as the temperature climbs closer to 90°. I belong here at my laptop typing these words. I belong here, with the laundry laid out on the bed waiting to be put away.

Why? Not because of Eugene, with all it’s quirky charms, or because of the heat that I’d rather do without, or because of laptop that I barely opened in the last week, or the laundry that I’ll put away eventually.

I belong here because Julia and Anna are here. We were together on the coast and now we’re together at home.

And wherever they are, that’s where I belong.

Anna’s Coast Gallery

We took our “mini-vacation” last weekend—a two-day trip to the Oregon coast. Anna brought along her camera and took some photos.

Our first stop Sunday morning was Cape Perpetua.

The tide pools alongside the Spouting Horn