Going to the beach...

Tomorrow we're going to spend the day at the coast. It's one of those rare sunny weekends in Northwestern Oregon, and we have to make good use of it.

I love the Oregon coast more than any other coast I've ever been to. And believe me, when I say that I've been to a few. Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean... I love them all. But there is no place like the Oregon coast. Wild and rugged. In November of 2007 I decided for the first time that I wanted to spend a weekend on the coast by myself. Can you even remotely imagine the luxury of spending an entire weekend without any obligations? Nobody calls you hundreds of times a day. No meals to prepare, no house to clean... It is pure bliss.

Had you asked me 10 years ago, what kind of beach I would prefer, I would have replied without hesitation, "Maldives". White sand, blue water (that you can sit in all day long with ever getting cold), palm trees... sounds romantic, doesn't it?

Well, things have changed a bit. I still like summers at the beach, but you don't know the beach until you go there in the winter, preferably on a dark and dreary day, with the clouds hanging low, and the waves crashing into the offshore rocks. If you ever want to feel one with nature, you have to go to the beach in the winter (of course, some people might disagree and prefer to go hunting in the forest or something crazy like that).
I always take lots of pictures at the beach. Sunsets of course, but also fog, birds, clouds. The picture at the top is by far my favorite. It illustrates beautifully what kind of day it was, and just how few people were ready to brave the weather. (I purposely focused on the man and faded the background a bit.) I think I got wet on every single walk during that weekend, because it always started raining on me. :) Oh, sure, I cursed like a sailor, but mainly because I didn't want my camera to get wet.

I never get tired of the beach and the big, powerful ocean. So tomorrow we're going to the small town, where I spent my first weekend away in 2007. And I'm thinking I will have to plan another one of those trips soon. March sounds great. I'll count on it to be cold and wet... It'll make for some wonderful pictures.