Although this is not gardening-related, I just have to share some details related to my last post. Sunday I decided to make a cannonball run to the beach, in an effort to entertain a friend visiting from England. Well, mission accomplished.
We had some terrific luck in Cannon Beach as the rain subsided while the tide was out, allowing us to explore Haystack Rock. It’s this giant rock near the shore, usually covered with water making it inaccessible. Tha
t was fun and I enjoyed watching my British friend navigate jagged rocks in his high-fashion shoes. So a little natural beauty, a little flirt with danger. Good times.
We head back to Portland and notice snow on Highway 101 – strange for snow to be falling so close to sea level… A couple minutes later, as we turn onto the highway going back to Portland, we see a tow truck pulling a car out of a colossal ditch on the side of the road. They had obviously slid off of the icy road. About five minutes later, we are driving in tire tracks from the car ahead of us, with snow piling up all around us. We’re going 25 mph and I am afraid my junker of a car might just pick this inopportune time to die.
Then the real adventure begins. All at once, cars begin to pull over and chain up. This is right when I lose control of the car. My poor friend thinks I am just pulling over… We don’t crash, just come to a gentle stop on the side of the road. When I tap the gas, the wheels just spin – we are stuck. I manage to get the car to move in reverse and slide gently across the highway, turn ing around. We crawl at about 10 mph back to the beach and wait it out for the night.
So the day trip at the beach turned into a 25-hour adventure. But as a strange silver-lining, my English friend can now say he has had the following very American experiences:
- shaking off the jitters by trying a pint of every beer the local brewery makes
- playing video poker in a dive bar, and losing
- dining at a greasy-spoon diner the next morning along the side of the road
The drive home took about 3 hours since the highway was all but closed the next morning with even more snow and ice. We basically drove up to Washington along the coast, over to I-5, and back to Portland. But we were certainly thankful to be home in one piece.
All in all, it was fun in the end, but certainly delays the plans on cleaning the chicken coop and spreading mulch around the yard further. I slept for about 10 hours last night and can’t wait to do so again tonight. Next weekend, I’m not sure I am leaving my house.
…..Sorry for cramming so many pictures of the ocean into this one post, but seriously, how lucky am I to live here? I love Oregon…..
