Meet Me at the Water

"Meet me at the water / Where all your dreams come true"

Steal Your Heart ~ Augustana

My mom was extremely keen on visiting the Oregon Coast whilst we were in the state. So I scheduled an early tour of U of O, and once that was over we all piled into the rental for the two hour drive to the beach. Our campus guide at OSU the day before had recommended we go to Florence because it was the nearest. I was out the whole the way there and only woke up as we were making our way through a  labyrinth of seaside neighborhoods. Finally my sister had the brilliant idea of following all the tsunami evacuation signs to the beach and we parked in a small gravel lot. You couldn't see much of the ocean from the lot as there were mountainous sand dunes with heads full of grasses rippling in the wind. I was the first to jump out of the car and climb them because the others were positively shocked by temperature of the wind. I mean I was in a dress so I was still freezing but I had been using a cardigan as a blanket in the car so it wasn't as bad for me. They should have brought some sweaters, but in true California fashion most of my family (and sister's friend) were in shorts and flip flops with not even two jackets to share between them. At the top of the first dune I was dumbfounded. To the right miles and miles of undulating dunes with patches of grasses and great hunks of driftwood strewn about like they had been brought by a hurricane. On my left, an inlet to the sparkling sea. Every color was heightened by sunlight and enhanced by the harmony of wailing wind and splashes of water on the rocks. I think that memory of the first time I laid eyes on it all, alone at the top of the sand dune, will remain as one of my most vivid memories. When I wasn't busy snapping postcard worthy shots, I simply sank onto my knees to absorb the warmth of the sand and just stared. I was worried I would forget every detail so I stared and stared all around me, until it was ingrained into my heart and my eyes hurt from the halo like sunlight. After sitting on the dunes enjoying the view and each others' company, we finally decided to leave because we were all famished. So we headed into Florence in search of some good eats. We found that in Mo's. Great comfort seafood. I mean they rubbed a stick of butter in the bowls before they pour in the clam chowder. A little disturbing but totally genius. And we rode back utterly contented.