The week has almost come to a close and I finally feel like I am 100% out of steam. Yesterday I dropped my buddy off at the rental car place so he could go visit his family in southern-ish Washington and I headed south and west out the coast. It was around a 3 hour drive to get from our BnB to the beach but it was worth every minute of driving.
I got to the beach around an hour before dusk and walked about a half mile from where I parked and set up to witness the glory that is yet another west coast sunset. It was an absolutely perfect evening, with a breeze and the temperature steady in the 60s. Since I had brought my light jacket I was all set. The surroundings were something out of a book. Miles of off-white sand beaches flanked by hundreds of yards of shore grasses before the homes of those fortunate enough to live near by. The town was called Ocean Shores and it was charming though relatively small. As the sun began it’s descent I felt the way I always do when I am so lucky to witness it: completely at peace. I take these opportunities to remember how truly fortunate I am to be able to live the life that I do. Gratitude doesn’t even begin to describe it!
After the sun dipped in the water the temperature dropped off quickly so I hopped back in the car and headed back toward “home” for the evening. As I rounded Olympia to head north toward Seattle, the 95% full moon began to rise over the mountains to the north and east. Add that to another essentially perfect day. Life is good.
Today I woke up and headed to Portland with absolutely zero plans other than to see St. John’s bridge and visit Voodoo Doughnuts. Since I accomplished both of those things and checked a state off the list I will put it in the win category, but I do feel as though I need to see more of Portland before I make a decision how I feel about it. If it were based solely on today I’d probably say I do not care for it but I didn’t see much except a heap of construction downtown and nightmarish traffic congestion.
Now I am back in our home away from home, planning to begin packing for the flight tomorrow so I have it out of the way. We don’t have much on the agenda for tomorrow and will need to check out by 11:00 AM so I am not 100% sure what we will get up to until our flight in the afternoon but I do plan to pick us up a couple day passes to the Alaska Airlines lounge so we can chill for a couple hours prior to the flight.
It has been a great week and my feet hurt as much as they ever have but I have added so much experience to my memory that I will gladly endure the healing.