Part three

I got to the beach early in the morning when it was still foggy. I shouldn't say still because the fog stuck around almost all day.
I walked about 5 miles down the beach until I got to these cliffs and, since one of my all time fears (when I was a lot younger you know) was falling off a cliff like this into deep water, I climbed them. It was good to do and see that I wouldn't fall in!
To get to where I wanted to go I had to climb the cliff and then hike around to the other side. I wanted to get somewhere where there were no people to bother with and I succeeded.

I climbed around on the cliffs for a good portion of the day actually, had a backpack with food and water and a book for when I got tired and wanted to sit down and take a break. The views were astonishing, the camera is not doing it any justice, in face, it's almost a crime to take a picture of it and reduce the stunning power and feeling that there was. The crashing booms of the waves and the spray, the sea gulls and other birds, and thewind blowing. It is a wonderful experience, I love the ocean.

This is from a dizzying height, the camera makes it look shallow but it's really terribly high. The crashing waves were reminding me of the scripture where God tells the ocean "This far may you come and no further." Just think, He commanded the ocean to keep in it's place and it always does! Take that you who say the sea is going to rise due to global warming.

I wanted to get the seagull nests that were on the rocks and clif side but the camera (again I am complaining about the camera, time to get a good one I think) wouldn't take a good enough picture to let them show up and I couldn't zoom in like I needed to. I hiked along these cliffs for several miles, there were decent trails actually so I only had to fight through a little bit of brush and tangles.

I walked out to the tip of this point (below) and it was about 18 inches wide on the top for quite a way with a drop off on both sides as you can see. the waves were crashing at the bottom and the water was really deep. I had no trouble getting out there but when I went to turn around to go back I realized that I couldn't turn! I've read about being paralyzed with fear but I scoffed at that since I've never been afraid like that and I wasn't fearful here either, I just couldn't move! I couldn't believe myself. I had to do a little berating and a lot of conscious effort to make each part of my body turn properly in order to get facing the right direction and walk back to firm ground. It was an interesting experience for me. Kind of thrilling too.

I walked back to the car and the next day I drove to another beach about an hour up the coast. Here was a different kind of beach, flat sand and rolling waves with dunes. I walked another 5-6 miles down the sand barefoot (nothing like walking on the beach barefoot) and found this spot where I sat down for a good portion of the day and read a nice big book cover to cover in one setting, which is always a favorite thing of mine to do since I hate getting going on a good book and having to stop in the middle of it.

Later, after the book was done, I got back to the car and drove up the beach where I promptly drove into dry sand and got stuck right along with about 5 other cars in the nearby area. A really nice guy in a Jeep with huge tires for sand pulled us all out one at a time and I made sure to stay right near the water from there on.

That evening I went to Astoria which is a nice town on the mouth of the Colombia River, I stopped on the wharf (I guess you would call it that) and walked a little to look at the saailboats. I am kind of shopping for a decent 25-30 foot sailboat so I looked at what was available and prices, it was pleasant. Then I got hungry and did a thing that I never do. I went out to eat. I wanted fish, since I was right on the mouth of the Colombia where it meets the ocean it only seemed right to have fish so I found a nice place that had fish that had just been caught (they said) right outside. The restaurant was on the wharf, right out over the water and I sat looking out the window at the water while I ate. The fishing boats were coming in and out and it was facinating to watch, the fish was excellent too. I drove across this bridge, which was immensely long, 4 times because I got across the first time and thought of something I wanted to see back on the other side so I went back, did that and continued on my way. I love bridges so it as interesting to see this one.

And here is another one of the bridge, or part of it. I watched several big barges go through but the camera (complaining about that thing again) quit on me so I couldn't get pictures of them going under, the pictures would have been good too.

I had to get back to David's after a wonderful two days at the ocean in order to pick him up and go see some friends of his and attend their home fellowship on Sunday. I had never met these people but it turned out wonderful. I had a great time singing (which we rarely do at home much to my regret) and I got along great with the guys there. One of the guys raises quail and I've wanted some for a very long time so I bought 11 chicks from him. We put them in a box and they stayed there in the car for the remainder of the trip. They are tough little birds! That afternoon everyone found out that I had been to an Appleseed shoot and it turns out they all liked shooting about as much as I do but didn't know much about doing it right so I put on a very hurried and very incomplete Appleseed shoot for them. We also shot at cans for fun.

The next day I loaded up my car and trailer with all of my stuff and went to the river to pick cherries. There were some good orchards right along the Colombia river so I chose the best price and picked until I thought I had enough to supply myself but when we got to the scale to weigh what I had it ended up being 140 lbs of cherries so I had a bit of a surplus!

I intended on touring Glaicer Nat. Park on the way home so I kind of rushed up there that night and got to the gate fairly early in the morning. It was packed. Not just packed but overflowing with people and cars, long lines at the pay booth, no parking etc. The sign said $20 something dollars for a car to get in and only $12 for a motorcycle so I decided to go the motorcycle route instead of paying so much to fight traffic with the car. I had my motorcycle with me so I went to the nearest town and found parking, unloaded my motorcycle from the trailer, loaded my backpack with the food, water and things I thought I might need and took off for the gate. I didn't even get to the gate when, while going slow through the traffic people started rolling down windows and hollering at me how they liked my bike or asking what it was. I think I was more of an attraction than the fantastic views of the park! I had more conversations that day than the entire trip because of the motorcycle. There were quite a few guys on big old Harleys and other regular road bikes and I got a lot of thumbs up and waves with smiles from them. I went in there thinking I had an old bike and I came out knowing I had what a lot of people consider a treasure! I even had kids stick their heads out of the back seat windows and ask to see the thing or holler "Cool bike!" to me

I'll finish the Glaicer park part next time, including more pictures.