It's hard to even know where to begin. When I arrived at the airport to meet Gloria, I suppose I should have been just a little bit nervous. But I wasn't. I couldn't imagine her being anything but the lovely person I had grown to know online for the past several years...and you know what? I was absolutely right!
We had about a 3 hour drive from the Eugene airport to Gold Beach, and although I was feeling a bit tired after all my travels, we were quite the chatty couple of birds. Ha! We stopped at a riverside restaurant on the way back, and I was amazed and delighted to see a seal cavorting in the water. Gloria said the mouth of the river emptied into the ocean not too far away. Well, all you have to say to me is the word "ocean" and I'm no longer listening to anything...it's as if my very pores are stretching themselves toward the call of the sea. I couldn't wait to get my first glimpse of the Pacific.
As we neared Gold Beach, Gloria pulled over at an overlook so that I could take a few pictures of a beautiful area called Port Orford. It was as if she could see my crazed desire to be free of the car and to breathe my first whiff of ocean air...she read my mind!
This large, peninsula-like rock jutting out into the sea is called Battle Rock. It's just one of the breathtaking views at Port Orford. Gloria and her family later explained to me that early settlers had a battle with the local indians over the land...the final stages of which were fought on this rock.
From there, we went on to Gloria's house so that I could settle in. Her house was so cozy, I felt instantly at home, although it should have been a little messier for me to feel COMPLETELY at home! hahaha I met Glo's wonderful hubby, John. The two of them are such a perfect set...warm, loving, and truly genuine people. I could not have enjoyed myself more...I felt like I'd been wrapped up in a week long hug.
Gloria made it her order of business to introduce me to Gold Beach. She is an amazing lady...full of energy...and even though we didn't do everything she had on her agenda for me, I felt enriched by every experience. One of the first things we did was visit the beach. (of course, DUH! ha!) It was overcast and just a bit misty, but the weather only made for it's own unique magic. There was a sort of mysterious, and maybe just a little melancholy feel about the solitary rocks jutting at ragged abandon from sand and sea. Almost as if the mountains had taken their last stand here at water's edge, and the only thing left to do was to surrender.
I found myself in awe of the ocean, once again, as I walked up to a large pile of driftwood at the back edge of the beach. Much of the driftwood was comprised of full grown trees, and not little trees either, but immense and ancient forest guardians. They lay in a pile like discarded matchsticks. The power of the ocean made me feel all at once very small in our world.
Gold Beach turned out to be a quaint and surprising little town, too. Gloria and I went to the local bookstore/coffee shop. Although it was family owned, it had the classic look and feel of a city coffee shop/bookstore, which really surprised me. It was like the best of both worlds! We sat in the little cafe, nibbling on bagels and drinking chai and frappacino and just relaxed and talked. As local people drifted in, Gloria would introduce me to them and more people would join the conversation. It was very charming and felt so cozy!
During our visit in town, we stopped by to meet Terry...the third Happy Bird of our trio! She has not yet retired from her day job, so she has not yet joined us on eBay...but she will in the future! I was able to see her workspace (it's awesome...she even has a whole separate room with built in organization for her other art projects...can you say JEALOUS?! lol). While at her home, I also got to meet "Happy". He's the bird we are named after, and he is a riot! Not only does he have personality, but he's downright beautiful!
And Terry has such a sparkling personality, too, that I think you'd have to be lacking a heartbeat if you didn't instantly like her! (Yeah, any of you Terry-haters out there...I just called you a zombie! hahaha)
Terry, Gloria and I had lunch at an adorable little bistro in Gold Beach that also turned out to be another one of those contradictions that surprised me about the town! It looked like a hundred other quaint little family owned restaurants that you might find in any small town across America. But the woman who runs this establishment has something unexpected up her sleeve. What looks ordinary, isn't. She studied at the New York Culinary Institute...and her food reflects that fact! WOW! Gourmet food in a comfy, family setting. I was both surprised and delighted!
Gloria and I stayed busy during the whole visit, but somehow, I never felt rushed or overwhelmed. I told her at one point that it was like a continuous spa day...so peaceful and rejuvenating. One of the next things we did was to go visit some artist friends of Gloria and John who were also musicians. They had an amazingly beautiful home nestled on the side of a foothill facing the ocean. This side of their home was almost entirely comprised of a glass window with an incredible view of the sea. Right before we arrived, they had spotted a whale in the water near the beach. We just missed it! I curled up in a chair in their living room, sipped herbal mint tea, and listened as they played guitar and sang together. Gloria and John both have lovely voices, and they paint pictures with their songs in mesmerizing harmony. I felt as though I'd been transported to some magical place and time as my gaze drifted across the scene...first alighting on the faces of these wonderful people, scanning across the artwork carefully arranged throughout the rooms, and finally to the ultimate artwork...the sky, the ocean, and the sandy shore.
As if all of this weren't inspiration enough, Gloria checked to see if there would be any mornings where the tide would be out and we arranged to get up early on a low-tide morning and head to the tidal pools. Now, so far, I have not mentioned the weather. Where Gloria lives, the temperatures rarely top 60-65 degrees and rarely get colder than 40 degrees. However, anyone who knows me well, knows I am NOT a fan of the cold. So on the morning that we headed to the tidal pools, it was in the lower 50's and their was a bit of a snappy breeze. It was under these conditions that I learned something very interesting about myself. If I am in Indiana, staring at flat cornfields, temperatures in the lower 50's feel like arctic cruelty and I whine...ALOT...if I have to be out in it. Miracle of all miracles, if I'm on the beach, listening to the ocean and exploring crevices and tidal pools, temperatures in the lower 50's might as well be a balmy spring day of 75. I don't notice it. I don't whine. In fact, I don't want to go back to the car...ever.
Everything we did was such an adventure for me. Seeing new plants, new animals, new scenery...everywhere I turned I was surrounded by creative inspiration and beauty! And that, by far, is my favorite place to be...surrounded by inspiration! One of my last adventures while at Gloria's was a visit to the Redwoods. She lives only about 30 miles from the northern California border. When we arrived in the forest, and I first stepped out of the car, I was speechless. My eyes filled with tears. I honestly do not know how you could stand in the midst of the enormous majesty of those immense forest giants and not believe in a higher power that created our world. Gloria turned to me as I stood there, (I'm sure gape-mouthed), and she nodded and said, "Yes. It's like a temple, isn't it?" The silence there is incredible. It's as if nothing of this material world, nothing crass or man-made can invade the space there. The only sound is of water gurgling in some hidden place. I cannot explain to you the serenity...it's something you just have to experience. You are very aware of your smallness in the grand scale of our world, and of the universe.
As we left behind the Redwoods, we passed by the river that was responsible for the gurgling sounds we could hear all throughout the forest. The color of the water is unlike anything I've seen before...a deep, teal blue-green. Just another dramatic and unexpected surprise that made me fall even more in love with Oregon...
On my last evening with the Seveys, it was almost as if the whole of Oregon was bidding me farewell. I looked out their back window, and this is what I saw.
I wanted to cry. I knew that Gloria was a special soul just from talking to her online and on the phone a few times. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for how very much I would bond with her while visiting. It almost felt like I had always known her and John, and that we were family. Although I really missed my own family, it still made it difficult to leave. I also knew that Oregon was supposed to be a beautiful state. But, again, nothing could have prepared me for how hard I was going to fall in love with it. I could easily have come home, packed up my family and moved us all to Gold Beach...right then, right there. It's probably a good thing I'm not the financial manager in our home! ;) With sad goodbyes, and promises that next time I'd come back with my whole family in tow, I left Gloria at the airport. I was walking up to the gate and glanced back over my shoulder, to see her, very far away now...still watching me. I waved...choked back a new wave of tears...and headed back to Indiana.
If you'd like to see more pictures of the trip, just click the link below:
Oregon Album on Facebook
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