Day Forty

Caitlin H.

May 7, 2010 - 3:00 PM

The following takes place between 3:00pm and 4:00pm:

I think the Oregon Coast will always hold a piece of my heart.

On a Friday afternoon with nothing else on the books, the beach is where I want to be. This morning I rose from bed, attended to some miscellaneous chores around the house, and impulsively jumped in the car by noon to head to the coast with my friend Keith. The biggest concern of my morning was deciding to head west to the coast or to head east towards the Cascades. God bless the Willamette Valley - you couldn't design a better place on earth.

So anyway, by 12:15 we were filling up the gas tank at Fred Meyer, another northwestern treat, and by 12:18 eating a picnic lunch in the car. By 12:58 the Pacific Ocean was breaking on the horizon.

Keith and I have adventured to the coast a handful of times before, and yet somehow we have always seemed to miss Heceta Beach despite its incredibly convenient location traveling to the coast from Eugene. More embarrassing for me, I've visited this beach with friends from the University of Oregon before. How could I forget it?! The logical answer is: there are so many great beaches along the Oregon coast, its hard to pick just one to return to over and over. A person is inclined to visit them all. But my personal feelings about Heceta Beach: this is a place that just finds you when the timing is right - you don't find Heceta Beach. Heceta Beach finds you.

Keith and I spent most of our arrival at the coast walking the shoreline enjoying the surf. I like to look for agates in the sand and he likes to check out the birds. We both climbed on some driftwood and ran around with youthful exuberance. Then, being the dedicated college students that we are, we discussed long-shore drift processes and their impacts on the local community and ecology. Yes, I'm that nerdy of an earth sciences student. We walked all the way to the north jetty that frames the mouth of the Siuslaw River to check out the environment.

After a morning of exploration, it was time for some kite flying. Being entirely unprepared for the said activity, Keith and I made a trip in to the Dollar Store to invest 50 cents each in a kite for the day. You may laugh at my plastic, mass developed sun with sunglasses kite, but I thought it had flair. I certainly got more than 50 cents worth of entertainment value from flying it for the rest of the afternoon.

Now the only thing left to make this trip complete: a stop at Mo's for dinner.

Authors Note: This term I've decided to dissect my day one hour at a time to inform you about my college life. My own life set to the Fox Network's hit show "24." ...If only I were as sensational as Jack Bauer. In this ‘season' you can expect a thrilling and innovative drama complete with a few unforeseen plot twists.