Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010

I touched the Pacific Ocean! We spent the past two days driving along the Oregon coast. What views! After living in Michigan and spending much time on the Great Lakes, I was struck by the size of the ocean waves. On Tuesday we left Portland and headed toward the coast (yep, picked up Starbucks for our drive!) with Eugene as our destination.

We started our coastal drive in Lincoln City and headed south. Stopping many times to walk the beach, breathe in fresh air and just relax in the sunshine, I couldn’t help smiling often. I felt at peace, relaxed and happy. And it was nice to share the views and moments with Justin. Very special. We stopped in Newport Beach to walk along the boardwalk. It was pretty loud from all the sea lions! There were many on the docks below us, just bathing in the sun. Very neat to see them so close – I never realized how many little, sharp-looking teeth they have.

We drove through several towns until we reached Florence, where we headed east to Eugene, where Justin’s childhood friend, Jeff and his family live. Jeff and his wife, Sarah, would spend the next three days traveling down the coast to northern California to the redwood forest. It was really fun hanging out with them (and their son) and hearing stories from Justin and Jeff growing up.