Off to Get Some Vitamin D

A typical day at the Oregon Coast

 

This morning I got a call from my mom asking if I wanted to go with my parents, grandma, and aunt to the beach.  The valley has been innundated with cold fog for the last few days and this morning on the news they were saying that the coast was going to be clear and warmer than the valley.  So I decided to go along with them to see the sun and get a little bit of vitamin D. 

 

Going to the Oregon coast is a unique experience.  I have lived here my entire life and it still makes me laugh.  We Oregonians love our coast and spending time there.  But the water is so cold and the wind is usually blowing and there is usually a chill in the air even in the summer.  So proper beach attire here is fully clothed, with coats, shoes, gloves, and hats.  During the summer we may replace the coat with a sweatshirt or a light jacket and forgo the shoes but it's pretty much the same.  And when people here go to the beach we don't sit and sun bathe.  If people are sitting on the beach its usually wrapped in blankets or towels.  When we go to the beach we walk.  People walk up the beach.  We drag sticks behind, we weird designes out of our footprints, we try walk as close to the water as we can without getting wet, we let our dogs and our children run free...  We walk.  I guess that is why when I go to tropical locations I have a hard time just sitting on the beach.  It is just not something that we do.

 

 

People enjoying the beach in proper Oregon beach attire

 

I am smiling in that coat.

 

 A family walking their two dogs and their kid. 
It looks as if they have leashes for their dogs and their daughter but the
little girl is "walking" one of the dogs but her dad is also holding onto the leash.

 

 

 

I often wonder what a person who lives in So Cal or Florida or any place where people just sit on the beach would think about us Oregonians and our beaches.  I love our beaches and they way we enjoy them.  I feel like it is uniquely Oregon.  There is a local TV station that has a commercial on right now that has their weather people speaking about how we don't fear the rain, we'll do anything in the rain because we know that if we had to wait for a sunny day we'd never do anything.  They say that there is a term for the people who live here and the term is unstoppable.  I like that.  I don't know that we are unstoppable but we are unique.  And we do know that if we waited for a sunny day nothing would every get done.  And if we waited to enjoy our beaches for a warm, calm day the majesty of our coast would go completely unappreciated. 

 

Anyway I went to the beach today with my parents, grandma and aunt and had a nice relaxing day.  We went to Little Whale Cove and wandered around there for a while.  Went and had lunch and then walked on the beach.  There was no grand plan for the day.  The plan was simply to get out of the dreary cold valley to the sunshine.  And there was sunshine and while the news was right that it was warmer there than in the valley it was still cold enough to warrent the entire winter garb. 

 

Enjoying the view at Little Whale Cove

 

 

The ocean was amazing.  The waves were very large and seemed to be rolling in forever.  I am not a surfer but it looked like the kind of waves that a surfer would love.  Dad and I talked to a surfer on the beach in the afternoon and he said that the waves further out were big and I believe him. The waves that I saw were huge, much larger than normally seen at the coast.  The water was really churning at the coastline but further out it looked calm and peaceful. 

 

The waves crashing on the rocks at Little Whale Cove. 

 

It was a nice day and even though it was cold, seeing the sun is nice. Especially after it's been hiding for a while.