*ring!ring!* "hi! It's the ocean calling!"
From my Myspace blog and now apparently being posted all over the place because I really want to go to the coast.
It's time to go try and stop the ocean.
I am overdue for a day at the coast.
There is something great about the Oregon coast. No matter what the weather is like, it is a brilliant place to spend the day... or middle of the night, which is my favorite time to go in the winter.
What can you do at the Oregon coast in February?
- Chase the ocean off the beach! Tell it to stop getting the sand wet!! The ocean is bigger than you are, and will not listen. It will pretend to be chased, but will turn right around and chase you back! You have to be smart and fast or the ocean will WIN and get your feet/ankles/legs wet. The ocean has a good sense of humor, though. It doesn't mind if you yell "STOP!" and chase it a few feet like you are powerful enough to scare it off. It always laughs and says, "hey this is my job! I gotta come back and shape the coast with simultaneous erosion and deposition of mineral particles!"
- Get your feet all dirty walking in the sand! Watch out for pointy shells and sticks and glass and gross things like kelp and jellyfish bits and poop of different sorts. Bring an old towel to dust off your feet before you put your shoes on or get in the car. Don't try to get the ocean to take the sand off! The ocean will take off the old sand and put new sand back on! It's another game the ocean likes to play. If your feet are too cold in February to be without shoes in the sand (totally possible), make sure you wear shoes you don't mind getting sandy! If you are going to be spontaneous and head to the coast all of a sudden, take a moment to plan just enough to wear old shoes. Your shoes are never the same after all that salty sand. Besides, the coast is so much fun, you should bring your old shoes that don't get much love anymore so they can have a fun day for once.
- Peek in some tide pools! Tide pools have all sorts of clever and beautiful critters and plants that wave and dance in the water. Sometimes there are little crabs, mussels, starfish and anemone! They are amazing to see, but please don't touch them! Critters and plants are wonderful to look at in their little pool-y microcosm, but touching them disrupts their lives. Don't make the anemone your enemy!
- Fall in love with geology! The Oregon coast has some amazing geologic formations and all sorts of geologic processes in action! Just look around you with the eyes of a rock nerd, and you will fall in love-love-love with all 237 feet of Haystack Rock and everything else geologic about the coast. You can even make a little river and watch how water and gravity can make things like cut banks, point bars, and oxbow lakes! You will need a bucket for water and a shovel for sand. This is easier in the summer, but it is fun ALL THE TIME (if you like being nerdy).
- Get toasty by the fire! Go to a beach where bonfires are okay and build a little fire to sit around with your beach companions! Dig a hole for it so it will be easy to put out, and make sure it is cold all the way before you leave! Beach bonfires are good places for roasting marshmallows, making spiderdogs (if you don't know how, I will show you!), getting cozy with your sweetheart, and tell your friends awesome and hilarious stories! They are also good places to make new stories to tell later around future campfires or rounds of beer. You can usually come away with a good sand-all-over-someone's-butt stories, at least.
- Eat delicious chowder! OH DELICIOUS CHOWDER! Clam or fish chowders are easily the most delicious soups on the planet, but they taste so much better when you can look at the ocean while you eat them! With every bite of your chowder, you can say in your mind, "THANK YOU OCEAN for playing fun games with me and providing me with excellent food! " If you can eat bread, the best way to eat your chowder is from a sourdough bread bowl. If you have never done this, you are either unlucky or a fool. If you have done this, you know what I am talking about and how chowder does not taste the same at all out of a regular ol' bowl.
- Speaking of food from the ocean, you better get some saltwater taffy! It will rip your fillings right out of your head, but it's worth it, don't you think? Try a new flavor you have never had, and don't be scared of the peanutbutter ones! (They are more delicious than you will expect)
- Check out the moon! If you are lucky enough to go to the coast in the middle of the night AND the sky is clear AND the moon is out, it's looks like the moon is one of God's eyes looking back at you. Check it out. Your life will never be the same again.
Oh, it is time to go to the coast. Who's in?