And yet more beautiful coastline

Also in Elliston.

Yesterday when I was out doing errands it was sunny and warm, but just breezy enough to be on that cusp between enjoying the air on my bare arms and thinking that a sweater might be nice. Fall is coming.

And a year ago, I was in the cardiac unit at Mount Sinai with my African mystery illness. I am still not 100%, maybe never will be, but considering how long it took me to work up to being able to walk around the block, I'm very grateful to be able to travel again.

I wouldn't have wanted to miss hiking along these cliffs.

Coast after the rains

Pacific coasts

The runoff from the recent heavy rains has carved new channels in these beaches near Half Moon Bay, rivers and streams running parallel to the waves before finally finding a way to join the ocean.

The softer side of Skye

There's yet another castle -- Dunvegan -- behind where I was standing on the headland, but we actually stopped here to see the seals on the islands offshore. They were too far away to get decent photos of, even with a big lens, but I also took this picture with my point and shoot and promptly forgot all about it.

Morning in Manzanita

There was never any doubt in my mind that if I came back to the World Domination Summit, I would also come back to Manzanita afterwards. Oregon abounds with beautiful places to visit, most of which I've never seen, but there's no better place for me to sit and let my thoughts wander than on a beach. Preferably a west coast beach, where the fog sometimes doesn't burn off until afternoon, only the very brave even think about swimming, and no one is trying to get a suntan.

Manzanita has all those things: miles of sand that's never crowded, dogs, babies, gulls, and an excellent selection of hot beverages available only a few steps away.

It's the perfect place to plop down in the sand with a large coffee, close your eyes, and let your imagination run.

Sometimes I thought I imagined how much I loved it here. Nope.

Life's good. It's all worth it.

After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel, and I left Jayne there with the luggage while I walked over to the Avis outlet a few blocks away to pick up our rental car. I told her I'd be back in 15, 20  minutes tops, and she said, "Well, there might be a line."

Which there was. There was also only one man at the desk, and after doing the paperwork for each rental, he left the desk, took the elevator up to an upper level of the garage and drove each car down to street level. (I  rented a car at the same place last year and had to drive it down a ten-story ramp myself.) I ended up standing in line for three hours. Apparently the other rental companies in Portland were all out of cars and were sending people to Avis, but everyone in line around me -- we all got to know each other quite well -- had a reservation, for all the good it did us. Also, apparently, in the year since I was there, this Avis has become notorious for long waits and bad service. Most of us just felt sorry for the poor man who was working his ass off trying to get us our cars, and except for one shrieking woman, everyone was very relaxed and remarkably patient.

So it wasn't the relaxing drive out to the coast we had planned. I was tired. My broken foot ached from standing on it for so long. I was on the verge of being grumpy. Then we made the turn south onto 101 and pulled into this overlook.

My beautiful Pacific coast. It definitely feels like coming home.

Another view of the Manzanita cliffs

In the evening light.

Dune

Sea grasses on the dunes in the late afternoon.

Morning fog

The coastal fog burned off early this morning, but it was too windy to walk on the beach. I had a latte on one of the benches sheltered by the dunes, and breathed in and out to the rhythm of the waves.

Still ruminating.

Sunset, the unconventional version

After dinner (really good pizza at Marzano's -- whole cloves of roasted garlic, peperoncini, provolone) I went back to the beach for the sunset.

Being a West Coast girl at heart, it still seems to me that a real sunset means that the sun sinks into the Pacific, and it had been a long time since I'd seen one, but what I saw when I turned my back on that whole melodramatic sinking fireball spectacle was just as beautiful: these feathery clouds turning pink and gold in the last rays of the day's light.

Kite surfing

I had to ask what these men were doing as I had never heard of kite surfing before.

When it comes to thinking up new ways to go fast, the human imagination is apparently limitless.



 

Manzanita

I have a few more days vacation, which I'm spending in Manzanita, a beach town west of Portland. I want to think about things without trying too hard, to let it wash over me and shake out as it will, and there's no better way to do that than with a soundtrack of wind and wave.