The Way Back Home

Leaving Oregon... June 4, 2018

It's no small feat getting to my Mom and Dad's place. It's a bit off the beaten path, a long way north of Southern California, up in Oregon, tucked away in the woods, a stone's throw from a harbor and lighthouse. As hard as it might be getting there, it is even harder to leave. I have to brace myself... be steady for the sad parting, for thinking of how much I will miss the time together, and the emotional wrench of wishing we were not so far apart. It would be so ideal if it were only a few hours distance, instead of twenty, if we could see each other monthly, or whenever the mood struck, these are always my crestfallen, heart heavy thoughts as I back out of their driveway and leave for home.

The drive home is a strange mix of wonderful and kind of awful. There's some torture involved, at first sweet, then painfully dull and draining. It's because the highway begins scenically, through coastal towns, and in good weather, with stunning views from forested bluffs of the beautiful Pacific, but the closer we get to home the more natural beauty disappears. At first, around every turn in the road is a new attraction, vista point, inviting trail, and natural wonder. It's a twenty hour drive, but I would love to make it in twenty days, so I could visit every riverbank, float on the South Fork of the Eel River, camp more nights, explore more trails, meet more trees. Here are some moments from southern Oregon, on the coast, through the Humboldt Redwoods and the Redwood Creek and the South Fork of the Eel River, and The Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove. Our first two days were full of stunning beauty.