I never know where I'm going until I get there.
I woke up on Thursday morning and tried on a lot of different thoughts. The one that fit best was the one where I packed up my things and headed to Astoria, seizing the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream of visiting the magical pirate-treasured boobytrapped town of one of my very favorite movies from the mid 80's.
So off I went. I got there in the early afternoon and stopped at an Oregon Visitor's Information/Welcome Center type place where I aquired some free maps and an Astoria Visitors Guide-- which conveniently had a map of all relevant "Goonies" locations. "Ah," I realized. "This town KNOWS..."
I cruised around. Sheepishly snapped some quick shots of some things.
... like the jail that Jake broke out of in the beginning of the movie.
... like the building where Mikey's dad is fiddling with the flag pole as they all ride past on bikes on their way to the beach.
... like the actual Walsh home. "I'd really like the house clean when they tear it down..."
Then I drove up to the top of Astoria and climbed a big column and took in the view from above.
It was very peaceful. I felt an inner calm I hadn't had in quite some time. I sat in my car, ate the rest of my bread pudding I had grabbed from a little cafe in Portland that morning, and looked at a map of the coast line. I decided to head down the 101 for the rest of the day.
Then I saw signs for Cannon Beach and had to honor my inner child and stop for pictures.
I drove until around 8pm and decided to honor my Farrar blood and find a place to sleep in my car. I found a campground just off the highway. They had a few spots left. I did have my tent in my trunk, but was too tired to really set myself up in it. The backseat worked out fine.
I got up the next morning. Showered. Grabbed an egg sandwich from the little food trailer nearby and hit the road. The coast is gorgeous, but the 45MPH roads through the towns were driving me nuts. So I cut over to the 5 and high-tailed it back to California.
I realized that the only drink that could keep me caffinated but not give me the sugar shakes was Lipton's unsweetened iced tea. So I drank a lot. So I had to pee a lot. Luckily there were plenty of rest stops along the way. Although THIS one in particular was a bit... shall we say disappointingly misrepresented.
I had big plans to stop in San Francisco and Stinson Beach, but after my 10th hour in the car, I was pretty thrashed and opted to try and make it back to Santa Cruz for the night. The next morning, the cousins and I went for a delicious breakfast and they headed to the farmers market and I headed back to LA.
It was hot and I even passed a brush fire lapping the sides of the freeway in the Angeles Nat'l Park.
I arrived in the early afternoon to find it was 113 degrees outside my apartment. I dragged myself up the stairs, turned on the AC and fell asleep.
What an amazing trip. I feel... GOOD.
In Other News:
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOES OUT TO MY SISTER CARRIE WHO IS 25 TODAY AND TO MY UNCLE PETER WHO IS A FEW YEARS OLDER THAN THAT.
Hats off to you, my dears!!!
Keep cool, Monkeys.
Global warming is REAL.
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