Monday, February 7, 2011

A Mental/Visual Escape Today

Hi Everyone~


For reason's I don't really need to go into, I am taking a "mental health day of absence". Life hit me hard this morning and I decided it would be better to escape via photographs and Google rather than slip over the edge into darkness.


One of my favorite places to go for a 3 or 5 day get-away is a little town on the Oregon coast called Bandon. It is my dream to live there one day, but, until I am able to make the move, I grab a friend, load up the car and make the 12 hour drive west!


My last trip to Bandon was in mid September of 2010. My good friend Crystal decided to make the trek with me and showed up at my house around noon on "departure day". As I got myself into my Audi (a very fun car to drive!), Crystal put my wheelchair in the back and proceeded to grab her bags from her car. Neither of us know how to pack light and before long the back seat was filled with various bags and "must have" item's.


I was excited to hit the road, had 6 CD's loaded in the player just in case we ran out of things to talk about (we didn't), my ice cold diet Coke was in it's holder and I smiled as Crystal slid into the passenger seat... I was giddy!


Crystal, just as excited as I was, reaches into her handbag, pulls out a 45 pistol and say's to me "where do you want me to put this?" My mouth gaping, I said "what the hell Crystal, who do you think we are?! Thelma and Louise?!" Crystal looks at me as if I've lost my mind and says "I always take my handgun, you just never know when you might need one!"...I couldn't help but laugh, then I asked if she had a license to carry the gun, she said "no", I said "then it's not going with us!"...5 minutes later we were headed down the highway, unarmed, happily digging into the snacks we had brought.


We had such a fun trip! I think we talked the whole way, ate just as much as we talked, took pictures, discovered that the bigger the line is on a map showing roads indicates a better road, maybe even paved!


It took us 15 hours to make it near the coast. We ended up on a "goat trail" more or less, in a national forest, during a torrential downpour and at one point had a baby elk running down the road in front of my car. The poor thing was scared to death of the storm! The baby elk made it back into the woods and we found our way to a town large enough to provide a hotel.


The next morning we got up, had coffee and drove the next hour in glorious sunshine the rest of the way to highway 101, ending up in Bandon, ready to relax with a wine cooler!


The gun was never needed and we look forward to our next trip as soon as my cast comes off, I will map out the route for the next excursion....big lines on the map the whole way!

If you want to see a live webcam view of the beach and monolith's at Bandon, visit this link: Mongo's Webcam and Website. I visit this website every day to get my "Bandon" fix...it tides me over between visits! Note~ you can only view the ocean during daylight hours, during the night, Mongo has the camera focused on a fish carousel of some sort.


Take Care~

11 comments:

  1. I don't blame you for wanting to live on the Oregon coast. We have driven through there many times on our way to California. We have never stopped for long, but we plan to go there this summer for a week. I told my husband I was tired of passing by, I wanted to walk on the beach and we want to see the sand dunes. We are going farther south to see the Redwoods Park for a day too.
    I am sorry to hear you are feeling bad. I hope things are better soon. Tomorrow, I am going to look at that video of Bandon. Monolith's sound interesting!

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  2. Bandon looks amazing! A great escape from the everyday life.

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  3. I'm so jealous! I need to get out more! I've always wanted to take a road trip...just my Probation officer is so mean lol JK

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  4. Somehow I can see Crystal with a 45 in her hand. My getaway place that makes me forget whatever is going on is the mountains. NC has some beautiful mountains and that is where I would love to retire. And not only the scenery but the people make the difference. They live a simpler, slower lifestyle that I thrive on. I have a couple of really cute things saved in my email that I go to when I need a lift that I would like to share with you. Email me at this:
    odie@qualityofficeequipmentinc.com yes I know it's long. I think you would really enjoy my mood lifters. Keep thinking about the waves and have a super day.
    Odie
    :)

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  5. That road trip with your friend sounded awesome! Let's hope that you are soon well enough to head off somewhere nice again. Take care.

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  6. We like to get out to the Oregon coast too. Those sea stacks are just amazing.
    it's nice to met you Sharon. I'm just off to click follow.

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  7. wow - love the blog! Great post. I wish I was more spontaneous like you! I know the day off was necessary but I love how you used it!

    These unplanned little moments are by far ALWAYS the most exciting and fondly remembered.

    The pics are great :)

    I look forward to reading more,

    Drew x

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  8. What a great trip and you two looked like Thelma and Louise! Glad you had fun. sandie

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  9. Sounds like a wonderful trip, sometimes you have to follow the little lines too if you want to see the baby elk and such :)

    I'm proud the ending was better than Thelma and Louises

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  10. Hi All~
    Belle- When you make the drive down the coast on your way to the Red Woods, a real nice, comfortable, not elegant, place to stay right on the beach is http://www.sunsetmotel.com I stay in the Vern Brown addition. It's reasonable and a great family owned place.

    Jax- Yes, Bandon has my heart. I will live there one day.

    Thundercat832- lol, I pay my probation officer under the table! Get out there and roadtrip, it's so much fun!

    Odie- Crystal is a character to say the least. I will share more about her on my blog. I love the mountains in NC, I had the pleasure of driving thru there when I was a teen, ages ago and it was beautiful! You can emil me at itsrandombutrelevant@gmail.com

    The Nice One- Let me just say, I love your blog and your tweets!

    Thisisme- Thanks, I have many more adventures planned. I'm not slowing down until life run's a wheel off on me! And, if the wheel is fixable, I'll be on my way again!

    Legend IHOL- Thanks for the follow! I'm partial to the southern OR. coast, it isn't as rainy further south, but I love the coast even in the rain.

    Drew- Thanks for stopping by and following my rambles. I have reciprocated and look forward to reading your blog.

    Chatty C- Trust me, we act like Thelma and Louise too. I left out the part where these men on harleys offered to strap my legs down and take me for a motorcycle ride! (I declined, I wanted to get to the ocean!)

    Jimmy- I wish it had been daylight when the elk was running in front of my car, the poor little guy ran for at least 5 minutes, no lie, I was just letting the idle move my car. It really was a dangerous storm, but worth experiencing!

    Thanks to all of you for the comments!

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