We’ve just left the Van Duzer Forest Corridor on the Salmon River Highway, and my pulse begins to quicken. The familiar surroundings tell me that we’re not far away from one of my favorite places on earth. Then as Oregon State Highway 18 begins to melt into US 101 south, I can smell the sea air and I strain to see my first glimpses of the ocean.
Lincoln City is a small, beach-side community sprawled along Highway 101, that stretches down the west coast of Oregon. On the west side of Lincoln City sits the Pacific Ocean and a 9-mile stretch of sandy beach and teeming tidepools. On the east side of town, sits Devil’s Lake and the Siuslaw National Forest. This creates a unique setting where I can enjoy the ocean beaches, or in just minutes, be completely immersed in the forest, forgetting that the ocean is merely minutes away.
I’ve experienced the northern and southern Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean, but I crave the northern Pacific coastline most of all. Although the water isn’t the warmest, the sand isn’t the softest, the weather is wildly unpredictable, it’s something special that draws me back year after year.
I feel at peace at the Oregon Coast. Why? There’s something about seeing the waves crash, then slide over the sand; something about smelling the cool sea spray ever-present in the salty air; something about listening to the constant song sung by the waves as they twist in the wind and roll up onto the sand—that feeds my soul and centers me. The ocean is a living entity—always breathing, always changing, but always leaving me with the same feeling—peace.
People have connections to places for many different reasons—maybe I lived there in a previous life—a somewhat deja-vu connection—who knows? All I know is the northern Pacific coast will always be a timeless portrait into which I can dive, whenever I need an escape. It will always be part of my soul.
