Arch Cape, OR

Buyers. Sellers. Home prices. Not usually words that conjure up happy thoughts, good relationships, much less friendship. One of the great and wonderful surprises of our life here in Oregon is our new friendship with Lenny and Farooq, the former owners of our home on 55th Ave. Little did we know back in August as we negotiated with those faceless "sellers" that three months later we would be spending a weekend with them and a few of their friends in an absolutely amazing beach house hanging on the edge of Oregon's stunning coast.

An hour and a half from Portland lies some of the most spectacular and majestic scenery I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I left the memory card to my camera at home and missed out on a million photo opportunities, so you'll have to use your imagination and hopefully a million words can come close to being worth a picture. Just as my hike in the Columbia River Gorge left me with an overwhelming sense of being washed in green, our trip to the coast left me enveloped in gray. Even though the dark greens of the giant evergreens boldly assert themselves right up to the water and the mighty power of the Pacific ocean continually pounds a rocky coast, the landscape is quietly subdued in a gray both peaceful and beautiful. Walking down the short rocky path to the ocean I felt lost in an antique black and white photo in which all color is translated into a language of blacks, whites, shadows, light, and contrast. Eleanor's hair twisted and turned as the wind wrapped her curls around its finger. Rynn's bright pink bucket seemed oddly out of place in this world of subtle grays. Cliffs rose up beside and behind us as we listened to the sea pull the rocky shore pebbles back into its churning waters. With the sound of a child dropping marbles down a wooden staircase the rocks helplessly slid back into the ocean as the churning foam rhythmically pulled them back to itself. Huge statues of rocks stood proudly in the ocean unaffected by the persistant waves competing for more and more dramatic ocean sprays. I felt so small in this landscape, and yet I found it both powerful and quietly soothing at the same time. Even the architecture on the Oregon coast seems to be quieted by the power and majestic beauty of its foundation as though an ostentatious and colorful beach mansion would only look foolishly proud against such greater beauty. The homes are a gray clapboard with tidy white trim, similar to the ones I saw in Nantucket, nestled under windblown trees or behind a hedge of twisted dunes. The house, which was the home of Lenny and Farooq's realtor, was filled with windows making it feel like we were one wave shy of being soaking wet. The kids, four of them, had fun playing together, and yes, I missed a million awesome photo ops. The picture above is pillaged from the web and gives an idea of what Arch Cape looks like. And if you haven't ever seen the Oregon coast....COME VISIT.