spring break gratitude

4.24.2018



For the first time since Thor was born, we did not go down to the California desert to see my folks for spring break.  They sold their little place down there and returned to Washington the week of Thor's school break.  We decided to do a beach trip for a few days, by way of Salem and Silverton.  The highlight (for me, anyway) was a day spent at Silver Falls hiking the 7-mile Trail of Ten Falls.  This place holds so many memories for us from our Salem days.  (Salem, I still love you so.) My heart felt so very happy and grateful to be back on these trails with my family (my human and tree family).  

The rest of our trip was spent at the coast in Newport.  I put my camera away for that part, but I assure you the Oregon coast is as magnificent as ever.  We body-boarded and surfed in the icy water, not knowing when our next chance would be, and found contentment along the old familiar roads and waterways.  

I returned home with a renewed appreciation for where we are now and a deep gratitude for finding our way here at this point in time ... but the Oregon forest, fog and sea will forever run through our veins.  

"We tend to think of landscapes as affecting us most strongly when we are in them or on them, when they offer us the primary sensations of touch and sight.  But there are also the landscapes we bear with us in absentia, those places that live on in memory long after they have withdrawn in actuality, and such places - - retreated to most often when we are most remote from them - - are among the most important landscapes we possess."  -  Robert Macfarlane in The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
by mlekoshi