Day 25

 

 July 11 (Sunset Bay State Park, OR)

I work up early, and Tilda and I went for a ride to the Ranger Station. We were able to get an electric spot for tonight right across from the Interpretive Center: a major score! Ev and Til hung out there yesterday for a bit, and now they got to spend the whole day there today (and tomorrow morning as we pack up for the Redwoods). Ev, Til, and I had fun checking out the two campsites that were available - the one we chose was close to our site the previous night and made it really easy to relocate. As we were riding around, we met Toby, a 15 year old home-schooled boy who wants to be a pilot and really loves shoot-em-up video games, especially the Halo series - he is into the Halo book series, which I didn't know exists. He rode around the campground looking for us with one of our coffee mugs and an apple that fell out the back of the camper as we moved it (I'd forgotten to close the galley kitchen door…), and found us at our new spot. He hung around a lot for the rest of the day (and the next day at we packed up) chatting with Cassandra and me. He is a quirky, sweet kid, and not the first home-schooled kid we've come across this summer - which has been affirming my idea for developing a virtual home-school program, now that I've finished my Ed. Tech. degree.

We took our sweet time setting up camp, having nothing else to do but bide our time and enjoy the journey. We felt unexpectedly comfortable and at ease; confidence in our ability to sustain ourselves, keep our family safe, and have a fun time increased. Cassandra and I relished in each other and the strength of our family unit - together, we four can thrive on the go and improvise accordingly.

After setting up camp, we headed to the beach. Ev and Til went in pretty deep, but I stayed shallow: it was too cold for my gentle self. This place was so lovely and we stayed through sunset. Cassandra painted another landscape, this one featuring part of the cove and surrounding cliffs: it is beautiful and impressive, especially since she completed it in one sitting. I spend afternoon and evening reading The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which I'm really enjoying. His cadence is hypnotic and engrossing. I think I might teach it to my sophomores this year!

This day is practically perfect in every way. It was busy, active, and all kinds of fun. Ev and Til made friends with some boys with mini kayaks and had a great time playing on the beach. Although we planned to visit the Pacific coast eventually on our trip, we hadn't expected to find ourselves there this early in the trip, and we especially didn't think it would be as wonderful as this.

Some neighbors told us that we should try to catch the low tide in the morning because the water goes far out in the cove and it is really cool to see, so I'm going to set an alarm, see who is awake, and try to make it out there in the morning….