Pacific City, Oregon

Landing again in Pacific City, Oregon several days ago for a two-day stay was a return to a place from which we have a number of fond memories with family and friends on past visits: walking the amazing beach; the view of surfers against the background of Haystack Rock; clamming (we watched several years ago in amazement as a friend found and dug the clams, we cooked them, then all joined in the eating); an home-made sushi feast a few years back; a "welcome here" salmon dinner just a few months ago prepared on the fly by son John; sharing beer and conversation at a local bar, and coffee and breakfast in a local eatery after a storm took out the electricity in most of the surrounding area.

Things are changing here, new buildings going up, new businesses sprouting; while it's good to see a small town be healthy and vibrant, I worry that the type of building and new businesses coming to Pacific City will make it forever lose its small beach town charm and personality.  In reviewing the photos I took while visiting here, I realized I stayed clear of documenting any of the incipient growth taking place around me; I turned my back to it all and just took photos of the places that made this town dear to my heart.

 

This trip we had the opportunity to experience a totally different aspect of this region - its rivers.  Our son took us on a brief rafting trip on the Wilson River, which we had seen briefly in passing by short sections of it on the road to Pacific City.  Experiencing it from the water, rather than the road, was amazing! I LOVE, love, love the forests of this area: the huge old trees hung heavily with mosses of various types, the underbrush heavy with ferns, the numerous small streams and waterfalls emptying into the river, bubbling over mossy rock beds. I cannot help but expect fairies and gnomes to appear at the riverside as we glide by.  But those fairytale figures eluded us, instead we passed a few fishermen who were experiencing a beautiful, sunny day with no fish to speak of.

Starting the launch down a steep bank

And....the raft is in the water!

I could live here..... 

Little streams rushing into the river...

Moss-covered rocks, small and (in this case) large....so beautiful!

HUGE, moss-covered, wind-formed old tree - SO beautiful (the photo does not do it justice).

Hard to see in the photo, but this tree spans the area where the water has washed away the sand between roots so that the tree is in effect sending down roots on each side of the rushing water; the tree bark is covered with mosses and ferns.

THANK YOU JOHN H. GREENFIELD for being our host, our guide and wonderful son!