Three Days at the Beach

Grayland, 2/14-2/16/09

Every once in a while we get the chance to spend the weekend at the beach in Michael's boss' cabin near Grayland. We were extremely fortunate to get the cabin for a romantic Valentine's Weekend this year, so we packed up the dogs and went to enjoy three days at the beach.

We slept, walked on the beach, got up early for sunrise, had a romantic dinner in Westport, watched the crabbers at Tokeland, toured the cranberry bogs and generally had a relaxing weekend. Except for one slight problem. Michael's allergies reared their ugly congestion and plugged up not only his nose but his lungs as well. Saturday night, our romantic Valentine's night, was interrupted with a trip to Hoqium and the emergency room there.

But all was well after they hooked Michael up to some oxygen and monitored his oxygen levels for a little over an hour. They found no evidence of pneumonia and gave him some antibiotics to fight any infections.

The rest of the weekend went back to the schedule above - sleeping, relaxing and sleeping some more.

The Perfect Image

I took this picture while driving through Southern Utah on my solo road-trip of exploration. (Previous blog entries detail my trip - too many to link here) Just south of Cedar City, the snow began to flutter down, at first looking as it was raining but definitely whiter and lighter. I zipped past this old abandoned ranch while looking for a rest area and knew immediately in the split second to see the old cabin in the trees that this was my shot. The perfect image for my trip. I quickly turned around to this spot in the highway, jumped out of my car into the wind and snow while wearing shorts and t-shirt, shot a couple of shots and continued on my way, a smile on my face. This is the image that defined my trip - solitude in the wilderness even close to population, with the weather whipping up its own troubles. I saw myself as that cabin that stood partially hidden in the trees with civilization so close yet with a feeling of being alone in the wilderness. Even with the snow I felt a sense of perfection while on my trip and am reminded of my thoughts as I gaze into this image. For me, this image sums up my trip, standing with the trees even in the snow. I wouldn't trade this image for anything, nor would I trade my experiences on the trip.