We debated on whether or not we were going to spend the day in that cozy, river front hotel in Florence, but in the end decided to head on. We ate a magnificent breakfast before packing up and heading north. After reading about the area in a guide book in the hotel room we decided to drive up the coast to Cannon Beach where they filmed the beach scenes of one of my most favorite movies, The Goonies.
The drive up the coast was beautiful with waterfalls, creeks and rivers all dumping into the pacific through a thick wall of foliage. The further north we went the Hwy turned inland and we passed by miles of postcard perfect prairies and cattle land. The sky was a misty blue and it felt like summer. Josh and I danced and acted silly in the car listening to Outkast with lots of bass and pretending we were bad ass rappers. "Ain't nobody dope as me, I'm just so fresh and clean..."
We arrived at Cannon Beach around noon and stopped for lunch. I talked Josh into eating oyster shooters and he didn't even squirm! After lunch we walked around the little town watching the weird human interaction ritual taking place around us and took in the views of the rock formations on the beach. I wanted to get a picture of the haystack, which is the largest of the formations, from on the hill where you could see the entire shot that was in The Goonies. We drove around the neighborhoods and stumbled upon Ecola State Park. I was in awe as we drove thru the old growth rainforest. All I kept thinking was "welcome to Jurassic park!" I've never seen so much green. Green on top of green!
After we took our Goonies photo we decided to drive a little further north to Astoria and see the actual Goonies House! I didn't realize Astoria was on the border of Oregon and Washington until we arrived. I was a bit surprised that we'd driven the entire state on a whim but that's a pretty typical adventure for me. We stopped at The Goonies house and took the obligatory photo before heading east along the Columbia River.
We passed through some PCT towns like Cascade Locks and I started to think of the trail again. My thoughts took on a sort of up beat desperation, like tune of an Interpol song. I was telling myself everything was going to be great but those thoughts were backed by melancholic bass line. Is the trail all or nothing? Does a thru hike still mean that much to me having seen what a thru hike really is; miles for miles, fast, now, GO. Having seen people skip and hitch and still call themselves thrus. Do I want that hike? Now that so many people are reading my blog I have to finish. What will the say about me if I don't. Will I become a circle jerk post on Facebook? Will they link my blog to critique my failure like they did to some other women's blogs? Pressure pressure pressure...what do I want?
I want ice cream
We turned toward Portland and entered the city limits. Josh and I stopped at a Baskin Robins and ate huge sundaes in the car. We caught ourselves feeling like we were back home again and the car next to us had a Chargers lanyard hanging from the rear view mirror which added to the illusion. We decided to get a room and unknowingly stopped in a shitty part of town. The hotel was less than mediocre and the halls were filled with cigarette smoke. We locked ourselves in the room and ordered pizza, calling it a night. Tomorrow we head south, back toward the trail.
Until then, goodnight.
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