My darling husband's daughter is getting married in July 2011 and she and her fiancé invited us to visit his mother's home in Ocean Park, Washington for Christmas. While we looked forward to staying in their home on the beach, little did we know just how marvelous our time with this family would really be!
We flew from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta via Delta and then spent a couple of hours in the Atlanta airport, people watching and waiting for our flight to Portland, Oregon. It was the day before Christmas Eve and airport traffic was heavy. I managed to get a shot (below) from the window of our plane and, as you can see, planes were lined up, ready for take-off, as holiday travelers made their way to be with family and friends.
I wasn't sure how good this shot would turn out (below), but, here we are, above the clouds, flying at 35,000 feet. By this point in time, I was well into my book, "The Art of Racing in the Rain," by Garth Stein. My dh was by my side, hooked into the free wifi, surfing the Internet for information about our final destination: Ocean Park, Washington.
The wedding couple picked us up at the Portland airport and we made the three-hour trek to the beach house home of Mark and Kathy. They fed us delicious chowder and wine upon our arrival and we thought that, surely, we'd reached heaven.
Mathews Landing, as they call it, is the last house on a lonesome beach road that seems to stretch on into infinity. It would be the next morning before we'd get to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
Still on east coast time, I awoke around 4:30 AM west coast time, so I found a spot on the sofa next to the Christmas tree and waited for daybreak.
... and, I wasn't disappointed! The great Pacific Ocean, right there!
We were as far away from home as we could get and not leave the continent. And, WOW! what a faraway place to be!
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