October 2018, Oragain

Every year we take a trip to the Oregon Coast in October. Usually we stay in Lincoln City, but 2018 was the last time we stayed there (we have been going to Newport for the last couple of years). That year we stayed on the north end of town, past the point where Highway 101 turns east (just off the 45th parallel), in the area known as Road's End. If you've been to Lincoln City you probably know of it, or at least have seen its beaches which are under the massive and (nearly impassible) headlands to the north, which can be seen from any point near the water in town. Since we started taking our annual trip in October, we used to always stay in Road's End (I could compile a pretty big post from all the photos I've taken of those headlands from this site), but 2018 was the first time we had done so in several years.

Two things about this trip. The first thing is, above I said the headlands were 'nearly impassible' because the tide has to be very low in order for there to be enough exposed rock to climb past it, and on the morning of the second day Gibson and I managed to do so (which I had only done once before, probably 15 to 18 years ago, without a camera). The second thing is in the evening of the first night I developed an unexplainable pain in my right hip. Walking in particular made the pain worse, and clambering over rocks the following day was probably what you could call ill advised. I did it anyway and ended up returning early, and had to stop and rest so often it took me over an hour to get back to the house. When we returned to Seattle I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bursitis; the doctor thought it developed from walking on the uneven plane of the shore.

I don't mean to boast but I'm really pretty fit (due to my fetish for cycling), and have plied those beaches for quite a few years. Therefore I found that explanation hard to swallow, but what can I say? The doctor knows what is most likely to cause such an affliction, and I, who had never even heard of bursitis, do not. So I accepted this wisdom, and the consequences are that while there are plenty of photos in this post, after the visit beyond the headlands I was confined to the house for the remainder of the trip. This means that other than several photos from the house's Pacific-facing deck, the photos are all either from the solo (and very windy) afternoon ramble I took when we arrived, or from the gorgeous secluded beach past the headlands.

oroboros on 2/13/2021 12:12:19 PM

X