A few years back my older brother Jon passed away at age 72. I made it to that milestone last August (2019). As I marched through the past twelve months, I sometimes wondered if I would make it to that milestone of seventy plus three. Whoop! Whoop! Last week I did it…turned the page and began writing my 73rd Chapter in this adventure we call life! To celebrate, KK and I packed up the jeep and headed out on a road-trip. First stop was a twelve-hour ride tour thru WA, OR and CA to Massacre Rim, NV. The Rim is a Certified Dark Sky Sanctuary, one of twelve in the world (only two in the US). Because so much of our world is flooded with artificial light, most of us have no idea what can actually be seen if we’re in a place as dark as Massacre Rim. So, it’s hard to describe…stunningly beautiful. Definitely awe-inspiring. So many stars on that moonless night that they actually cast a shadow. We spent the night under the stars counting Perseid meteors soaring thru the Dark Sky. Those luminous spheroids of plasma were so bright and looked so close that I tried to pluck one out of the sky! They really did look like Tiffany diamonds on a black velvet presentation cloth. After the moon set, the Milky Way made a dramatic appearance, casting its billions of stars from horizon to zenith like a Christo art installation. The town of Cedarville was quiet…almost desolate. The Rim was 30 miles from there so no human sounds invaded our reverie. The silence was so still that I could hear my heart beat and I believed, at that moment that I could hear the music of the spheres (or perhaps it was wishful thinking). That night under the canopy of the heavens, I felt all the clocks in the world stop; complete stillness, total peace. Next, we headed across northern California with the coastline in our sights. At Yreka we turned north and entered Oregon at Klamath Falls. We made a quick stop in Medford for gas and coffee, then set cruise control at 69 MPH and enjoyed the Ponderosa pines flying by. We joked that one day soon we really will sit back, hands free (think George Jetson) and cruise. After about eight hours of driving, I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was so cold and so refreshing. The beach, a hidden gem, was probably 2 miles long with fewer than a dozen sun worshipers. Maybe they we social distancing, ha! This part of our adventure was as awesome as the Dark Sky. Mother Nature is breathtaking in all her dresses. Somewhere along the Oregon coast, we found another seashore that was basically uninhabited. The rocks reminded me of sea turtles racing to the waves. I watched them for several minutes and decided that they were not in a hurry to splash in the surf :-). A dear friend funded a birthday dinner for us in Lincoln City at Kyllo’s at the Beach restaurant (https://www.kyllosseafoodandgrill.com/. The Penne alfredo was ‘lip smackin’ good’ as was the grilled asparagus. The sunset wrapped the dinner and the end of the day in a bubble of pure appreciation for life and friends. As we entered Astoria, we saw a tower sitting high on a hill. So, being curious creatures, we drove around the hills and valleys until we found it. The Astoria Column is the final, crowning monument in a series of 12 historical markers erected in the early 1900s between St. Paul, MN and Astoria, OR. The murals on the Column celebrate the earliest moments of Northwest history. Most of the imagery deals with events between 1792 and 1818 – pivotal years in Astoria’s history. It’s 125 feet in height and stands 600 feet above sea-level. Truly an impressive sight. Finally, back home. We love road-trips and we love to get back to our own beds.
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AuthorPatrick Michael Leonard Archives
August 2020
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