I've been homesick for ages, so a few months ago we reserved a campsite in Brookings for the first four days of September. Let me just tell you right from the start that the trip was exactly what I wanted it to be. Exactly. I'd made a list of people I wanted to see and places I wanted go quite some time ago, long before we ever planned the trip, and we were able to cross off each thing on the list. To make a great thing even better, the weather was absolutely perfect.
There are two families that were important to me in high school who are still in the area, so we scheduled time with each of them in advance. Our first visit was just an hour after we pulled into town on Saturday. Before we look at those pictures, let me tell you about the family.
I spent three and a half years, most of high school and the summer after graduation, helping to care for
a girl named Lisa. Her sister, parents, and grandparents were a significant part of my daily life in Brookings, but I hadn't seen them in a long time. Tim, Silas, and I saw her mom 14 years ago when I was in town for a class reunion, but I hadn't seen the rest of them since sometime before I was married 19 years ago. Needless to say, I was thrilled to spend a couple hours visiting and introducing my family to theirs (including an aunt and uncle I'd never met before). I even got to snuggle the newest addition to the family!
I wanted a picture of me with all four generations of the family - Roger (who always called me "Bethers"), Janni, Diana, and Kallen - so Tim took this one.
I love this family and absolutely treasure this picture with them!! Of course, Naomi had to sneak in some baby snuggles of her own.
By request, we took a picture of all 6 Ws on the couch before we left as proof that we'd all come to visit.
Such a meaningful start to our time in town!!
We blitzed back to the campsite for a few minutes to finish setting up our tent, then headed to our next stop. Eight years earlier we'd
taken the little Ws to the cemetery to see where Mom is buried. Tyler didn't exist at the time and Naomi was little back then, so we swung by for a few minutes while we were nearby on this trip. I hadn't planned on documenting the occasion, but everyone gathered around to see her grave and I couldn't resist snapping this picture. I love it!
As we walked back to our van I noticed this W leaning on a shed. The cemetery name has two Ws in it, so I'm assuming this fell off a sign somewhere and someone just propped it on the ledge, but it made me smile. It's like a personal greeting we were meant to see as we left.
Our final plan for Saturday was hanging out at
Azalea Park and letting the kids run around KidTown. I'd mentioned on Facebook several days earlier what time we'd be there in case anyone wanted to stop by and visit. People came!!
Chris and Roger have known my family since I was five years old. Their daughters, who are a little bit older than me, went to the same school I attended in kindergarten, which Dad was also the principal of.
Mandie and I have known each other since we were eight years old and, along with her husband, graduated from high school together. One of her sons was also there, but he was hanging out with friends and didn't get in the picture.
Linda was a good friend of Mom's and we've known each other since I was probably eight or nine. I was so thankful to visit with her on
my "marking the day" trip three years ago and seeing her again this time around was really special.
Shon and his little boys also came, but I knew I'd see them later. I greeted him as he arrived and visited briefly before we left, but otherwise I spent my time chatting with everyone else while he and Tim hung out.
Day one was in the books!
Sunday morning I headed out for a run first thing in the morning and couldn't resist taking a picture of the fountain. I've seen it soaped multiple times, but the little Ws thought it was pretty awesome when we pulled into town the previous day. Illegal, yes, but it
does look cool.
This was my view toward the end of my run. Folks, there's nothing wrong with living in a place surrounded by farmland, which is my current state of affairs, but variations of this view were part of each day of my life for about 11 years. I can't describe how much I miss it or what it does for my head and heart to be there.
We had some time to kill between my run and heading to church, and it was cool in our shady campsite, so I walked down to the beach with Naomi and Tyler to warm ourselves up in the sun. We climbed a little rock and looked out over scene this for a while.
They were content.
I was happy.
Later that morning we went to the church I grew up in. Different building and pastor all these years later, but some of the same people are there and I like to go when I'm in town. I didn't think to take any pictures, but I was able to chat with Shirley, Cyndi, Ed, Betty, and Ruth, all people who are Dad's peers or older and who have known my family since I was eight. I also saw Chris, a high school classmate, and got to meet his wife and one of their kids.
I mentioned there were two families we prioritized spending time with and we met part of the second family at church, then hung out with all of them for a few hours afterwards. Shon, who I mentioned earlier, was one of my closest friends during high school and if you followed the updates in the "marking the day" link above you'll know he's the one who
put flowers on Mom's grave many years ago. We met him, along with his mom and two youngest sons, at church, then his brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews joined us for a picnic at
Easy Manor Park. His oldest son lives out of the area, but we managed to briefly see his daughter because we picked up lunch at Subway while she was working there. Once again, I got baby snuggles!!
I asked Tim for a picture of me with the whole crew - Cindy, Shon, Michael, Devry, Robby, Chrysalis, Jules, and Jace. Robby was unmarried and childless when I saw him three years ago, so I'm glad we got to meet his wife and kids.
After the group shot, Tim suggested Shon and I take a picture together ...
... and then asked for one of him and Shon.
It was such a huge treat to spend a chunk of time with this whole family!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, then came back to cook some kebabs over the campfire. We kept food pretty simple on this trip for the sake of my sanity. This meal was chicken marinated in Yoshida's, which Tim prepped and froze a few days earlier, on some skewers, bell peppers on others, and pineapple on the rest. So good!!
A quick shot of the W gals while we waited for dinner to cook.
And the W adults.
And the endcap kids.
I'm not sure where Devon was at when all those pictures happened. Weird. Anyway, we scarfed down dinner in time to walk up Harris Butte and catch the sunset.
Backs to the sun ...
... and faces to the sun.
And that wrapped up day two!
Monday morning we headed north to Indian Sands, a place that on days when waves are crashing hard on the cliffs can only be described as majestic. We took a group shot right at the start, then went off to have fun.
The little Ws spent a couple hours rolling, flipping, and sliding down a giant dune that my siblings and I did the same thing on a few decades ago. Tim and I hiked out to a viewpoint at the top of one cliff together, but I also enjoyed some time sitting alone and just savoring my time there.
I snapped this picture on the way out. It's no photographic work of art, but, man ... the expanse of sky and water, the richness of blues and greens, the smell of salt water, and strength of the wind. I come from such an amazing place!!
We headed up the highway just a smidge more to take a peek at Natural Bridges. No hiking, just a quick stop at the viewpoint.
I grabbed Tim's phone (mine was dead) as soon as we got back in the van to capture this moment.
I'm a dork, I know. I'd mentioned as we left home a couple days earlier that we'd hit a cool number on the trip, but we couldn't possibly have timed it better than while sitting in a parking lot.
By this time it was early afternoon. No one wanted to go back to the campsite yet, but the kids also wanted a break from sandy areas. They asked to head back to Azalea Park, so off we went. As we were driving, Tyler asked if Devry and Michael could meet us there. Tim said no because I'd already told everyone our scheduled people time was done. I appreciated him honoring what he perceived to be a boundary I'd set on family time, but I didn't mind others joining us. As I told him, we only had two scheduled visits with specific people, but I was an extrovert in my hometown and would enjoy any extra time we ended up getting to spend with anyone else.
Tim sent a text on Tyler's behalf, then we went to the park. We'd spent some time at KidTown and were just heading off for a walk around the park when Shon and the boys pulled up. We all hung out for a quite a while - going on a walk, running around the playground, and visiting in the shade. We even did a group phone call to Alex to wish him a happy birthday. I think this picture was originally intended to be for a text to Alex, but I'm not sure if Tim sent it.
We knew we'd see Shon and the boys once for our planned visit on Sunday and figured seeing them a second time was a possibility when we extended an open invitation to people on Saturday night, but never expected to see them a third time on Monday. I'm so thankful for how that worked out and love that our little guys all hit it off.
We still had a while before dinner and the kids were ready for more beach time, so we headed to the port, where we ran into Ed and Betty again. Devon, Naomi, and Tyler spent time splashing in the waves while Tim and Silas soaked up some sun while sitting on driftwood. I waded in the water, then walked down to the jetty with the three wet kids. This jetty is where Tim proposed twenty years and two months (minus a day) before this picture was taken.
I was so windblown after a full day outside, much of which was at the water, but so happy!
Silas and I left the beach for a bit and walked over to
Beachfront Gifts so I could look for a hat or hoodie. I'm a little bit particular about both and didn't see a hoodie I liked, but I did find this hat.
I took the picture above after we got home so I could use it for my Facebook profile and said, "Sometimes you act like a tourist in your hometown and buy a hat so you'll have a tangible reminder of the place your heart calls home when you're missing it like crazy."
By this time we were all getting hungry, so off we went to Pizza Deli for the dinner I'd waited three years and four months for. Not that I'd been counting since my last visit or anything.
So happy, again. And our food hadn't even come yet! I like to sit in the best people-watching place wherever we are, but definitely at Pizza Deli because I'm bound to see someone I know in line. Sure enough, Raena showed up. I waved and waited for her to order, then went over to her table for a bit. We chatted for a little while and she updated me on her brother, who was a classmate of mine, then I went back to eat the food that was finally ready for my family. This picture is horrid, but that's fine. Even a bad picture of Spirit of America and Taco Pizza Plus can make me smile.
In a culinary tragedy, their fry room was down and we couldn't get any chips, so we tried their cheesy garlic breadsticks instead. Pretty tasty! Then, as if pizza and breadsticks weren't enough, we went back to our campsite, built a fire, and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.
Day three was jam-packed, non-stop, and totally fun!
Tuesday morning I went for another run while Silas drove to the store to replace some bagels we unintentionally donated to the local raccoon population on our first night. I'm boring and intended to eat them plain, but when I got back to the campsite I discovered everyone was toasting them over the fire and spreading some cream cheese he bought over them. So good!
We started packing a few things up as we finished breakfast, then headed down to a different part of Harris for a couple hours. Tim even gave Silas a ride on his shoulders for part of the walk, something he hasn't done in a whole lot of years. Silas gave him a piggy-back ride in return, but I couldn't get a camera ready in time to capture that moment. It was pretty funny!
I've had the following picture, which was taken about a month after Tim and I started dating, in my checkbook cover for over 21 years.
We attempted to re-enact the scene, already knowing we were on the wrong beach at the right park, but we didn't get the positioning right either. I guess we'll have to plan ahead next time to get it right! At least we got a picture of the two of us out of the effort.
I just sat and relaxed in a few places along the beach, enjoying the last moments of our time.
Tyler dug four holes with three tunnels burrowing under them, so he wanted to show us how his hand could reach from each hole to the next one.
Various Ws went tidepooling, scaled the face of a rock, and built sand creations, and then we loaded up our van and headed back to regular life.
Day four was over.
I absolutely loved my time back in Brookings. As I mentioned on Facebook when we got home, my heart was so full that it was overflowing through my tear ducts the whole morning of our return. I cried off and on as I ran along Chetco, a few times during our last bit of beach time, and for a solid 20 minutes heading out of town. Part of my tears were just that life's been stressful and frustrating lately, so there was nothing appealing about four days of ignoring reality coming to an end. Most of those tears, however, were simply because I love that place and those people so much. It's home.
