HEALTH Strings Under the Big Sky - Explore Big Sky

wanderer at rest
Westward ho
by Jamie balke
big Sky weekly contributor
Last week, I took a vacation to the
Oregon coast. Specifically, I went to a
small town called Neskowin, which I
first visited as a kid. I convinced several
friends to come along, hoping my
childhood memory of a quaint ocean
town adjacent to a hauntingly beautiful
coastline with dramatic seaside cliffs
was accurate.
My boyfriend and I packed the car and
began the road trip to the Pacific. The
plan was to stop in Walla Walla, Wash.
to visit his dad and then continue on
the next morning to pick up friends
who’d flown into Portland.
We took the scenic route by way of
Lolo Pass and spent the first part of the
drive gawking at the wild beauty of the
Lochsa River canyon. The river raged
as it tumbled from the mountains,
streams feeding into it from side drainages.
I was impressed to see rafters and
kayakers paddling this intimidating
waterway, and we took turns exclaiming
over the beauty of the river, and
how terrifying we imagined it would
be in a boat.
We spent a night out in charming
downtown Walla Walla for dinner,
wine tasting and live music. In the
morning we stopped at the local Farmers
market and purchased fresh produce
to stock the house we reserved in
Neskowin. I was excited to buy morels,
but unfortunately didn’t know how
to prepare them. (That didn’t stop me
from trying, and the results were disappointingly
mediocre—this was no fault
of the fungus. I take full responsibility.)
After a brief stop in Portland to scoop
up our friends, we drove to Neskowin
and began the ascent to our rental. The
road was very steep and narrow; in
fact, it doubles as a tsunami evacuation
route for the town.
I drove, alternately whimpering and
treating my passengers to a colorful
string of profanities. Soon I started to
wonder if we hadn’t been taken in by
some sort of Internet scam. However,
as soon as we arrived at the beautiful
rental home my fears dissipated.
Almost all of the windows had broad
views of the ocean. A built-in intercom
system resulted in many awkward and
amusing situations during our stay.
We discovered too late that the door
intercom is quite loud.
My friends, being avid home brewers,
began the week with visits to a few
local breweries. Next on the agenda
was a trip to the awesome Oregon
Coast Aquarium in Newport. The
exhibits were colorful and well kept,
the animals seemed healthy and happy,
and everywhere we turned friendly
volunteers provided us with interesting
information. We even got to pet
starfish.
Our exploration also led us to the Tillamook
Cheese Factory. There, we were
happily and ironically herded like cattle
past viewing areas of cheese assembly
lines and sample buckets. People wearing
foam upside-down melting cone
hats sold us ice cream. It was great.
Despite the early season, chilly water
temperatures, we swam in the ocean
several times. We were alone in this
endeavor, as none of the other beachgoers
seemed willing to fling themselves
into the water on a windy June day. It
was cold, anything but dignified, and
wonderful.
As my friends and I screamed incoherently,
jumped about in the choppy
waves, and lost feeling in our extremities,
I kept a vigilant shark watch. In
retrospect, it was probably not a great
idea to watch an old episode of Shark
Week before the trip. All I will say on
the matter is that I saw seals in the area,
even a dead one on the shore, so you
never know. I’m not a seal expert, so I
kept these thoughts to myself.
Neuroses aside, I was happy to discover
my childhood memory had not led
me astray. All in all, I enjoyed a great
adventure and many new experiences
with some of my favorite people.
Jamie Balke moved to Bozeman in the
fall of 2009. She can generally be found
behind the cover of a book, meandering
down a trail or desperately trying not to
kill houseplants.