This Is Meant To Be

After deciding the job I had lined up before moving here was not a good fit for me last week, I spent the next three days sending out resumes to every job I felt qualified for within my desired areas of office management, bookkeeping and/or event planning.  By the end of the week, I had two interviews lined up, one for Monday and the other for Tuesday this week.  On Tuesday, I received offers from both of them.  What a great feeling that was! Between everything coming together in Madison with lining up a place to live here in Portland with a fellow pug parent and finding a well-qualified sub-letter to take over my lease in Madison, I'm fairly certain with the first two jobs I interview at both offering me a position, this endeavor was destined to be.

I got this tattoo in April 2013 in honor of my love for Oregon and my quest to someday call it home.  It was inspired part by the Oregon state motto "Alis Volat Propriis" which is Latin for "she flies with her own wings".  This represents the way in which I wanted to get here, meaning on my own terms.  The feather is from one of my favorite movies, Forest Gump and represents the balance of destiny vs chance.  "I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I think maybe it's both. Maybe both are happening at the same time."

 
I met up with a staff person at Oregon Wild earlier this week to discuss some ideas I had for planning their annual fundraising event, Call of the Wild.  They seem to really like my ideas for their event and I am thrilled that they are doing great things in Oregon.  I also signed up to volunteer with the Portland Film Festival but have yet to receive a lot of additional information on how I will be useful to them besides doing event photography.  

Carl G Washburn State Park

Humbug Mountain State Park

I rented a car and headed out to the coast on Thursday for a couple days of exploration, photography and fireworks.  My destination was the Samuel H Boardman State Scenic Corridor but along the way, I stopped at Carl G Washburne Memorial and Humbug Mountain State Parks before spending the night in Gold Beach.  In the morning, I had breakfast at Double D's Cafe, stopped at the beach in town for a bit with Cole and then drove south toward the scenic corridor.  Unfortunately, the fog had not yet lifted for the day so I killed some time by driving further south to Crescent City, California where I checked out a flea market and grabbed a snack before heading back to Oregon.  Once over the boarder, I stopped at Crissey Field State Recreation Area whose name should really be Driftwood City because it was everywhere.  For the first time I saw a couple of kids ride boards down a creek that flowed into the ocean.  It looked fun, but somewhat dangerous if they didn't de-board prior to reaching the ocean.

Gold Beach

Crissey Field State Recreation Area

After I left Crissey Field State Recreation Area, I went to the first viewpoint/beach of the 13 mile stretch in the Samuel H Boardman State Scenic Corridor.  As I started to take photos, the fog finally lifted and the sun and blue skies stretched as far as I could see.  I spent the next six hours or so exploring every part of the corridor that was accessible by car and foot.  There were some really beautiful scenic overlooks in addition to a few beaches that were surprisingly, not especially busy.  I climbed out on a bridge to get some video and photos of a spectacular view of the ocean and beach far below.  Once I reached the end of the corridor, I set off for Bandon to grab some food and capture some sunset photos before the fireworks started around 10pm  Surprised again, there were not a ton of people.  Cole and I ended up watching the fireworks from a high coastal cliff with a small group of about twenty or so others.  There were no crowds to contend with or traffic to fight afterward but there was a 5 1/2 hour drive home to Portland to contend with which required much caffeine, loud music and sing-alongs.

Samuel H Boardman State Scenic Corridor

Sunset in Bandon

I slept in a bit on Saturday but once up, showered and fed, I met up with a Madison friends aunt and uncle who coincidentally live very close to me.  We drank iced tea in their beautiful backyard while Cole explored the gardens and we got acquainted.  Lucky for me, in addition to their hospitality and standing invitation to join them and their friends for coffee on the weekends, offered me a free air conditioner which couldn't have come at a better time since it is supposed to be in the upper 80's to upper 90's every day this week.

To escape the heat, I'm headed to the coast tomorrow for a couple days of beach camping with a friend who is passing through town.  I'm hoping we can hike Saddle Mountain before camping at Nehalem Bay State Park and hopefully exploring Neahkahnie Mountain and Cape Falcon, both reputed to have some spectacular views and not to mention a good workout.  I'm hoping the sores on my feet from this past trip will be in a bit better condition by tomorrow.   

To see video of Cole running around and more photos from the trip, visit my Facebook page (since I haven't uploaded them to my Flickr account yet).