Once I knew I was leaving the lighthouse, I started thinking about the next destination. I had some freedom of choice here for the past six months. Instead of going anywhere I remained in Portland, working on cointhink.com from the PSU library, then back to a co-working desk at Collective Agency. Once I had a move-out date, it was much easier and more pressing to line up arrangements after that date, like stacking train cars along the track of a horizontal timeline.

I thought about Las Vegas, I haven't been there in a long time, but thats more like a weekend visit, so that went back to the short-term idea pile. I needed something on the order of weeks. I love the beach and the ocean. The immensity of the water and the crash of the waves is an immediate mood-changer. The sand is soft to walk on and the air smells good. I user a vacation rental search site and found a unit that was right on the beach for not-too-much money so I splurged and got a 1.5 week reservation. I'm just over a week now as I write this.

I wanted to answer a couple questions such as how long is long enough to stay at a place? For this place, and being here by myself, a week is pretty good. This is a small town of mostly older folks with one grocery store thats just a bit bigger than a large convenience mart. The neighborhood is single family homes with a few condo bulidings. As a kid my family always came to this town so it has sentimental value. I walked on the train tracks this week that I can remember walking on as a child. I have only to open the window or step out onto the deck to see and feel the beauty and power of the ocean waves.

I took the tillamook county bus from pdx to Tillamook city, then biked from there an hour north to Rockaway Beach. That was fun (with some sketchy shoulderless road parts), but I didnt use my bike like I thought I would. Everything is a 4 block walk away and I'm content with wandering the beach on foot. The other towns are 30+ min by bike and I guess I have enough here for this week anyways, to not feel the need to bike on hwy 101.

There is cable TV here, which is a novelity and I've been using it in the evenings. Also a bathtub which the Lighthouse cottage didn't have, so thats nice. I'm reminded of the last trip to Thailand near the end of that trip. Its a certain kind of effort to be on your own that I was happily (or unhappily) ignoring in Portland.