Coastal denouement

Wind-sculpted vegetation

On Sunday, June 12th, Brother Calee and Kris Ross deposited me in Portland, where I picked up my beautiful and sweet wife, Maty.  The two of us drove that night to Otter Crest, where we'd reserved a room.

Looks sharkey to me

The unrivaled beauty of the Oregon coast provided the perfect denouement for a rewarding week in which I reconnected with my two brothers and the country in which I have spent so much of my life.

Colors

The colors of the coast are cooler and more vivid than those of the desert.  While high desert country is stark and sun-baked, coastal terrain is wind-sculpted and somehow less harsh.

Coastal rock near Devil's Punchbowl

The coast seems more forgiving of human frailty, although only a fool would discount Pacifica's fierce temper.

Rock at Otter Crest

Frigid water and treacherous tides have claimed thousands of lives over the years. Barnacle-covered bones litter the deeps, forever beyond human knowledge.

Devil's Punchbowl

From the sea, all life began.  And to it, all must return someday.

Stony strata tally the eons

On the beach at Otter Crest, I scrambled around the rocks admiring the tide pools.  They are fascinating and perhaps provide a fractal model for the Universe.

Señor Ardillo contempla la eternidad

Each tide pool is a self-contained world, with its own laws and hierarchy of powers.

A diversity of life within a hollow in a rock

But when the tide comes in, everything is reset. Old worlds are obliterated and the seeds of new worlds are planted.

Seaweed forest

All of it reveals the impermanence of our little human reality.  Someday, the tide will come in on our tide pool and our world will reset.

Tide pool:  A self-contained reality

Until that day, live!