During my benighted youth, I loved "sword and sandal" movies.
Those films from the 50s and 60s featuring heroic tales, men in shifts, and women who patiently and piously awaited the return of warring husbands. The Robe. Spartacus. And the mother of them all: Cleopatra.
Yes, Captain Oveur, I did like Gladiator movies.
But this weekend was a sand only weekend. But no sandals. After all, it was the Oregon coast where sandals are as useful as a period in a Faulkner novel.
I have been in Oregon for six months now. And not once have I made it to the beach. This summer was custom-built for beach trips. But I did not head over that way until this past Friday.
It was well worth the wait. I will tell you a little more about the first day there. But I wanted to share Saturday with you.
This was one of those unplanned trips. A true mini-vacation where you get up and decide where to go. And while you are going there, you just might completely change your plans.
The day began with a bit of nostalgia. I wanted to take a look at some of the houses in Pacific City -- where I once planned to retire. I thought most of the houses were grossly over-priced in 2007 and 2008 when I was shopping for a place to retire.
In 2007, I considered buying a recently-constructed house close to the beach with no view for $210,000. The place was tiny with a one-car garage. I eventually decided not to buy because my house in Salem was a one hour drive from the beach.
The same house is currently on the market. I pulled out the flier -- thinking it would be for $200,000 or so. The price? $399,000. And it was not an anomaly. House after house was at least 100% higher in listing price than when I looked three years ago.
At least, I knew I would not be tempted to staty in Oregon by picking up one on the cheap.
The real reason, though, for the stop was to hike over the dunes to the beach where Jiggs and I would take walks of indeterminate length. Depending on his mercurial mood, we would be on the beach for any time between 15 minutes and four hours.
Saturday was the perfect memory day. Temperatures in the 60s. Clear skies. Almost no wind. And plenty of people sharing their lives with their dogs.
Having my fill of nostalgia, we decided to head north to Astoria, one of Oregon's oldest settlements, to see houses used for movie location filming. In this case, the house used for Goonies.
But we never made it to Astoria. While driving through Cannon Beach, we saw a helicopter stand offering tours of the area. We pulled a fast u-turn, bought our tickets, and in 15 minutes, we were airborne over Seaside and Cannon Beach.
You know my rule about video in blogs. I seldom use them.
But today is the exception. I invite you to join me for a flight over some of the most beautiful coastline in America.
I will let the video speak to that part of our souls that yearns to fly.
Those films from the 50s and 60s featuring heroic tales, men in shifts, and women who patiently and piously awaited the return of warring husbands. The Robe. Spartacus. And the mother of them all: Cleopatra.
Yes, Captain Oveur, I did like Gladiator movies.
But this weekend was a sand only weekend. But no sandals. After all, it was the Oregon coast where sandals are as useful as a period in a Faulkner novel.
I have been in Oregon for six months now. And not once have I made it to the beach. This summer was custom-built for beach trips. But I did not head over that way until this past Friday.
It was well worth the wait. I will tell you a little more about the first day there. But I wanted to share Saturday with you.
This was one of those unplanned trips. A true mini-vacation where you get up and decide where to go. And while you are going there, you just might completely change your plans.
The day began with a bit of nostalgia. I wanted to take a look at some of the houses in Pacific City -- where I once planned to retire. I thought most of the houses were grossly over-priced in 2007 and 2008 when I was shopping for a place to retire.
In 2007, I considered buying a recently-constructed house close to the beach with no view for $210,000. The place was tiny with a one-car garage. I eventually decided not to buy because my house in Salem was a one hour drive from the beach.
The same house is currently on the market. I pulled out the flier -- thinking it would be for $200,000 or so. The price? $399,000. And it was not an anomaly. House after house was at least 100% higher in listing price than when I looked three years ago.
At least, I knew I would not be tempted to staty in Oregon by picking up one on the cheap.
The real reason, though, for the stop was to hike over the dunes to the beach where Jiggs and I would take walks of indeterminate length. Depending on his mercurial mood, we would be on the beach for any time between 15 minutes and four hours.
Saturday was the perfect memory day. Temperatures in the 60s. Clear skies. Almost no wind. And plenty of people sharing their lives with their dogs.
Having my fill of nostalgia, we decided to head north to Astoria, one of Oregon's oldest settlements, to see houses used for movie location filming. In this case, the house used for Goonies.
But we never made it to Astoria. While driving through Cannon Beach, we saw a helicopter stand offering tours of the area. We pulled a fast u-turn, bought our tickets, and in 15 minutes, we were airborne over Seaside and Cannon Beach.
You know my rule about video in blogs. I seldom use them.
But today is the exception. I invite you to join me for a flight over some of the most beautiful coastline in America.
I will let the video speak to that part of our souls that yearns to fly.
