Westward, Ho!

​OREGON
Josh 1:4b …and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast.
I never dreamed I’d get a chance to spend a year teaching in this little-known-to-me state. But the verse I quoted certainly applies to this western ocean coastline. Through a bizarre set of circumstances, which was in actuality a miracle (check my book Suitcases, Schools and Survival to see how this job opportunity came along!) I was invited to a small Christian school located half an hour from the coast. It took a lot of adjusting as I wasn’t used to being squashed between mountains on one side and an ocean on the other. (Of course there was also the central desert area which has a lot of empty space, but who’d want to go there? Not me!) The roads were narrow and windy, and there seemed to be a lot more people in a much smaller area than I was used to. One thing that amazed me when I first got there in mid-August was how I could be melting from the heat (I had no air conditioning), yet drive out to the coast and within the half hour you’d need a light jacket. Such a difference in temp really made the science jargon about ocean current effects and altitude, latitude, etc come to life in a real and personal way. (Science was {and still is} my worst subject!) :0(
The rugged power of the Pacific fascinated me. It’s so different from the Atlantic Ocean. Naturally I never said no to an invitation to go to the coast with someone, and people were very generous to me in extending invitations. I was 20 years old the year I taught there and became quite close to several of the families of students I worked with. It was too far to go home for Christmas, so not only was it my first green Christmas I’d ever had, but the first one away from family. Yet, it turned out to be an amazing experience as one family insisted I come on their traditional annual Christmas trek. The entire family (aunt, grandparents, etc) rented a cottage at the ocean for several days. With the solid glass wall that faced the beach, we could watch the endless waves, and even a storm that rolled in once. They would take daily walks on the beach, but thought I was crazy for wading in frigid waters. But hey, how often could I ever say, “Oh, yeah, I went wading in the Pacific for Christmas?!”
If you’ve never looked at a map of Oregon, do so. There are not a lot of roads, especially freeways crisscrossing this state. But there are plenty of mountains and deserty places. So you kinda have the choice of the northern route or the southern route to get across this land – unless you’re a brave, hardy soul that wants to try those deserted miles and miles winding through the mountains on small roads! I took the northern route – if you ever get a chance to stop at Baker’s City, do so. The museum there is phenomenal. They make you feel like you’re a pioneer travelling through to the west coast. They have life-size cattle that bawl when you walk past them (and scare the bejabbers out of you the first time!!!); you sit on a rock and watch a screen movie with sound effects that make you feel like you’re in the covered wagon crossing the river (don’t get seasick!) – it’s amazing! As you exit out the building you get to see what the pioneers saw having just crossed the Rockies and realizing they are on the final leg of the journey to get to the Willamette Valley. You can see some of the tire ruts the Conestoga wagon train made as they started down the hills from Baker’s Valley. If you enjoy history at all, this is certainly a must-see place.

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