10.18.13 : ruby beach.

The last day of my trip was a bittersweet one to say the least. It's impossible for me to adequately put into words the emotional changes I went through over the course of the time it took me to make my way from San Diego up to Vancouver. In between the legs of my journey, I left San Diego for good, saying goodbye to the almost four years of friendships and memories I'd made there. I can't think of a better way to have ended it than with the trip I unexpectedly embarked on up the coast.

Every day behind the wheel helped to grow my confidence in myself and being alone on such an ambitiously unplanned journey. For every moment of loneliness I felt, I had at least twenty more moments of intense happiness and gratefulness at my surroundings and the ability to be witness to the ever-changing scenery around me.

I've got one more special blog post coming from my last moments on the beach. For now, here are the last photos from my journey up the coast.

10.11.13 : shipwrecks and goonies.

Since I took so long to go up the Oregon coast, I was unable to hit my goal of making it into Washington in time to camp on the 10th of October. I wasn't bummed to stay overnight near Astoria, as there was plenty to explore the next morning before heading north.

After waking up to a giant slug on one of the trees used as my hammock anchor for the night, I made my way down to the beach nearby to check out a shipwreck I'd seen there about four years earlier. The morning sun was just glorious as it shined through the rusted out skeleton of the ship.

Astoria is also well-known for it's role in the movie The Goonies. I love that the house used in the movie has made a point to welcome visitors to politely come check it out from the outside. Sorry folks, but I didn't do the truffle shuffle, as I saw there were some people home and didn't want to scar them for life. 

10.10.13 : hug beach.

I'm still stuck on the same day's worth of photos. There was a lot to see, what can I say?