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First stop, Rockaway Beach and the Big Tree Trail that is about a half mile of boardwalk into a wooded area with giant cedar trees.
There were plants on the side of the boardwalk, HUGE plants that looked like skunk cabbage only five times larger. I stopped a man and asked and he said they were skunk cabbage. No way!!! Everything is giant here!
There were two trees that were massive.
I drove into Rockaway Beach. I am now in familiar territory! I know this town. I know Nehalem Bay which is the next town. I know Manzanita. All towns were incredibly crowded with tourists since it is a Saturday. The beaches looked like California beaches with people all over and I had no desire to do any beach walking. I saw a whole line of people sitting on a row of beach benches staring at their phones. Why do go the beach to stare at a phone? I did find a little health food store in Manzanita with handpainted tables! I appreciate a handpainted table!!
I checked out a few little trade libraries, walked the towns, and bought a bottle of what used to be my favorite wine at Nehalem Bay Winery. I used to buy cases of this stuff and use the bottles as hostess gifts, etc. It's been one of those days where I just want to drink the whole thing...
Oregon has the worst drivers. At first I thought the worst were in Massachusetts followed by Tucson, but Oregon drivers are consistently and purposely thoughtless and reckless. For example. Nehalem isn't a very big town so they don't have stop lights. There is one major intersection where highway 101 going north runs through town and then turns to the left. The 101 traffic from the north going south has a free right turn. The traffic that is coming from straight ahead has a stop sign. WHAT A MESS! But then throw in a line up of bad, inconsiderate drivers and it's a catastrophe. I wasn't there very long, but I crossed this intersection a few times. It was suicide as a cross-walker with some drivers motioning me to walk and others nearly running into me, then another guy who got mad because I wasn't walking because the other car wasn't stopping and he starts waving his arms at me illustrating his impatience! (I shook my head and laughed at him.) Good god! I watched a free right turn driver stop for a whole family of pedestrians and everyone behind him leaned onto their horns aggressively. So impatient as if they really have anywhere to be in this tiny town. I watched as the free left turn almost ran into someone running the stop sign. This small intersection is just a microcosm of what I've seen all over Oregon. They get really pissed off if I'm driving the speed limit on 101 and why can't these people stay in their own lanes?? Too often I round a corner and there is a truck coming right at me over the center line! I've even encountered bicyclists over the center lane! Do they have a death wish?
I'm testy. Maybe it's because I'm on the northern end of the Oregon Coast which is much more touristy and crowded with rude, entitled people. Not just drivers. I walked through these touristy towns, every now and then stopping to look at clothes displayed outside. Fashionable, overly made-up stinkers smelling like French whores would step in front of me or nearly run into me as they loudly talked to whomever they were with not even aware I was there. Sometimes they'd bang into me then look at me with daggers wondering why I was in their space. I'd be walking down the sidewalk and couples walking toward me wouldn't even move a little to let me by. It was exhausting being invisible and having to protect myself from getting pushed off the sidewalk.
Why do I feel so stressful? Then it dawns on me. I have plans to visit a friend in Washington. Do I want to even for a day get close to my old residence? This feels like trauma recall of a different kind. Years of hell living in that backward town surrounded by barking dogs and horrible neighbors. The idea is creeping me out, but I really want to see my friend.
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