Busy busy on the Oregon coast!

Pastel sunset near Lincoln City, Oregon. Copyright (c) 2011 Wendee Holtcamp

Today can be summarized in one word: food! Too much probably because although it was absolutely delicious I am completely stuffed still, hours after last eating. We stuffed so much into today (in addition to food) that I took enough photos to completely fill my memory card for my SLR camera and because - you know how you always forget SOMETHING on a trip? - well what I forgot was an extra memory card. I normally do not like to delete anything until I download it and back it up on my external hard drive but alas I have 4 more days to go. So let's hope and pray my trusty laptop makes it until I get home!

At any rate it's past midnight so I will just post a few of my favorite images from the day.

This morning, Rebeccah (Director of COCA) and I had breakfast at the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort, and then we decided on a whim to go hiking at Drift Creek Falls trail in the Siuslaw National Forest. It was a long, winding one-lane road to the trailhead, and then a 3 mile round-trip hike to a waterfall. Here are a few photos. Above - Mossy rocks!
I'm not sure what this purple bluebell-like flower is, but I will have to find out!
Me hiking the trail. It was pretty mushy and muddy.
The trail goes to a suspension bridge across Drift Creek.
Another view of the bridge.
And that overlooks the waterfall - awesome.
A funky view of a cedar tree on the trail.
Next we went back to Salishan Resort where we had lunch at the Sunroom (same place as b-fast) and met up with another person on our trip - Eileen. She knows another writer I know, which is always cool. Then we went down to the Taft district of Lincoln City and this beautiful beach... It had been drizzly on and off all morning, with some surprise "sun peaks" thrown in but then after lunch the day gave us all with a completely unexpected surprise - a sunny rest of the day. It was breathtaking to see the coast all lit up with sunshine. It has been a rainy spring here and though I've not been here the whole time for the rain season, I know that I got a very lucky break with the sun.
So we met up with some folks from Lincoln City and they have the COOLEST program where they "hide" these beautiful glass floats (examples of which I had pics of yesterday) all up and down the coast. It's called Finders Keepers and they say that float fairies leave them for kids of all ages to find. Every year they do that many - so since it's 2011 they will hide 2011 floats on the beach this year. They don't put them out all at once but bit by bit so people can look for them. When you find it, you keep it. They're beautiful. And we even got one as a gift!
I was giddy with the sunshine so walked all over the driftwood-city beach and shot photos. All these pics are taken in the historic Taft district/beach of Lincoln City.
Next we went to the Lincoln City Culinary Center, which is owned by the city and they offer cooking classes and other cool stuff for locals and tourists. We had our own cooking class and made raisin scones, crepes with homemade Nutella (hazelnut-chocolate spread-recipe to come), strawberries and whipping cream. ZOMG they were soooo good! This is Eileen cooking crepes. I have some good ideas I'm going to try to pitch to Food & Wine. This place was freaking awesome! You can come on Sat nights and have an adult cooking class with a meal and wine and sometimes celebrity chefs. Sharon Wiest is the Executive Chef, and she taught us today. They really focus on local ingredients - farm to fork - and in fact most of the restaurants we have visited here do so. Local, sustainable, and organic is big biz in Oregon.
On the way to dinner, we stopped by Devils Lake State Natural Area on a whim, and I loved the miniature daisies. Of course I had to put a couple in my braids. We came up next to this van with these two dudes, one with binoculars, just staring at the lake from inside their van. I asked what he was looking at and he didn't really have an answer. I was joking like are you looking at people in their houses? Are you looking at birds? He was like, yea, I like birds. But he didn't really sound like a birder. Anyway so then the other lady on the trip mentioned that she thought he was getting high... and I bet she was probably right. What can I say, it's Oregon.
We had dinner at the Chinook Winds Casino's Rogue River Steakhouse restaurant, and I was already sooo incredibly stuffed from the crepes and scones and coffee BUT of course I had to eat! They brought out 6 different appetizers, then I ordered lobster, and then they brought out three different desserts. And yes, I'm now so stuffed I think I am going to puke. But the food was so good!! One of the desserts was creme brulee and I never liked it before, ever. But this made a creme brulee lover out of me! They also had local marionberry cobbler and a flourless chocolate cake. Wow. Just had a small bite of each of those but wow!
After dinner we were heading to the hotel but had to stop and photograph and watch the sunset. One of my favorite things to do is photograph sunsets so naturally I filled up my memory card with them. Here are a few of my faves.



LOVE this one!

We are staying at the Surfrider Resort hotel, which sits right on the beach (and I have a jacuzzi tub in my room!). After we got to the hotel, it was about 9pm and it was still fairly light out, so I took a walk down to the beach by myself to shoot photos and just listen to the sounds of the surf. There was a couple who had made a fire down there so I walked along the other direction and shot this cool rock formation in the light of the waning sun.

Oregon coast is paradise!

Sunset this evening, through my window at the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort, Gleneden Beach, OR
All photos copyright (c) 2011 Wendee Holtcamp

I've been in Oregon since Thursday and I want to share all my photos of my trip so far (including visiting my dad's Crackerbox Palace - aka log cabin in the woods) and a gathering of writers in Portland and seeing my 7th grade BFF but first, I'm going to share the images of the beautiful Central Oregon coast because I spent the last half of today exploring and photographing and it's freshest on my mind -so this is 'live and in person'! Right now, I'm sitting in an incredible hotel room complete with a gas fireplace, couch, King-sized bed, massive bathroom - and a view you see above...

The natural beauty of Oregon inspires me. Yes, I'm from here, and yes my visit is hosted by the Central Oregon Coast Association or COCA but I'm not just saying that because COCA is sponsoring my trip. Anyone who has been to the Oregon coast will pretty much say the same thing! It rains a lot and there are often clouds, but the entire coast (that I have seen before - and more this trip) has absolutely breathtaking scenery.

At any rate, this morning I left my dad's place and headed south of Portland and when I got near Corvallis, headed coast-ward up and over the mountains to Newport, a small town right near the coast. There I met up with the Executive Director of COCA who is driving me around (we are meeting up with a couple others tomorrow). We have only had half a day on the coast so far but I've taken so many pictures already that I wanted to upload them or I'll never be able to catch up when I get home. So here are some images to whet your appetite! Most of these I took with my Android phone, which has some apps that allow me to create cool-looking images, but others are from my Canon SLR.

First we went to the Depoe Bay Whale Watching Center (run by Oregon State Parks - and free to the public). Gray whales can be spotted here year-round. Right now they are migrating northward, and just minutes before we got there a mother and calf swam by but we didn't see any. Bummer! Orcas, seals and sea lions can also be spotted. We saw a couple of sea lions on the jetty (visible with the multiple pairs of binoculars provided at the center).

We drove a mile up the road to Boiler Bay where we thought maybe we would spot the mother and calf, but no luck. However it was beautiful! Notice the waterfall on the right.

Next we stopped in at Alder House III - the "oldest glassblowing studio in the Pacific NW."
Buzz Williams, owner of Alderhouse, shows us how he creates glassware.

ome glass balls (floats) in the studio.

Loved the look of all the colorful glass artwork!
Funky tilt lens effect on a St. Francis statuette.

I had hardly eaten all day so was very excited about dinner. We ate at the 3-star Bay House Restaurant in Lincoln City. I had the Alaskan halibut with cucumber, baby bok choy, coriander, meyer lemon, celeriac, and micro-arugula. It was tender, flavorful, and beautifully presented.

Owner Stephen Wilson sat and chatted with us for a while. They use as much locally farmed veggies and meat as possible and did so way before it became popular to. I also got a lesson in what it means to be 3, 4, and 5 star. Wow! They have to jump through hoops to get those stars! Interesting stuff.

Holy yumness, the truffles were gorgeously presented and freaking delicious. In fact I nibbled two halves, then took the rest back to my hotel room where I had them in front of the fireplace with a cup of coffee!

There was a guy catching sand shrimp out the window as we ate - can you see him on the right?These shrimp are apparently bait for catching halibut. While we ate, the sun peeped out of the clouds and then it gradually cleared up! Sun on the Oregon coast - I couldn't ask for more! The forecast had called for rain all week so I'm very happy. I thought this image was Boiler Bay but it turns out it's actually Siletz Bay that the Bay House overlooks.

The sun through the clouds over Siletz Bay near Lincoln City (where the Bay House sets). And you know what? My stepdad's parents lived here for many years, and I spent one Thanksgiving there as a kid. We are going to go visit their house on the trip. My stepdad's dad passed away many years ago and his mom moved to Sequim, WA but now she lives near them in Dallas.

After dinner we walked down to the bay/beach and I accidentally shot this with my phone. I thought it looked totally surreal and beautiful. I want to start a website with accidental photos!

This is my room at The Salishan Spa & Golf Resort. The room is huge, and decorated in ranch style luxury. This pic doesn't do it justice!
And that brings us to... the sunset over the bay!

But before I leave you for tonight I wanted to give you a taste of the images I shot at my dad's log cabin, aka the Crackerbox Palace as he calls it. This is a window of the bathroom from the outside.

And the cabin itself. Very small, quaint, rustic. Home! I spent every summer here and lived with my dad here for two years when I was 8 through 10.

ocean dreams

A feather on Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock in the distance, Oregon Coast. Copyright (c) 2009 Wendee Holtcamp.

‎"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."
- Mother Teresa

I am dreaming of fresh Pacific air, the sound of the surf rushing across the rocks, the feeling of my feet on cool, flat sand, and the scent of the misty coastal rainforest... these things bring my soul so much comfort. Everyplace has its own energy. And each person feels more at home in some places compared with others. Perhaps it is the place of our birth or the place where we spent our formative years. Perhaps there are some places that just energize us and other spots that soothe us. Oregon for me is a place that soothes my soul, a place where I feel truly at home. There, my spirit feels both energized and refreshed. I get so amped up when I step off the plane and even more when I get into Oregon's natural places. Just being there revs my engine! Hiking through the forests and walking along the beaches... sheer heaven.

Two years back I was there and I took a day on my own to go to Cannon Beach. I almost had a friend come but then I realized I really needed a solo day. I was in the midst of a temporary break-up and was in a contemplative mood, thinking about where I wanted to go from there. At that time, I decided ultimately to go back and work on it some more. But recently our paths have become solidified as separate. And the knowledge and the freedom this brings is such pure joy. That mourning and struggle is long past and the new day has dawned. Yes! Hallelujah. So this trip to the Oregon coast will be one full of... friends, family, and freedom! Bring it!

Do you remember your first real best friend? In 7th grade, I met Kelli and we became fast friends. I only lived there (in Beaverton which is a suburb of Portland) for one year before moving on to Minneapolis and then Houston, but we formed a deep bond and kept in touch until I went to college. Then we lost touch. But thank God for Facebook, aye? I found her twin sis on Facebook and then her, and last October I got to see her and another dear friend from that era of my life - Jennifer. We only had a short time over dinner then, but now Kelli and I will have a bit longer to spend together.

Me and Kelli at Doug Fir in Portland, Oct 2010.

Of course on my visit, I will stay my dad and his lovely wife Bev at my childhood log cabin home (it was literally like "Little House in the Big Woods" - very pioneer like at that time!) I also organized one of my Portland-area writer gatherings; This time we will meet at The Press Club. I've never been but it sounds like a hip joint!

And last but certainly not least - I will feed my soul and explore the Central Oregon coast. These photos are from Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach which are further north but nevertheless similar in spirit. My (step)grandmother lived in Lincoln City for many years - which I will visit - and I have a memory of spending one memorable Thanksgiving there many moons ago. I haven't been back since, and that was in the 70s! I grew up in Eugene in my younger years too, and may get a chance to stop and visit there also (it is inland from the coast). Maybe I will go see my childhood home and the cemetery next door where I used to "redistribute the graveyard wealth." I felt bad for the graves that didn't have any flowers on them so I would take some from the graves with a lot and put them on graves without... draw your own conclusions.

I'll leave you with a few photos- just enough to make you jealous! Don't get too jealous though... the forecast for my visit calls for rain. I'm hoping the weather-dudes are wrong!

View through the forest of the beach at Ecola State ParkFerns, moss, mist ... coastal temperate rainforest, Ecola State Park

The log cabin my daddy built in 1972 (or so) and has lived there since! This is where I'll stay during my visit "home." Notice the rainwater harvesting - long before it was the cool thing to do!

Thich Nhat Hahn, Jesus, Water, Blood and Flowers

A photo my daughter took of me today by the red LOVE mosaic my kiddos gave me for Mother's Day. It goes great over the red brick fireplace, don't ya think?

Each of us is a flower of humanity and if you are not smiling, something is wrong. You have to breathe in for the flower to be in touch with the water of life, in order to be refreshed and smiling like the flower." Thich Nhat Hanh, audio-CD of Peacemaking.

There's something about the way Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Nobel Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh speaks - slowly in his Vietnamese accent and with a smile in his voice - when you hear him say things like the statement above (which reads almost cliche and silly when written down), it sounds utterly wise and profound. These words are, in the words of Zen Buddhism, a kōan, something to be wrestled with and questioned and thought about. At face value, the truth in the words seems simple enough, but it holds yet a deeper truth. Golden apples inside a silver bowl.

Jesus spoke in kōans. You often hear it said that he spoke in parables. He spoke of things that at the time, made people think he was a nutjob. One of my favorite parts of his teaching is when he started telling everyone that if they wanted to follow him, they were going to have to drink his blood and eat his flesh. I can imagine like 90% of the crowd disappeared. I can see them exchanging glances and quietly slinking away. When you read the text before that bit, you can tell he was getting increasingly worked up and belligerent like he was trying to freak people out or something to see what they would do (This is in John 6). And they left. "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?' ... From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

This is why I like Rob Bell so much. Bell, a pastor of the Mars Hill Bible church in Michigan and author of Love Wins, The Velvet Elvis and SexGod, is a genius. But anyway, he talks about the figurative meaning of many Bible passages rather than focusing so much on the literal view which the church has gotten so distracted and sidetracked from the deeper message that Jesus brought. Jesus also talks about being the living water, and so that is why the quote above so resonated with me. Truth is truth, it is universal. And it is true that when we are not drinking of the water of life, we are not smiling - like the flower.

But drinking in the water, drinking the blood, is not so simple as... it sounds. We Christians now have communion and we take it for granted what Jesus meant. But is that what - or all - he meant? What does it really mean to commune with God, to drink his blood and eat his flesh? Is it to share also in his sufferings? To eat and drink of the type of life he lived. People can read the Bible, fold their hands and get down on their knees and pray, go to church and still not blossom like the flower. So what makes a person smile like the flower? What does it mean to truly drink of the living water? To drink of the blood? Are you smiling like the flower? And if not, why? That is your kōan to ponder.

Journalists in Manhattan

New York City in bloom!

On my recent whirlwind trip to New York City for the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) conference, I took some photos in the city. I didn't get to explore it as much as I wanted to because of... weather! My flight arrived - or was scheduled to arrive - at noon Thursday but guess what? All three NYC-serving airports were shut down due to some crazy weather. Storms, wind, rain... We were hovering near NYC (I flew into Newark) when we got low on fuel and had to divert to Washington DC to land. So we then proceeded to wait until about 6pm when we finally got the OK to get back in the air and head to Newark again. I had been planning on meeting my writer friend Miranda (who just wrote this article for FAIR aka Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting- "The Unrenewed Debate Over Renewable Energy") to explore the city, and also my other writer friend Sharon who I've known online forever but have never met in person - but darn that weather - Sharon had to vacate the premises for a family dinner by the time I landed. Miranda waited for me and we got to grab dinner, though, at least.

In fact, I'm incredibly grateful for a new friend, Ohio writer Nancy Averett, who waited for me at the airport for a couple hours since she used to live in the area and knew the ropes of the public transport. It was trains, planes and automobiles! After taking a plane, we got on the airport "air train" (tram) to the real train station. Took the train under the Hudson River to Manhattan, where we got out at Penn Station and took the 1,2,3 'train' (really a subway) to Times Square where we got the S-train (also a subway) to Grand Central Station. Ya, no kidding. And believe it or not, I did it all in reverse on the way back but on my own! At any rate, by the time we got to the Roosevelt hotel (where we stayed and where the conference is held every year) it was 830pm. We met up with my writer friend Trish (author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Living), and Miranda and walked to this veggie place we found online. Only it was like a deli with no places to sit. So we picked a place called Jack's Restaurant and it turned out to be quite delish! After dinner, Miranda and I chatted in the Roosevelt bar for a while and then she headed back to her friend's place she was staying at.

The conference itself was great! I have to admit, it's not near as good as the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) conference (next up - SEJ-Miami!) but ASJA had a good mix of craft sessions, market-info sessions, and socializing. I landed an assignment that allowed me to apply for a health reporting fellowship (wish me luck!) and that in itself made it worthwhile. I got some good info about monetizing blogs that I want to explore further. Some people are making $4000-10,000 per month on their blogs. Holy cow! The most popular with advertisers are mom-blogs and bargain-blogs... interesting. This one isn't either but I'm pondering creating a new blog for either the foodie side of me, or the spiritual/science thing.

With that in mind, here are a few pics I took on my phone out and about in the city. Not great shots but just some snapshots of the time. I really LOVE the energy of New York City/Manhattan. There's just something about it. But I don't think I would want to live there. In the end, by Sunday afternoon I was ready to leave. Next trip? I'm heading to the Oregon Coast and to visit friends and family and I am so excited. Oregon relaxes my soul like no other place.

A shot of where I stayed - The Roosevelt Hotel. Wish I'd gotten some shots inside. It's quite ornate!
Keynote speaker Jen Singer, creator of the MommaSaid blog.
A shot of the Broadway sign with a NYC Sightseeing bus driving through. One of my friends went on a tour of Harlem's gospel churches on Sunday which sounded fabulous. When I take my kids there one day I want to do that tour!
Taxi Cab City! At every light, a dozen or so yellow cabs come driving through. This is in Times Square.
More Times Square. Someone told me that NYC hired a "czar" to make some changes to Times Square. One of the things they did was shut down one area of traffic and set out these tables and chairs and she said it would increase sales for the shops and restaurants, and sure enough it did.
After the ASJA Social Hour at the Roosevelt on Saturday evening, some friends headed over to The Oyster Bar at Grand Central. Try getting a vegan dinner at The Oyster Bar! I actually managed to have potatoes and a salad but the Crazy Sexy Cleanse was out the window for the weekend.
Two of these funky chairs were in the bathroom at The Oyster Bar so I just had to take a picture.
And this Lips couch! Funky! Want one?

Radar Angels and other things

Soon I'll update you on my trip to the Big Apple, which I just returned from last night, but for now I have had a whole slew of articles come out! Check em out... Let me know what you think. I've been a busy girl!

Save the Birds - With Doppler Radar: Doppler radar helped save the Texas forests where millions of migratory birds rest each spring. My first article in the award-winning Miller-McCune magazine, Apr/May 2011. It was picked up in a blog post on the Knight Science Journalism Tracker. Before they knew they were birds, radar experts called the unexplained interference "angels."

"The opening of this piece was beautifully written. It made me slow down from the frenetic pace of online reading and enjoy the images of the Texas lowlands." - First comment on the Miller-McCune website

"Evocative, focused, surprising, and narratively pure" - KSJ blogger Charlie Petit

Changing Planet, Planet Health Q&A with co-author Paul Epstein, Harvard professor at Climate Central. Praised by the book's co-author Dan Ferber as "the most probing, incisive, interview that either of us have done so far."

Traffic Trigger. Do traffic-related stress and air pollution trigger more heart attacks than cocaine, caffeine, anger, or sex? Environmental Health Perspectives. May 2011.

Islands in the Sun. A new project on urban heat islands by University of Minnesota professor Peter Snyder. Momentum magazine news piece. Spring 2011.