I Love My Ocean

It may not be yellow-sand-blue-ocean-palm-tree-postcard material, but DAMN! I love me the OR coast. I've yet to find a coast that pleases me more. Granted, my experience outside of Oregon is limited to the following: (1) Virginia Beach; (2) Gulf of Mexico via Florida; (3) Santa Barbara & (4) Monterey; a list which could never be mistaken for comprehensive, but still.

Possibly I find the Oregon coastline more pleasing than the others because it successfully marries the two things that always come to mind when I think about the ocean - terrifying beauty & epic danger. It slightly astounds me that people find the sound of waves soothing considering how violently the act plays out in the vision, for instance. The Oregon coast, with cliffs both jutting & eroded, permanently wind-blown fir trees, virtual forests of driftwood & enormous rock masses against which the waves can most satisfactorily crash, is almost a mirror image to the ocean itself. It doesn't pretend like it can't kill you if it wants.

The Oregon coast is no Beach Blanket Bingo, thank heavens. Although, now that I think of it, the classic late 80s Kurt Russell-Goldie Hawn vehicle Overboard was filmed & set on the Oregon coast. And Wikipedia's entry on the fictional town in which it's set (yes; there really is an entry for this) just drives my whole point home:

"[T]he final scene showing the main characters swimming in the ocean would not have been filmed off the Oregon Coast: the low water temperature would cause hypothermia in minutes."

Damn straight.