Photos: 2015 Oregon Trip Part 1

For the long President's day weekend I was lucky enough to hit up my favorite relaxation destination-the coast of Oregon. I mean I really should be a Pacific Northwesterner-I NEED the green, the coast, the cool weather, the moisture-and if I go to long with out it I get a crazy itch and have to book a trip. I'm lucky to have friends I can stay with so it makes it a better possibility.

Well it had been about a year since I'd been so I was definitely feeling the itch-and this time I rented a car to have a little more freedom and not make Mr. Bingo drive the two and a half hours each way to pick me up both times. This also allowed me to stop off in Oregon and have dinner with my old neighbors Seneca and Navi-who moved to Florence a while back. They took me to a little restaurant called Homegrown where we had some wonderful food and my new favorite cider which is an apricot cider they make in Bend, OR. I really wish I could find it here.

After dinner I headed down the coast to Coos Bay where Mr. Bingo lives. I was really grooving on the independence of having my own car and even though I'd forgotten to write down his address I thought for sure I could find his house on my own. I'd been a few times, though I'd never driven and by this point it was dark, so I did get a little lost on the way. However, I did make it before too late and it was nice to show up with my suitcase in hand and have done it on my own.

There's just something magic about driving down the 101 at twilight with that sea-soaked air and your music blaring that speaks to my heart. I have so much love for it. Psst-Beth-look what I was driving. It was a great little car!

It was pretty late at that point so Mr. Bingo and I hung out for the evening. The next day he had to work so I worked on a few things and then I went out and took some photos in the yard. Before we decided to head out for lunch at a local Chinese place he wanted to try (good food but weird atmosphere) we looked out the window and saw this little guy stopping by to say hello.

I couldn't get quite the shot I wanted through the windows so I wondered if I could sneak out the front door without him noticing. With very careful and quiet sneaking (it took a while) I was finally out on the porch in my stocking feet and face to face with my little friend. He stood their staring at me for a few minutes until he decided he'd had enough of the paparazzi and ran off into the bushes.

So then we went to lunch at the little Chinese place, which had tasty food but there was no music or ambiance so we just sat there wondering if the cook was killing people in the back or something. Then we took our fortune cookie numbers and headed to the gas station to play them in the lottery. We didn't win. Sadly. When we got back to the house Mr. Bingo had some working to do so I went out to take photos in the yard. I was working on playing with lighting since I've recently learned how to work the aperture and Fstops and ISO and all that fun business. So here are a few of my favorite photos I took in the yard.

And of course, here's Pepé. I couldn't leave this post without letting Pepé in to say hello.

Isn't it just heaven on earth? See why I never want to come home?