Have you been to Ecola State Beach in Oregon? Back in the day {1991} there was a parking lot at the top where you walked down a ragged dirt trail until you got to the beach. That trail is gone now. I don’t think you can access this beach anymore. 

 It is an amazing place, to understate it. The beach is as wide as a walmart parking lot and the surf thunders way out in the water and grinds itself into whitewater as far as you can see standing on the beach looking out. The coast line curves seductively southward pointing to the magnificent haystack rock in Cannon Beach 6 miles off. 

We used to take our family vacations there, although because I was one of the oldest in my family we didn’t start these vacations until I was 13. The first time I saw the ocean we pulled the old yellow van up to the parking lot in Cannon Beach, Oregon and I scrambled up the dunes for my first glimpse. My sister Charity wept at the sight. 

My brother Jake and I found two slabs of plywood leaning up against our vacation rental house and dragged them to the beach to “surf”. We were in our swimming suits. The water was probably in the low 50’s. I remember seeing Jake standing there with his plywood shivering. He was only 9. His body turned a ghostly shade of purple. He was a good brother to have. 

One camping trip in 1991 we arose at dawn after a night of furious rainstorms. My Dad put everyone in the van who wasn’t still asleep and we drove the winding road to Ecola State beach. The tide was remarkably low. Zach and my cousins Jeremy, Daniel and Amy went berserk running around the tide pools. I have a photo of Zach holding a starfish that is as big as his head. The withered crab in the pool in front of these four became Jeremy’s little friend. Jeremy was saddened because my Dad wouldn’t let him bring it back home with him in the van.