Beach Vacation
May 15, 2005

Our family went on a vacation to a Southern Oregon Beach in May 2005.

All the 5 of us were there Randy, Claudia, Brandon, Jared and Travis, as well as Jared's girlfriend Joanna, Claudia's sister Corine and her husband Larry and their daughter Andrea.

We stayed in a vacation home rental called the Sea Scape that was just up an overgrown path from the beach in the place Gold Beach area. We had a wonderful time there, and when it was time to leave, we asked Travis to write something for us in the Guest Book. He took it outside on the deck and spent about 2 hours thinking and remembering and coming up with this version of our time spent together.

We thought it was such an interesting piece that we wanted to share it with you.

We are very grateful to the rental manager David Hoenie of Breaker House Vacation Homes for retrieving a copy of this for us to keep & share.

I wake up. Where am I? I definitely was not here just a few seconds ago.

I'm walking down a trail bordered by damp trees. It's dark, and I can only feel where to place my feet. I follow Brandon and Andrea through overgrown bushes, over trickling streams, down through the swaying weeds, and come out wet, overlooking the shimmering crashing ocean. We follow the driftwood steps down to the beach and leave footsteps in the moonlit sand which pass by the creek that we played in, the fire pit we will soon establish, and stop at the ocean where we will finally gain enough insanity to swim in during the four days we have in the beach house.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes. I have ten minutes. Before I leave I still have to.

I watch a whale surface and shoot water from it's blowhole, I wake up to the smell of cooking bacon, I untangle a kite string, I eat Barbequed shrimp, chicken, and vegetables off their skewers, I stub my toe, scenic drives, movie nights, the nine of us praying before meals, puzzles with missing pieces, images appearing and disappearing in my head, all brought together and associated with and by the sound of crashing waves. Aahhhhh The beach.

Get up! Vacation's over.

Travis Robbins 5/15/05