Have you ever taken a day trip that was perfect? Or maybe a day trip that could have been perfect if certain factors had been changed? Recently we flew to an amazing place. The only way it could have been improved upon, would have been if we were traveling in a Switchblade Flying Car.
Allow me to paint the picture. My husband flew us in our small plane for a special little day trip to celebrate some business successes. We work long hours, every day, so this was a special outing for us. We decided to fly over to the Oregon Coast (the southern part of the coast) from Central Oregon. We were fortunate to have picked the perfect day – clear skies, no gusty winds, and comfortably warm temperatures.
He found an airport (Bandon) that was only a mile from the beach. We flew along the coast near the airport, taking in the breathtaking vistas from 2,000 feet. Neither of us had ever flown along the Oregon Coast. It’s amazing and very pristine. We saw no cars and no people for a long stretch. The most fun part was picking out where we wanted to explore once we landed.
Since we didn’t have a flying car (therefore no car when we landed), we decided to hike to our final destination. Google maps showed that we could hike out of the airport, follow a dirt road/trail and go directly to the beach – in just about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the map was either old or incorrect. Fortunately, however, we were able to snack periodically on wild blackberries that grew along the side of the road. We ended up hiking for 30 minutes, only to find a dead end, posted with signs that described how the owners’ dogs liked to eat trespassers for lunch.
We turned back and had to hike along a busy road with no shoulder or bike path, stepping into ditches to avoid traffic. After 30 minutes of this we arrived at a restaurant we had planned to eat lunch at. It turned out to not what we had hoped for but at that point we were sweaty, dusty and hot and didn’t want to walk further down the road to find another place. (Again, we didn’t have the benefit of a comfortable, air-conditioned Switchblade.)
After a short lunch (with some tasty food), we walked for another 20 minutes along a quiet road and got to the beach. Huge sandy beaches as far as the eye could see, in both directions. At Bandon, there are several places where gigantic rocky outcroppings are scattered along the coast. Some of them are partially on there beach but most are 50-1,000 feet out from shore. They are spectacular!
Unlike the crowded California Coast, this stretch of Oregon beach was practically deserted. We watched seagulls capture big salmon-colored crabs in the shallows and shore birds scamper along the water’s edge. When we finally decided to tear ourselves away (so we didn’t have to fly over the mountains in the dark), we called a cab from a scenic overlook above the beach for the ride back to the airport. Not knowing how long it would take for the cab to arrive, we cut short our visit and made the call earlier than we wanted to leave. With a flying car, we could have parked in the little parking lot at the outlook and been able to relax, leaving when we wanted to. Then we would have cruised home at 160 mph – the end to a truly perfect day.
– Martha Hall Bousfield
