Oh Glorious Day!

Today has gone just about as well as a day can go.

This morning Nathan and I loaded up the car, strapped Ruli to the rack, and nipped down to Portland to pick up  my Katie.  From there we traveled three hours to Otter Rock, where they released me into the wild to surf whilst they went about their esoteric photographer business.

This is only the third or fourth time I've gotten out since being back, and I have to admit that the previous times have left me feeling a little discouraged.  It's been cold (really cold), it's been rainy (which I don't mind for surfing, per se, but it sure makes me feel guilty about anyone who's come along with me), and I was out of surfing shape, which means I couldn't go for more than about half an hour to an hour at a time.  But today-  well for starters it was an insanely gorgeous day: sunny with a nice wind (maybe not so nice for surfing purposes, but nice for non-surfing pursuits) and the water just normally cold instead of dangerously cold.  I was afraid such lovely weather might make for a crowded beach, but as it turned out it wasn't that bad- and what was really awesome was that it was the largest gathering of female surfers I've ever seen on an Oregon beach.  And all surfing at about my level, so it really felt like a community- lots of smiles and laughing and encouragement.  Very comfortable, very empowering, very good.

And then, of course, the coup de grace to my previous discouragement: I'm back in shape.  The daily cycling commute has got my cardio back up to where it needs to be, and my back finally seems to be recovering from whatever it was I to it back in March (it involved dancing and alcohol and back-bending too exuberantly) which means my pop-ups are far less painful.  That combined with the small, pleasant waves meant that I was actually catching and riding more than I was missing- and I had one especially beautiful, long ride that felt like pure triumph.  My soul was singing all day long, happy to be home again in the ocean.

Happy happy- but see how my hair was already drying from the sun?  I'd been out not even an hour at that point.

 
Once the other two lured me back on shore we headed out to in search of fish and chips, which, as you may recall, is something of a favorite of mine.  I've not had particularly good luck finding any of decent quality on this side of the Atlantic, but I am happy to announce that the fare to be had at The Chowder Bowl in Newport, while not perhaps on par with the docks of Portsmouth, was definitely the best I've had stateside.

Woo, mission accomplished!

So that was particularly pleasing, as well.  Not to mention the scrumptiousness of Katie's clam chowder, followed up by bread pudding with a generous dollop of brandy.  (Hmm, I am beginning to detect a Certain Correlation between my Best Days and Delicious Food.  Mere coincidence? Or something more sinister...)

On the drive home we got to talking about how nice it will be to have the house, and access to a driveway and a hose.  I'll be able to rinse off Ruli, and clean up all my gear without Ridiculous Shower Acrobatics, and give the Blueberry a bath without worrying about what might happen to our various racks.  The sewer scope came back good, so we're still on track to close by the 15th.  It was pointed out to me that I've not yet posted any pictures of the house on this blog, so that will be an entry in the near future.  But now?  Now it's time for bed, 'cos Nathan's gotten it into his head that we should go hike around Mirror Lake tomorrow, and I definitely need to recover from today's activities!