The Weekend Lens | Washburne State Park

Because Thoreau said it best:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...”

On Saturday afternoon (also known as Valentine's Day) Aaron packed up my car with a big foam mattress, a cooler, and a few other supplies and we headed over to the Oregon Coast to camp for the night at Carl G. Washburne State Park.

It's takes about an hour to drive from my house in Eugene to the Pacific Ocean - the first town you come to on the coast is Florence and Washburne State Park is about another half-hour north. This was my first visit to Washburne.

We arrived after dark and stopped at the park entrance and picked up the ticket you have to fill out and include your payment in an envelope for the night (just a note that Washburne doesn't take reservations - first come, first served). We drove through the campground, found a spot (B37T), unloaded the firewood Aaron had grabbed from the stack in my garage and started our fire.

The stars were insane and we had fun using one of those star apps on Aaron's phone.

Now, some people might not think sleeping in your car in a campground is an awesome idea, or anything close to romantic, but it was totally perfect.

Aaron laid the seats down in the back of my car and placed a foam mattress on top. It made the perfect little bed - including sheets and a warm down comforter and a sleeping bag on top. I'm 5'9 and he's about 5'10 and we fit just right.

He also brought along a little vase of flowers.

Go Aaron.

The next morning we woke up and had a simple breakfast of bananas, bagels and cream cheese and then got down to the business of exploring the trails around the campground and taking the trail out to the beach.

This is a place that Aaron's been many times growing up with his family. It's fun to share that kind of stuff with each other. I like that he has places to show me and I have places to show him and we get to make new memories together.

Hiking in this area is awesome. The forest is really so insanely beautiful, especially on what turned out to be a super sunny day.

The light coming through the trees always gets me. It's magical.

The theme of the photos I took this weekend seemed to be "pathways." It seemed every corner we turned presented a new path and canopy of trees and light.

I loved the reminder that we don't have to go very far away to "getaway."

I loved getting outside and being outside and feeling the sun on my face and witnessing the light through the trees. There is so much beauty here.

I loved not being in charge and letting Aaron plan and pack and share with me places that hold special memories to him.

I loved checking out all the RV's in the campground and taking some time to plan our Spring Break adventure this year (which includes all 5 kids and a rental RV).

I loved taking my DSLR camera and trying to capture what I was seeing with the branches and the light and the green.

I loved the quiet.

On our way home we stopped for a late lunch in Florence at Bridgewater and then grabbed coffee from Siuslaw River Coffee Roasters.