A Pacific Northwest Christmas

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday festivities. I wanted to share some photos I was able to take from our Christmas Day excursion, as well as a short video clip at the end of this post.

Most of our immediate family still lives in Ohio, which is where my wife and I spent the majority of our lives. So, while we get back there once in a while for the holidays, this year we stayed home. Home, is the Pacific Northwest, in Brookings, Oregon. We’re located at the Southwest tip of the state, on the coast.

The following photos and video were taken from my iphone, so those of you who are photography buffs, well, it may not measure up. But the quality isn’t too bad. My main point here is to show all of you the beauty of where I live. Our environment is fragile, and climate change is happening right before our eyes, the speed of which has surprised many in the scientific community.

We’re right in the middle of it out here. Wildfires, droughts, rising sea levels, and more, threaten our way of life and much of what you see in these photos. I never take it for granted anymore. I take it all in, and consider myself lucky to live here. If only I had confidence that my country will do the right thing to protect it for future generations. With the current state of our politics, I’m not optimistic, but I haven’t given up hope either. 2020 is so important for many reasons, and changing the current leadership in Washington D.C. is, and must be priority number one.

Nevertheless, the weather was beautiful on December 25, 2019 in Brookings. These photos and video were all taken at the Cape Sebastian Scenic Corridor, an enclave that sits approximately 20 miles North of Brookings along the coast on Highway 101. The trail we took is about 4 miles roundtrip, the descent to the ocean floor being fairly easy, but the ascent back up, pretty rigorous.

I’d highly recommend turning up the volume in the video, because the sheer power and velocity of the Pacific Ocean is on full display. Frankly, the video can only do it partial justice. You have to see it, to believe it.