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there's nothing like the open road and
while i'm all about picking a
spectacular destination
sometimes it's the journey that's the
main event
the southern oregon coast town of
brookings is about a six hour drive from
portland
and while the coastal hamlet is
certainly worth the trip on its own
there's also plenty to see along the way
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it's been a heck of a year for a lot of
folks
myself included
we've had our ups and downs some
difficult times but i like to hold close
to some cautious optimism
and there's nothing like getting back to
the outdoors to foster those positive
feelings
to charge ahead experience someplace new
capture that adventuresome spirit and
say i'm back baby
but then again maybe i still need to
take it slow for the time being
what's up jathy hey jim
how are you i'm good how are you i'm
doing all right thanks up and walking i
see on the move one week give or take
post crutches here so you ready to take
me down to brookings if you will
i'm always ready to go to brooke all
right let's do it i fractured a bone in
my ankle back in may
and while i'm still a ways off from
being 100
my physical therapist has cleared me to
walk in my fracture boot giving me a
chance to get around without my crutches
but i still can't drive so friend and
colleague jayathi ramakrishnan agreed to
take the wheel and show me around
brookings a town she grew to love while
working there several years ago
all right back seat for me
a little bit more comfortable and dave
our videographer will hang out in the
front
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all right so we're on the move i-5 south
headed ultimately uh down to brookings
where jathy you lived for
actually when did you live there that
was my first
place that i lived after college so my
first job was at a small paper in
brookings was there for a couple years
and yeah it's still really special to me
it was a great place to live i had a lot
of fun exploring the area and it's just
gorgeous you and i obviously work
together a ton and i've heard you talk
about this place so much what do you
have on the list for us here these next
two days you know there's so much we
could do
but i really wanted to hit a couple of
places so brookings to my knowledge is
the only place in oregon with redwoods
so we're gonna hit the oregon redwoods
and then not far from there we are gonna
also visit one of the largest myrtle
forests and it's really beautiful and
then we're also gonna hit the beach you
know what's the point of going to the
oregon coast if you can't
walk on the sand a little bit so we're
gonna check it out yeah i'm looking
forward to showing you around
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all right we're off the freeway headed
out to the coast yep so we
just passed through the town of drain
and we're going along the umpqua river
so it's really a gorgeous scenic drive
we're gonna be on this highway for about
an hour and closer to the coast past the
town of elkton
it's aptly named there is an elf
viewpoint
uh and i don't want to brag but i have a
100
success rate of seeing elk there don't
mess me up oh hey fingers crossed
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first things first we had to test
jathi's elk streak and wouldn't you know
it was soon as broken as a bone in my
right ankle
we did see some elk nearby however so
our street was salvaged and since we
could practically smell the sea air at
this point we didn't waste any more time
jumping back in the car and down route
38 to hook up with highway 101.
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uh we there yet tracy nope
got another hour and a half
so we are on
highway 101
this is like in my opinion the most
beautiful part of the oregon coast it's
really rugged i've never been this far
south on the oregon coast before but
i've heard great things about the rugged
shoreline and now that i've seen it for
myself i can say it definitely lives up
to its reputation
near port orford for example clusters of
sea stacks rise out of the ocean
the wind whips over the sand and waves
crash on the shore in a way that just
feels a little more ferocious than up
north
and while the southern coast is a
popular place to visit its distance from
portland means it's not usually as
crowded as places like canyon beach or
seaside
it's easy to imagine that the dramatic
ocean scenes playing out in front of you
wouldn't have looked much different
hundreds or even thousands of years ago
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so
port orford in the rear view brookings
coming up soon coming up soon we've got
about 25 miles to go and what do you
think so far
i'm loving it honestly i mean this is
exactly what i was looking for because
i
shouldn't go far because of my foot and
i've seen a lot we've seen a lot from
the car here it's been absolutely
gorgeous this is the final stretch
before we get to brookings and some of
the best views to come for example
thomas creek bridge which is the highest
bridge in oregon i love it we're hitting
it just the right time of day too so and
i don't know about you but i'm getting
uh hungry for some uh thai food for
dinner tonight i have been waiting all
day at long last we were in brookings
but we weren't quite done driving yet
after a quick stop at jathy's favorite
thai restaurant to pick up dinner we had
about another eight miles to go to
alfred a loeb state park where we'd be
camping for the night well
here we are we're in brookings oregon or
eight miles up the river from it so we
are
along the chetco river
and uh
got some food at my favorite thai
restaurant looks like something's
leaking
all right we're gonna make it work
all right let's let's do it
the food was great and made for a
satisfying meal after our long day on
the road
we set up our tents as darkness fell and
turned in
it wasn't the kind of tired i'm used to
after a day of climbing or skiing but i
was definitely ready for bed and looking
forward to what jfe had planned for the
next day
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what do you have in store for us today
so right now we're driving back into
town and we're gonna go hit my favorite
breakfast spot in brookings and then
after that we're gonna come right back
up and hike a couple of short trails the
myrtle wood forest and
the redwood trail which are both
really close to or kind of in
the same place where we just camped cool
after another excellent meal we retraced
our steps back along the chatco river
toward the entrance of a hiking path
that seemed like something my ankle
could handle all right so
is this uh this is time for my mobility
test it's time for us to do the only
physical activity we're gonna do on this
outdoor
focused trip oh very good so we are now
at uh the myrtle wood grove this is a
much more gentle trail you've picked one
that that fits my current state
yeah and then after we complete this
trail
we're gonna ditch jim and i'm gonna go
walk in the redwoods
while this hike was a literal walk in
the park it was a major milestone for me
my first time being back on my feet
active in the outdoors in over two
months
the familiar forest landscape felt
especially meaningful after my time away
and the myrtle trees and views of the
chatco river made for a serene
picturesque return to the trail with a
little help from jfe at the end of our
hike i'd made it through my longest walk
since my injury and i felt great
all right last step here we go yep all
right
there we go
all right
okay
that was a good
first hike in the boot probably
shouldn't be hiking in the boot but that
was more of a walk i think though i'm
going to sit out the redwoods because
probably shouldn't do any more well i am
going to go take a walk through the
night i think you should relax
the redwood nature trail is a loop of
just over a mile and a bit under 300
feet of elevation gain
while the trees aren't as huge as
california's redwoods they're still
spectacular and are among the tallest
trees in oregon
jfe visited them when she lived in the
area and was happy to return meanwhile i
was happy to sit this one out
the trail is gorgeous crisscrossing a
stream and featuring ferns doug furs and
rhododendrons in addition to the
majestic redwoods
we met back at the car and headed to
brookings once again for the last stop
of our trip we'd still barely spent any
time at the beach itself and harris
beach state park has one of the best in
the state i will say i'm ready to be
done getting in and out of the car and
like the super boot right now
but
the glory welcome to harris beach paris
beach so this is our last stop on our
south coast tour
how sad yeah harris beach is a really
popular spot i read recently that
there's like a million visitors here a
year and i believe it that is not
surprising it is a popular spot and it's
that way for a good reason there's tide
pools wide sandy beaches to kind of sit
and hang out for the day some good
walking trails it really has it all
so this is our last stop on the southern
oregon tour and a fitting spot to end it
i mean this is gorgeous you were hitting
all the highlights i think all the
highlights i can hit oh you can and i
think even if you were more mobile i
would still have taken you to a lot of
these spots maybe we would have walked
around a little more you know climbed
some rocks and whatnot but i think you
have really gotten a good
overview of what this area has to offer
yeah i've gotten a flavor for it
definitely gained an appreciation for it
and kind of the rugged southern oregon
coast rings true and i'm i'm pretty
excited about it so thank you you're
welcome anytime
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you