IT'S ABOUT THE FOG!

It's all about the fog. While members of my wonderful family think it's because of the family reunion that I travel to the coast this week, I'm telling you: It's all about the fog. 

We, who live in the Willamette Valley have had a heat wave this summer rendering all valley residence into puddles of sweat. On the east side of the Cascade Range where summers generally carry 90+ temperatures it is considered a "dry heat". There is nothing "dry" about the Willamette Valley heat. It is muggy and damp mimicking the way those of us who live there feel.

While on highway 38 heading west my van’s thermometer read in the high 80's as I headed for the coast. Approaching Reedsport along the Umpqua River I saw the first vestiges of fog.

Fog! It soothes my eyes better than the most expensive sunglasses. As soon as I drive under it’s gentle embrace, I feel my forehead relax. 

Then there’s fog’s effect upon my nose. What set of sinuses doesn’t wish for the moist coolness arriving on a fog-bound breath?

But most of all it’s my skin. Well, as my body still radiates accumulated heat, my arms are already sprouting goose bumps. Goose bumps! Just think of that. What a delicious feeling.

Here on the Oregon coast fog does not “steal in on little feet” as fog is so often described in books. No! It tromps in like Big Foot as it stomps through valleys and shoves it’s way up the hills. The vegetation sighs in relief and grows like it’s in a race to be the biggest and best. 

Fog dampens with a dew loved by all plants. You can tell by the way they respond. I think even the spider who spun the web in my pix below enjoys the morning mist as much as I do.