Home Leave Epilogue: West Coast

Perched on Cape Perpetua

Paul wrote up the last blog en route to Kenya to get David back in time to start his senior year of high school.  On the same afternoon, I was flying in the opposite direction, heading west with my parents to Oregon. I had told them I wanted to spend an extra week with them at the end of our home leave, either to spend time de-cluttering their basement, or else to take time to visit our western extended family. They voted for the more interesting option!

My dad grew up in Portland, Oregon; I used to visit there every few years to see uncles, aunts and cousins. But due to the constrained nature of our home leaves over the past 10 years in East Africa, I had not been able to visit since 2016. Recently
, I’d been feeling like I needed to make it a priority to see my dad’s siblings and so we bought the tickets and planned to go visit everyone. Sadly, my dad’s oldest brother Bill passed away in June from an acute illness, after 88 very healthy and blessed years of life, so I missed getting to see him in person again.

Welcome from Bob and Corinna

Our flight was significantly delayed by thunderstorms in Baltimore, so we didn’t make it to Portland until late at night. My dad’s one remaining brother Uncle Bob stayed up for us and let us into our guest rooms at their retirement community. In the morning, I woke up early (thanks west-headed jet lag) and went out to explore Rose Villa, the same community where my grandparents had spent their final 20 years of life in a little cottage. Some of the old ranchers looked very familiar, but there’s been a lot of new, stylish development. 

Willamette River with a rowing team

I found my way down through the rose gardens and neighborhoods to the Willamette River. Every pine scent of the west coast air was so deeply refreshing. Fruit trees were heavy with apples and plums, falling into the streets, and every hedge is lined with wild blackberries coming ripe. Such abundance! At the same time, I noted the signs of heat and drought. We had originally planned to spend 3 nights in a borrowed cabin at Mt. Hood. But unfortunately, a major fire has been burning up the east side of the mountain for several weeks, and the area around the cabin was evacuated. 1500 firefighters are continuing to battle the flames and dry conditions and dangerous air quality even now. My cousins talked about their new normal: “snow season” and “smoke season.’

Garden tour

After a quick breakfast in our room, we stopped by to greet Bob’s wife my aunt Corinna and see a little of the indigenous gardens she’s been promoting at their community. And then we got in the car with Uncle Bob to head downtown and visit the Portland Art Museum, where their son Charles is on staff. It was a fascinating building in terms of architecture, and I particularly enjoyed the sculptures and the portraits thoughtfully displayed in various galleries. 

Portland Art Museum

Next, we visited Dan & Louis’ Oyster Bar, an old haunt for our parents when my dad was in medical school. They really enjoyed a big bowl of oyster stew for old times’ sake, and we watched the varied crowds of visitors wandering past our outdoor seating. A few years ago, Portland was dealing with a crisis of homelessness, exacerbated by the decriminalization of drug use in the city. As much as that sounded like a good idea to most citizens, there were consequences. For a while, it wasn’t a great idea to hang out downtown. But things have shifted in the city governance and downtown seemed to be a brighter and happier place these days. Our final downtown stop was a quick run past Powell’s used bookstore, another favorite place for my mom as a librarian. I’d given her a copy of Anne Patchett’s new book Whistler (excellent read!) and she was keen to pick up a few more novels by Patchett.

Back at Rose Villa, my parents took a little time to decompress, and I had a really good visit with Aunt Corinna. She is an artist and graphic designer, with such a deep sense of creating beauty. She and my Uncle Bob are also very concerned with environmental sustainability. She showed me a lot of intentional efforts their community is making to save water and energy. I really appreciated the chance to interact with her as we walked around and toured the campus. I also took a few moments for a refreshing swim in the pool! We shared dinner and good conversation with Bob and Corinna, followed by more evening strolling. My mom and I went off separately to explore the community vegetable gardens, while my dad and Bob had more time to talk and share about the recent loss of their brother.  

In the morning, I took another delightful walk down to the river before we headed to Portland Mennonite Church. We enjoyed the hymn singing, the silence incorporated in the service, and the meaningful sermon. The most ironic thing was that the closing hymn was a song I had written for the GLI reconciliation conference, which happens to be in the Mennonite hymnal. I was able to mention the connection and greet the congregation from MCC, and afterwards, a lot of folks came to talk to me. One of them was the wife and son of Paul’s good high school friend Tim Manickam. I also found out that the new pastor also studied at Regent College in Vancouver and we overlapped for one year.

With Aunt Susan

After the service, my parents and I shared a delicious Thai lunch. Then we headed over to the retirement community where Uncle Bill and Aunt Susan had shared a condo. Susan still lives there but is now in a memory care facility. We found her waiting for a group activity to start and so took her aside for a chance to spend some time together. It is not easy for her to know exactly who we are, but she remains as lovely and gracious as ever, so loving and affirming and kind. We sat around a puzzle, sharing a few photos and memories of old times, and then found ourselves singing old songs together. It was a joyful way to connect with her and I’m so glad I was able to look into her eyes again and remember the times we spent when I came to visit her family as a child without my parents. We didn’t want to wear her out, so left her to join the movie with her fellow residents.

On the Roof with Mt. Hood in the background

We did a little wandering around Portland from there, finding our way through the campus of the Med School and then up around the wooded hills towards the Rose test garden. There wasn’t easy parking, so we decided not to stop, but it was still fun to explore more of the city where my parents had lived as newlyweds.

That evening, we had a get-together at the home of my cousin Heather. Her husband Dan made amazing grilled chicken, and we enjoyed a tasty southern menu, complete with a crunch cake, together with their kids Beatrice and Baird. I’ve really appreciated talking to current college students all along the way this year, but the two of them had really interesting insights into West Coast, Greek college life, and what’s happening for people taking business degrees. The two kids were so attentive and interested in sharing conversation and I was really impressed with them. It was also great to hear more from Heather and Dan about what they have been doing lately.

Beatrice, Heather, Baird and Dan with us 

In the morning, Uncle Bob fed us delicious fresh pancakes and gave us a few travel tips before we headed further west to the Oregon coast. My dad had wisely switched gears when we could spend time on Mt. Hood and had booked us 4 nights at Salishan resort. I continued my role as the chauffeur on our shared week of travels and thoroughly enjoyed the nice rental car on the country roads. On a whim, my dad suggested stopping at the Flight Museum in McMinnville. It was a lot like the massive hanger of historic planes housed near Dulles airport in DC. 

But the prize craft in this place is the “Spruce Goose,” the largest wooden aircraft ever built. It is a massive flying boat with an infamous history. In the end, it only flew for 30 seconds. After we left, I noted all the old aircraft labeled “Evergreen.” We looked it up and found out that the establishment housing all these aircraft was originally a private company with deep ties to the CIA and their questionable foreign adventures in the 70s and 80s. I’m glad I only learned that after we left!

We finally got to the coast at Lincoln City and felt about ready for a picnic. We found an excellent perch on some rocks at one of the many coastal state parks, with amazing views of the surf, kites flying, and wind blowing wildly. The water was really cold! And the wind chilled us, despite the clear sunny day, but it was exhilarating. 

Salishan nature trail

After driving a few more minutes we arrived at Salishan, where the welcome drinks were chardonnay or lavender kombucha, which I think says a lot. The three of us shared a fairly big room with a minimal kitchenette (fridge and microwave). My parents took some time to read on our sunny balcony while I went to explore for a bit. I found a lovely little nature trail tucked between the golf course and the Siletz Bay, which led eventually to a distant view of the ocean. In the evening, we enjoyed the hot tub and pool and hot showers and then got to bed.

We took our time to enjoy the resort in the morning, in our various ways. Salishan has several gas-powered fire circles running all the time, which I found to be a great spot for morning prayer, along with the good coffee always available. Then I went to enjoy a complimentary yoga class. Finally, we had some lunch and headed out to explore more of the coast to the south.

Boiler Bay

By instinct, I pulled over at the overlook on Boiler Bay. We found a line of people gazing out into the ocean below, where several boats hovered close. What was going on? It was a pod of whales, two adults and two juveniles! Our neighbors helped us to find them, spouting 2 or 3 times, and then showing us their backs and sometimes their tails. We were transfixed, watching and waiting to see them as they surfaced. The scenery was spectacular, glistening in the full sun. We didn’t take a boat out but passed by a little marine museum in Depoe Bay to learn more about the gray whales who are resident there. And then we kept driving further south towards Newport, where we found our way to place where a big colony of sea lions were crowded all up onto a special designated dock. It was incredibly funny to watch them rolling over each other, barking, diving and wrestling with each other in the water.

Sea lions in Newport

That evening we returned for a very special dinner in Depoe Bay, at a restaurant just hanging right over the water. The food was incredibly good, including steamed clams, fried oysters and fresh halibut in white-wine sauce with capers. It was a great way to recognize again that my parents have been married for 60 years this August. We had a really nice time sharing stories and memories over dinner, including the different ways that they used to come to the coast as kids, and how they learned to love seafood. My dad would always come when his Iowa cousins visited. Meanwhile, my mom’s family would drive out in the summer, pitch a big army tent, and then spend a week digging oysters, shucking them and canning them in a pot over an open fire on the beach. It was free meat, worth the gas money, and would supply them with oyster stew all winter.

On our Wednesday at the beach, we actually headed inland. My mom still wanted to have a walk in the mountain woods, and fortunately the low mountains of the coastal range were just next door. We had identified a nicely maintained all-ages appropriate trail just 35 minutes’ drive away. The unexpected bit was that the forest road started just 10 minutes from our resort and rose up steeply, through countless sharp bends and curves up to the top of the ridge. I would have expected it to be a gravel road, but it was beautifully paved and maintained, taking us through thick forest and then logged/thinned areas. It was lovely to drive through, like a pre-hike. The trail itself was also very satisfying. A few of the massive old-growth hemlock stumps were still visible, but most of the trees looked like they had been planted not so long ago, perhaps 60 years. 

Winding road to the trail

The forest was rich with a variety of ferns and undergrowth, exactly the kind of woods we had been looking for. We ended up at a suspension bridge over a dramatic waterfall. We picnicked on some rocks looking back up at the Drift Creek Falls, checking for trout in the river. The return journey uphill was a bit more challenging, and I was really proud of my parents for doing such an ambitious walk successfully.

Back at the hotel, we took a little break, and then I mentioned that I wanted to drive out on the spit and see the beach at Salishan. I was surprised when my parents said they wanted to join me. We took the 15-minute drive through the private Salishan housing development and arrived to admire fierce surf in the late afternoon sun. The sand was deliciously warm on bare feet. We sat for a long while just contemplating the end of the continent before going back to relax in the hot tub and get a nice dinner.

Spouting Horn

On our final day on the coast, we drove all the way south to Yachats. It is a famous spot for spectacular coastline. We walked down to the water’s edge to admire some tidepools – I was able to get close enough to see green anemone in the cold water. Further along, the erosion of waves has created sink holes in the volcanic rock, and a sort of ocean geyser, the Spouting horn, where water builds in pressure and then shoots up a jet of spray as the waves keep pounding.

At the CCC shelter

Next, we drove up to the overlook trail to see the view from above at Cape Perpetua. We looked straight down a vertical cliff back to the winding Route 101 and the parking for Spouting horn. The spruce old growth was still there at the top of the ridge. Almost 100 years ago, young men with the Civilian Conservation Corps had built the road and a rock shelter and all the trails with their guardrails around the edge of this promontory. I was grateful for the risks they took in this work. We finished our excursion with a lunch of fresh hot fish and chips and fish tacos at Luna’s Sea Kitchen.

On Friday, I rose early to make sure I had one more chance to walk the beach. It was mysterious and misty, with a few dog walkers appearing out of the mist. The tide was low and I walked way out onto a sandbar, spotting gulls and sandpipers and one sea mammal that may have been a seal, another that was a human surfer clad head to toe in a black wetsuit. They didn’t look so different in the water. The sun was just breaking through the clouds when I left to join my parents for breakfast and packing up.

Aunt Kathy, my dad and I

We took the country roads back to Portland, stopping near our destination at the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers. The water levels are dangerously low with the current drought conditions, and apparently salmon are struggling to spawn these days. Everywhere we went, we admired the beauty and also witnessed the groaning of creation against the conditions of climate change.

My aunt Kathy came to join us for a little get together that afternoon at Rose Villa and I was so glad to see my dad’s other living sibling again after a very long while. We had lots to talk about with her work at a Christian school and the developments of her grandkids, my cousins’ children. Bob and Corinna then invited us to have an early supper together at Lake Oswego. 

Corinna, Bob and I

Our sunny table hung right over the lake, and the restaurant was absolutely hopping with the hip young wealthy Lake Oswego crowd. It was a very festive way to wrap up the week. I had one more chance to meet up with my cousin Gretchen after dinner. She’s my Uncle Bill’s only daughter, and we always connected really well when we were young. I’d had the chance to meet up with her in Dallas, and this was the second time we could get together. We have a lot to share, both having young adult sons, as well as thinking about the both the grief of losing her dad, but the gratitude for his life well-lived.

My mom with Gretchen

In summary, it was such a worthwhile week. I was able to connect really well with so many members of my extended Sack family in a way I hadn’t done in years. Even more, I had such a positive and fun experience spending time with my parents, away from our various responsibilities. We haven’t had a real family vacation in a long time, and this seemed to be the most uncomplicated way to enjoy each other’s company before I have to leave them for another 10 months. I’m grateful I could take this time and really focus on being with them.

Last morning at Salishan

On Saturday morning I got a very early uber to the airport and caught a plane back to Washington, D.C. My dear college friend Margaret picked me up from the airport and I had the great pleasure of staying at her house overnight, spending time with her and her husband and kids. This morning, I attended mass with them. Margaret served as the cantor, singing the liturgy and leading the congregational singing with such beauty and simplicity. She is truly gifted as a singer, and I was very blessed to be there with her family. And now I’m in the skies, somewhere over the Atlantic, hoping that the 2-hour delay caused by another East Coast summer thunderstorm  won’t stop me from making my connection in Paris and returning home to Nairobi and to Paul and David. (and I'm in Paris now, but I might miss the flight posting this post!!)

Bonus photos: