Two Hours until High Tide, November 2006
As the years goes by, I find that Nyel and I have the-sea-level versus the-mountains discussion more and more frequently. As in, where would you rather live? Or have a second home? Or go on vacation?
No matter how you look at it, it’s a purely academic discussion. We already live on a fragile, mile-wide strip of land separating bay from ocean. It’s about as “sea level” as it gets. And, as far as is known, we don’t have any plans to move. “But if we did…” the conversation begins and the lines are re-drawn. Again.
Neither of us seems to have very good arguments to support our position. Nyel’s always boils down to a log-cabin-in-the-woods-overlooking-the-valley-below sort of fantasy while I can merely say that I only feel really comfortable by the sea.
“How about by a lake?” he counters. So far, I’ve not been successful in explaining that it’s not just the proximity of water that is necessary. I need to be by the ocean or the bay. It’s doubtless an altitude thing.
View of Snake River, Summer 2016
There’s probably a logical explanation. Maybe it’s as simple as where each of us grew up – Nyel in the Bear Lake Valley of Idaho, elevation 5,981 feet; me in San Rafael, California and Oysterville with elevations of 43 and 10 feet respectively. Or maybe it’s that he’s a Leo (mountain lions and all that) and I’m a watery Pisces.
Part of it, certainly, is that I’m not comfortable with heights. I don’t need to drive up (or down) those curvy mountain roads or hike those scary trails leading to gorgeous, scenic overlooks. In fact, one of the most unbearable things I ever did was sit through an IMAX movie that had something to do with the mountains – Yosemite, I think. (I’m not sure of that part. My eyes were closed most of the time.)
Nor is Nyel at one with water. He doesn’t sail or swim or dive or snorkel – although he can do all of the above. Those are not his activities of preference. Truth, to tell, they aren’t high on my list, either. I guess it’s just your basic mountain man versus mermaid self-image thing. Which, as Tevye and Golda sing in “Fiddler on the Roof” — It doesn’t change a thing but even so, After 25 years it’s nice to know
My grandmother always said that she slept better on the Peninsula. I know that I feel more relaxed and at peace with the world when I am there. The mountains are nice to visit, but nothing soothes my soul as does the salty Doug Fir air of the beach. I don’t swim well and have been known to get seasick on a fishing boat, but I love being able to hear the ocean when I get up and few people are stirring and I love being able to pop down to the beach and hear it up close and personal.