My next adventure is about a week and a half away and I am really looking forward to some time on my own. Even better this time, is that I am headed to a little town on the Oregon coast and my room has a patio with a view of the ocean. I am a water baby and need to be around water to recharge and fully relax. Normally I head to one of the parks along the river for some water time, but the ocean waves are by far the best for rejuvenation… at least for me.

The place I’m staying has a private beach with tidepools and their own resident pod of harbor seals. Apparently there are some grey whales that live in the area as well, and sometimes orcas will travel by. I’m planning to bring binoculars just in case I see any. There are also forest hiking trails as well.

This is one of my longer trips this year and I’ll be there for a total of 5 nights. I’m planning to fill my time with watching the water and reading, with a bit of journaling, maybe some writing thrown in for extra measure. I coordinated this trip to coincide with Dewey’s October readathon event (just like my previous trip was for the summer reverse readathon). I added the extra time, just to make it a feel like an official retreat… a reading retreat as it were.

There is a restaurant on the property and more places in the little town nearby, or the bigger city of Newport just a few miles away, but I plan to bring my own food and just hang out in solitude as much as possible. Each room has at least a mini fridge and microwave, but some have full kitchenettes.

I am a planner, so I am already starting to get my stuff together, even though I don’t actually leave for another 10 days. Plus I need to make sure my Kindle is full and that I have enough audiobooks to complement the stack of physical books I’ll be taking with me. I know I’ll take too much, I always do, but I believe in being prepared. Plus I’m driving, so it’s not like I have to pay extra for an additional bag.

I have a lot of plans in the works for next year, so I don’t know if I’ll be traveling for all of my readathons again… but I do have a hotel already booked for April. Life’s short, and it’s important to find the fun and joy where you can.