#10 - Check!

While in Oregon...I accomplished my #10 item on my list of things to do before I turn 31. I sent a message in a bottle. It was an interesting experience. First I had to go to Safeway to get a beverage in a glass bottle. This was nice because I got a really good vanilla cream soda out of the deal. Then I had to purchase some stationary because I didn't want to send my message on boring hotel notepad paper. Then I had the problem of what in the blazes I should write. That took some serious thinking. I was afraid to put any identifying information in it because Oregon is such a, how should I put this, green state? I was afraid I'd rot in prison for littering! So I opted to just make a quick note telling a possible reader why I was sending a message in a bottle and then leaving them with the best advice I have to give anyone... that they should visit www.mormon.org because the church has made all the difference in my life.

Here is the bottle...on the balcony of our hotel in Yachats, Oregon...all ready for sending.

The problem with Yachats is that it is a very rocky area of the coast. Mom and I had to drive a bit to find a place I could discard my bottle without it breaking on the rocks moments after I chucked it in the water. What's fun about my parents is that they are supportive of all my crazy ideas.

We finally found a spot where I could climb down some rocks, across some more rocks, and then down yet some more rocks to a sandy bit of beach.

My mom waited in the car while Daisy and I made our way to the beach. She took a photo of the place we headed down while she waited. We had to go down there where there looks like there's a trail, then it twisted around away from the bay to the open sea where we went down the rocks.

It was there, on that beach that I realized that I'm not a pitcher and couldn't launch my bottle out far enough that it wouldn't come right back. After 3 tries, I went back to the car hoping that the tide would take it out later. Otherwise, someone just south of Yachats could find my bottle and wonder how much it had traveled (they'll never know I stood right where they were the day before trying to get it out to sea).