the coast. freedom.

the coast was an adventure.  we had a rental car to do part of the oregon coast and the california coast in the big sur area.  these are places we've always wanted to go and hike.  the sun was shining, the windows were down, and i may or may not have even blasted Something Corporate at one point.  the diversity of views and landscapes we saw was awesome.  we hiked to the tops of some amazing mountains, saw the ocean and waterfalls, walked through rivers and stood at the base of massive redwood trees.  there is something about being the midst of a forest, on a mountain or beside the ocean that puts it all into perspective.  i mean, its really hard to look out at the vastness of the pacific and feel like your own life is the center of the universe.  in that moment you feel so small in relation to the things around you.  you might think that this would leave you feeling insignificant or hopeless, but as we stood in these places we felt a freedom knowing that we aren't in control of the world, and instead knowing that God is God.  there is a release that happens when you realize that its not about you and the meaning of your life isn't determined by what you can achieve or what others think about you.  standing at the base of the redwoods we were reminded again that God has always been making things beautiful in the world and he will keep doing that.  all we have to do is join in.

i cant mention the coast though without talking about the people we stayed with.  one of them was neil of seaside.  leading up to the trip neil was our most helpful connection.  he found us on couchsurfing and invited us to stay at his place in seaside, oregon.  at first it seemed a bit sketchy, i mean you always hear those horror stories about couchsurfing or wooffing where the hosts turn out to be total creeps, but after looking at neil's profile and reading countless reviews on his page we figured that either he is a pretty amazing and inspirational person, or he spends a lot of time creating profiles and making himself look that way.  we decided it was worth the risk and we are so glad we did!  neil was an amazing person.  he has journals full of notes from people he has hosted through couchsurfing and warm showers (couchsurfing for cyclists).  he spent the evening chatting with us about his travels around the world and his heart to share his life with others.  he told us that each year he hosts at least 70 people!  it was so refreshing to stay with someone who really does keep his door open to anyone and who is always looking to learn.  the way he opens himself up to learn from other people and places i think is so rare.  i find it so easy to think i already have the answers and that my life and my ideas are the most right.  i mean, even when i am taking in what others are saying, when i think about it, i only learn from them insofar as i deem what they are saying to be valuable.  neil seemed different than this.  he seemed to genuinely want to grow from every experience, as if he genuinely believed that other people and places had things more valuable to offer than what he already knew.  we are glad that we met neil so early on in the trip, because that is the kind of attitude we need to have if we are to actually to be changed.

the big sur area of the california coast was our biggest gamble going into the trip and as we headed out from san fran to do the coast we still had nowhere to stay.  by the end of the first day we hadn't found anything so we stayed at a motel.  it was fine, but we decided it was too expensive to do again so we made a pact that if we didn't find anything the next night we would stay in our car.  after visiting big sur bakery in the morning (which was unreal!!) we hit up a little library to use the internet.  we basically contacted any couchsurfing host within decent range of big sur asking if anyone would let us crash last minute that night and asking if they could text us because we wouldn't have a computer for the rest of the day.  when we got back from our hike, a guy named nate contacted us saying we could stay at his place.  he said he wouldn't be there, but that he would leave the door unlocked.  seriously, that was a huge answer to prayer especially because couchsurfing has been super hit or miss.  that night we show up to nate's place which is a small apartment in a little surf town on the coast.  sure enough the door was unlocked and he had left helpful sticky notes all over the apartment to help us know how to use the tv, or to watch out because the chair is wobbly.  with surf boards hanging all over the room and surf awards for amputee divisions, we quickly realized that nate is an amputee surfer.  in the morning nate came home with lattes for us!  seriously, we wondered if this guy could really exist.  as we talked to nate, we were totally blown away by his positive outlook on life and his attention to the details of other people's lives (ie. he brought us lattes because he read on our profile that i like coffee).  it even turns out that his sister is moving to hamilton in the next two weeks!!  hopefully nate will swing by hamilton and bunch of you can meet this super rad guy. 

we really could not have imagined the amount of hospitality we would encounter on this trip or the amazing people we would meet.  there is no way we would choose any other way to do the trip.