east west

scappoose bay

when we were preparing to move to oregon, i took a look at a map of the northwest (i've inherited this love of maps from my father - we could both look at them for hours. often when we talk on the phone, it's about some geographical anomaly that we've found - point roberts, washington for example. or the 'undefined border' between saudi arabia and yemen & oman. or that little piece of spain that sticks north into france through the pyrenees.) to see what i could find. among all the consonant-laden names (snoqualmie, snohomish, issaquah, puyallup, klickitat, siskiyou) and the curiously quaint (sweet home, mountain home, walla walla) i found a whole host of names that paid tribute to a musical form that was popular for approximately two weeks in the mid 90's. ska. when i found Skamania County, I keeled over with laughter. SKA MANIA! among this i also discovered Scappoose - ska + poose (and 'poose' is just a funny word in its own right). Scappoose is also home to the World's Largest Candle of Peace. i wonder if George Bush knows that?

anyway. i would never have thought that fun of any sort would lie in a town with such an unfortunate name. but peter & i took montana and the kayak out to the scappoose bay today and had such an terrific time. we paddled out about a mile or so and put in on land and just explored. i didn't even realize that portland's air was so bad until i breathed in out there - it felt so young, youthful, fresh.... the sun made an appearance, we ate chicago hot dogs, our jeans were soaked and muddy - and we were happy.

posted by jessica @ 7:17 PM