So I stopped by a gas station, purchased my first Rand McNally map and plotted my trip along the Oregon Coast before heading back to Portland. This decision was extremely uncharacteristic of me — I’d printed Google Maps and directions in New York of places I planned on visiting during my trip. The Oregon Coast didn’t occur to me until the night before I went.

From Eugene, I drove a couple hours west to Florence. Had I paid more attention to the map, I would’ve realized I was going to drive through a forest (which I thought I was avoiding with this option). This meant no cell phone service, winding roads and essentially being in the middle of nowhere. Once I realized this, I panicked a bit. Especially when I couldn’t figure out how to turn the minivan’s lights on or how to deal with the windshield wipers. I hadn’t told a single person of my impromptu road trip — so no one knew where the hell I was. Multiple times I considered turning around, or changing my route once I made it to Florence. I just wasn’t sure I could handle the roads.

After I’d filled up with gas in Florence, messed around with my headlights until I figured out how to turn them on, and realized that I was making things out to be worse than they were, I had a leisurely drive along the coast. I’m so glad I went through with it because it was an amazing adventure.

The Coast was so breathtaking that I had to stop to take pictures not long after I started driving along Highway 101.

(grey and windy, but in the most beautiful way)

(this baby navigates likes a dream. seriously. i miss her.)

Most of the time the minivan and I were only going about 40 mph, slower once we made it into a town (I didn’t realize that places still had 25 mph speed limits on main streets, but this trip proved me wrong. I was driving so slowly I might as well have been moving backwards).

My camera battery was nearly zapped, but I still stopped whenever I felt called to (or was able to safely find a spot along the highway). The drive was so peaceful — in great part because the radio didn’t have much reception (and my MacBook wasn’t letting me burn CDs).

During the beginning of my drive, I honest-to-God sang “America the Beautiful” because it was the only thing that came to mind. Once I paid attention to the lyrics (of the first verse, because that’s all I have memorized), I realized how applicable they were to the coast. I realized the true meaning of majestic. I realized how horrible my voice is a capella when I don’t have background music drowning me out.

The Oregon Coast honestly took my breath away.

(just one of the reasons why i need to live here at some point.)

I didn’t want my drive along the Coast to end. The impromptu trip will remain one of my favorite/most memorable parts of the trip. And an example of why, amid all my planning, I should always leave a little room for the unexpected.