Fall is a walk down a long trail of shadows, a pause in
the shortening light of evening, a glance over the shoulder at
the field of summer memories withering to husks and chaff.
The heart prepares for the dark time ahead, yet lingers
briefly, casting backward at things gone. I like fall trips
over old ground. In that spirit, my friends and 1 rolled north
bound for Port Townsend. We crossed the Columbia River,
spinning along the causeway to the voice of Greg Brown
singing travelling music o f a time past:
"It's November of '63 and the brand new
Dodge is a '64...Jesus loves our President, even
though he is a Catholic, there is a lot for a
boy to think about as he walks along the
railroad track. It's a brand new Dodge."
For many years we travelled seasonally to Port Townsend
at the close of summer. It seemed right, somehow, a chance
to leave our place and recover from the tourist blues, pull a
turnabout and play the fool in someone else's backyard. In
September, the Traditional Wooden Boat Festival occurs
there, the salmon return to Puget Sound, Hoods Canal
ruffles in the light airs of autumn. Port Townsend and our
own Cannon Beach share many qualities: a real or perceived
artiness, major bodies of adjacent water, a genial, "mellow'
citizenry, and a strong natural tourist draw.
We slip through the foothills south of Willapa Bay, the
once densely forested slopes of old growth reseeded into
scruffy second and third growth "plantations," a forest
product industry catchword for experimental gardens of
mixed forest ( a "working forest" of raggedy conifers and
alder thickets). The old giants were ripe . Their harvest
necessary. The ghost of Jerry Garcia joins Peter Rowan on
the car stereo for a few verses of "Old and in the Way " as we
pass through Shelton,Washington:
"Old and in the way, I thought I heard them say, they
used to heed the words he said , but that was yesterday."
We skew off eastward toward Hoods Canal. Near the
canal the W.P.P.S./Satsop nuclear towers loom above the
bottomland, huge ice cream cones of concrete from a gone
time.
Finally we reach Hoods Canal, a long glacially scoured
waterway that we skirt north to the Sound and Port
Townsend. In transit we pass through a flea market of
townships: Hamma Hamma, Quilcene, Humptulips,
Duckabush, and the Skokomish Reservation. Thunder Boy
and Sky Warrior Fireworks stands, convoluted and rust
scarified car bodies, and "DMSO For Sale Here signs line
the roadway through Skokomish. Gambling casinos appear
sure to follow for the descendents of the first people. 1
shudder to myself and succeed in nodding off.
On the West Coast, many special places, if not reached
by water, require you to actually "drop in' from above as
you approach from a distance. The prospect startles you
suddenly; the panorama, pleasing, unfolds.at your feet.,
t
Cannon Beach, Carmel, and Port Townsend are notable
examples. Port Townsend, like Astoria, had grand plans and
flourish in the days of sail. Remnants linger. Renovated
Victorian buildings dot the hills above the city. The Upper
Town which existed separate from, and above, the prim and
proper Downtown business district, served the carnal needs
o f maritime visitors in days passed. The bordellos and
palaces of pleasure now provide bed and breakfast lodging lor
tourists in sleek German sedans.
Downtown, at wharfside, the traditional wooden boat
craftsmen and salty atmosphere linger, despite inroads made
by merchandising and tourist pandering. The sheer
concentrations of tourists/visitors here seem less
overwhelming, less abrasive, than at home. But the
mechanisms are in place for a push toward accelerated
growth. A new Safeway Market and related mall have
appeared. Several tiers of condos slipped shoreside since my
last visit. Espresso kiosks and t-shirt shops have popped up
like pimples. We stop to inspect a 40's vintage Indian
motorcycle, beautifully restored. It exudes romance and
vibrates adventure. The horn is sculpted and fashioned in the
image of an Indian warrior with full-feathered headdress. As I
stare at it, I can't shake the image of the new, block-long
gambling casino we passed north of Port Townsend, its
acres of parking filled to capacity on Sunday morning.
We leave town for the seclusion of Discovery Bay. Greg
Brown's "Boomtown" appears on the car stereo’s menu. I
listen and ponder the fate of towns like Port Townsend and
our own Cannon Beach:
"Here come the tourists with their blank
stares.
And their fanny packs—they are penny
millionaires.
Something interesting happpened here long ago.
Now where people used to live their lives
The restless come and go...It's a boomtown
NO RTH COAST
C O N S T R U C T IO N
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Fo r All
Y ou r
C onstruction
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License # 2 5 3 5 2
Where to get an Edge
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G< e a r h a r t O R 9 7 1 3 B
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CONTEMPORARY
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(503) 436-2910
263 N. Hemlock
P.O. Box 1208
Cannon Beach, OR 97 110
C h ris te n
A lls o p
Christians hold that their faith does good, but that
other faiths do harm...What I wish to maintain is
that all faiths do harm, We may define faith as a
firm belief in something for which there is no
evidence. When there is evidence, no one speaks of
faith. We do not speak of faith that two and two
are four or that the earth is round. We only speak
of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for
evidence...We are told that faith could remove
mountains, but no one believed it; we are now told
that the atomic bombs can remove mountains, and
everyone believes it.
Bertrand Russell
L in d a
K i n h a n
1235 S. HEMLOCK
Cannon Beach
7A M — 2PM
Breakfast A Lunch
Cloaed Mon. A Tues.
SCREENPRINTING AT IT'S FINEST
QUALITY TOOLS, INC.
2966 Hwy. 101 N
Seaside, OR 97138
T-Shirts • Jackets • Hats • Aprons
Posters • Flags • Banner
Plastics • Vinyls • Stickers
738 3074
SAWS
Specialists in Special Effects
Citizens pay their taxes, and then they abdicate.
They have lost their skills as citizens; they have
contracted them out to public employees.
E.S. Savas
i
DRILLS
GRINDERS
Tom Brownson
President
COMPRESSORS
STATIONARY EQUIPMENT
AIR TOOLS
I sales, service and sharpening
UPFLK LETT LDGt OCTOBLK W5
Cannon Beach: Jupiter's Rare and Used Books,
Osburn's Grocery, The Cookie Co., Coffee Cabafia,
Bill's Tavern, Cannon Beach Book Co., Hane's
Bakerie, The Bistro, Midtown Café, Once Upon a
Breeze, Knoodlz & Cleanline Surf
Manzanita: Manzanita News & Espresso, Bayside
Gardens, Cassandra's, Pacific Coast Books & Coffe &
Nehalem Bay Video
Rockaway: Sharkey's
Tillamook: Rainy Day Books
Pacific City: The River House
Oceanside: Ocean Side Espresso
Lincoln City: Trillium Natural Foods, Driftwood
Library, & Eats 'n' Stuff
Newport: Oceana Natural Foods, Don Petrie’s Italian
Food Co., Café DIVA, Cosmo Café, Bookmark Café,
Newport Bay Coffee Co., Cuppatunes, Bay Latté,
Ocean Pulse Surf Shop, Coastal Coffee Co. & Canyon
Way
Eugene: Book Mark, Café Navarra, Eugene Public
Library, Friendly St. Market, Happy Trails, Keystone
Café, Kiva Foods, Lane C.C., Light For Music, New
Frontier Market, Nineteenth Street Brew Pub, Oasis
Market, Perry's, Red Bam Grocery, Sundance Natural
Foods, U of O, & WOW Hall
Corvallis. Not Necessarily News, & The
Environmental Center
Salem: Heliotrope, Salem Library, & The Peace
Store
Astoria: KMUN, Columbian Café, The Community
Store, & Café Uniontown
Seaside: Buck's Book Bam, Universal Video, &
Cafe Espresso
Portland: Act 111, Barnes & Noble, Belmonts Inn,
Bibelot Art Gallery, Bijou Café, Borders, Bridgeport
Brew Pub, Capt'n Beans (two locations). Center for the
Healing Light, Coffee People (three locations).
Common Grounds Coffee, East Avenue Tavern, Food
Front, Goose Hollow Inn, Hot Lips Pizza, Java Bay
Café, Key Largo, La Pattisserie, Lewis & Clark
College, Locals Only, Marco's Pizza, Marylhurst
College, Mt. Hood CC, Music Millenium, Nature's
(two locations), NW Natural Gas, OHSU Medical
School, Old Wives Tales, Ozone Records, Papa Haydn,
PCC (four locations), PSU (two locations), Reed
College, Third Eye, TransCentral Library, & YWCA
Long Beach, WA: Pacific Picnics
Nahcotta, WA: Moby Dick Hotel
Duvall, WA: Duvall Books
Seattle, WA: Elliot Bay Book Co., Honey Bear
Bakery, New Orleans Restaurant, Still Life in Fremont,
Allegro Coffeehouse, The Last Exit Coffee House, &
Bulldog News
214C Y C L E
2038 SE Belmont
Portland. OR 97214
(5 0 3 ) 23 6 -2 0 8 8
FAX (5 0 3 ) 2 3 6 -1 8 8 6
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