On a recent road trip, Mark and I headed to Gold Beach, OR with his sister. We didn’t anticipate the winding (and almost unbearable) road there from Ashland and we were left with only an hour to see the sights before heading off to Newport. But the time we spent there was amazing, despite the fact that my lactose intolerance was really starting to get to me and Lactaid pills were not working (will spare you the details; let me just say it was not pretty). We found this beach after a short drive and it reminded me of an unspoiled, undiscovered place where you could go and let the ocean spray cool you off on a hot summer day and let all the worries in the world disappear. It’s a far cry from the tourist beaches you see (think Miami), with tons of people littered all over the sand. No way; this was paradise.