Long Beach, Washington

Monday 6/29/09 is moving day again. We leave Chinook, WA and Will has a whole 25 miles to drive to our next location, Long Beach, WA. This part of Washington is know as the "Peninsula" a small portion is on hwy 101 and the rest on hwy 103. We arrived pretty early Monday morning and get set up and decide to walk around the park and explore. What I discovered was at the far end of the RV park was a trail, a rather long one, 1/4 mile, that led down to the Pacific Ocean and the beach...BINGO. I was very excited as that meant that tomorrows 3 mile walk would be on the beach.

After lunch, Will decided to fool around at the RV (his idea of fun) washing the windows, cleaning the outside of the RV and what every else he can find to do. So I took the car and headed into the town of Long Beach. It is truly a little coastal town with a boardwalk, a beach that you can drive your car on .... lots & lots of little shops, restaurants and vacationing families. Now the sun is out, that's true, but the wind is blowing fiercely; I guess that's why they have so much kite flying here & a big kite festival in August. I decided to buy Will a kite, a cheap one at that, knowing he would probably get mad at me (which he did) but hopefully he will put it together & we can fly the kite on the beach. So far it's not out of the bag yet. Well I walked around, in and out of shops, bought a few postcards and then went home. After dinner, we went to the grocery store, only one in town - Sid's, did some laundry & wrote on the blog and of course by this time we were both exhausted. It amazes me how tired you can get doing nothing......she says smiling!

Tuesday, 6/30/09 Well a new day and I'm excited to get started on my walk as this morning I have a big and I mean big stretch of sand to walk. As a matter fact it is so difficult to find the path you enter the beach on (I really thought about this) and need to return back to, that I brought a small American flag to put down near my path so I could find it ...pretty smart, huh????

Well off I went, the ocean roaring a continuous loud roar, so loud it is unbelievable. I started walking down the beach & when I had gone about 20 minutes I turned around & headed back. Keeping my pace up, I spotted my flag and started patting myself on the back for being so smart I decided to go further up the other way & then return back to my starting point. The sun is shinning, the ocean is roaring, no people anywhere and I'm giving thanks for this wonderful opportunity of travel that I have been given. I check my watch and decide it is time to turn around & go back to the flag. Do you get where this is all going????? Well I walked & walked & walked and NEVER SAW THE FLAG....again ever. Somewhere after an hour or so I spotted some guy on the beach & told him I was lost & needed help in finding where I belonged. He wasn't much interested in helping other than to tell me I was at about 160th street and I knew I needed to be at 116th. He said my best bet was to head back the other direction. How's that for help??? But of course that is what I did. Then my guardian angel(s) who were driving their SUV on the beach towards me when I put up my hands so they might stop. Well stop they did, Roger and Dorcee (sorry about the spelling dear) and I told them my predicament & they told meto get in the car & said they would take me home. I was so relieved as I knew Will would be worried by now & probably looking for me. I might add that a normal 3 mile walk for me is 6,300 steps on my counter now at this point I had 9,500 steps..some morning walk! Well they drove me right to my front door and Will was standing out front looking very worried & perplexed. (Actually, he was probably worried how he would get back to Fresno!) Roger and Will talked outside & I showed Dorcee our RV. They are locals and have a beach house in Long Beach and spend their winters in Arizona. They are considering getting a small, 21 ft RV and travel into Mexico.....good luck guys and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me out and I sure appreciate it. God Bless.

Well after I calmed down, had breakfast, we packed a lunch & headed off for some sightseeing of the area. Our first destination was Cape Disappointment State Park where the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center is located. Our first stop at the park was North Head Lighthouse established in 1898. We parked & then walked down the path to the lighthouse, now Will says he has seen enough lighthouses and didn't want to climb the stairs so I went alone. As you can imagine, a glorious view at the top and a wonderful volunteer that gave lots of information. One of my questions, was how come the name....Cape Disappointment. It was named after a fur trader John Mears while unable to locate the mouth of the Columbia River and all his men had scurvy he had to return home before finding it...with that he named the area, Cape Disappointment. I also asked if they see whales & he said, "one March when the gray whales were returning with their calves from Mexico they spotted 178 in a 4 hour period. The gray whales will swim in closer to the shore away from their enemies, the killer whales, which are further out."

Upon arriving at the Center we pulled out our picnic lunch & lawn chairs & ate behind the Saturn, in the sun & out of the wind while most people were just trying to find a parking space. We have got this thing down pat!!! We then headed into the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center which on the wall, after entering the building, you are following a walkway down and it tells the entire story in pictures & words of this amazing expedition. Will & I read every word on that wall and when we got to the bottom we watch a movie of a re-enactment of the journey. They had wonderful exhibits and lots of hands on things for the kids and us too. Of course by this time we (me) are dead tired and decide it's time to head on home. We arrive in the parking lot & are just starting down the road when this couple - OUR AGE - are hitchhiking. I tell Will to stop as they must be having car trouble, well we stop & they do need a ride into the town of Ilwaco, WA right outside Cape Disappointment.

They are Ray and Sheila from Vancouver, Canada and are driving a 1973 VW bus/camper that the transmission has gone out on. The manager at the RV park where they are staying is fixing the camper for them so they took the city bus for 35 cents into Ilwaco , hitchhiked into the Interpretive Center (a mom & her 12 yr old son gave them a ride) and now need a ride back into town to catch the bus back to their RV park. Before I knew it, they were in our back seat and we were talking, laughing & giving them a ride. They told us about a fish place in Ilwaco that sold fishcakes & cold smoked calamari and seaweed salad, yum, yum, I said take us there, so we headed over to Old Bob's Seafood Market & Cafe www.seafood@oldbobs.com Will went along with everything, the ride into Ilwaco, buying the seafood for our dinner & then we bid farewell to Ray & Sheila at the bus stop. This was truly a bizarre day...I never dreamed I would get "to pay it forward" so quickly.....a ride for ME from Roger & Dorcee & then give a ride to Ray & Sheila. Pretty amazing stuff.

Well we fixed the seafood dinner, & Will like only the crab cakes and I love the crab cakes, the calamari salad and oh yes, I bought another fish treat....smoked salmon. Will wants no part of any of it so it's alllllllllll mine. Another glorious retirement day on the road. Signing off with love to family and NEW & old friends.