Kite Festival, August, 2014

II enjoy seeing kites, and when there’s an actual kite festival all week, you can bet that I’ll be there if I can.  The kite festival is the “big” festival in Long Beach, WA every August.  Rather than being held just on a weekend, the kite festival starts on a Monday and ends the following Sunday. 

Kites and banners fly on the beach, Bolstad Street is closed and vendors line up on both sides of the street.  Many items are kite-related, as you might expect.  Food is always a popular item, and this year sweatshirts were popular since the weather was cool.  Childrens’ sand toys were also featured prominently.  My only two purchases were a new pair of kite-shaped earrings (purple!) and my annual elephant ear (delicious!).

Dave and I attended the kite festival every day except the last day, when we had to head for home because Dave had two doctor appointments the next day.  We usually take a walk on the boardwalk when we are at Long Beach, so attending the kite festival was just part of our usual walk.  The parking was a bit harder since Bolstad was closed, but we didn’t have trouble finding a spot any of the days.

One day, Tuesday, there was no wind, so very few kites were flying.  No wind is a rare occurrence at the beach!  A couple of other days, morning fog meant that my pictures weren’t as clear.  The kites were still flying, however.  Fog is not rare at the beach, especially in the mornings and evenings.

Grounded kites due to lack of wind

The weekend before the kite festival started, our good friends, Tom and Cindi, joined us at the beach.  They camped at the Ilwaco KOA and we stayed at our cabin at Safari Park.  We got together for a few meals and for campfires behind our cabin. 

Dave and I went to another vespers service at the historic Oysterville Church on that Sunday.  This time the Oysterville moment presentation was good, the music was excellent (Celtic harp and mandolin duo), but the pastoral message left us cold.  This was the last vespers that we were able to attend this summer.  It’s a nice way to spend an hour on a summer Sunday afternoon.

Foggy morning at the kite festival

This weekend is the third and final Safari membership meeting for this year.  Some new board members will be elected at Sunday’s meeting, and on Monday morning we’ll attend the annual breakast, originally cooked by the men, but now an equal opportunity for both men and women.

Mass flying of Cody kites in the fog

Luckily most Long Beach residents don’t feel the same as this local!

Dave (somewhat reluctantly) poses for the picture.

WOA Conference, Yakima, Washington

Dave is attending the Washington Officials Association (WOA) conference in Yakima, WA.  This is the annual conference for all the high school sports in Washington state.  Yakima is considered to be a central location so that’s where the conference is held every summer.  Dave is giving two presentations on the new observation data system which he is spearheading.

Fire Restrictions at Yakima Sportsman Park

Yes, it’s hot in Yakima during the summer.  It reminds me of a summer 32 years ago. That summer Dave and I were living in Riverside, CA, and on a hot August 9, 1982, I gave birth to our elder son, Tim.  What a joy it was to watch that precious baby grow into a fine young man and now a father with a wife and two daughters.  Happy birthday, Tim!

On our way to the conference in Yakima, we headed north on I-5 and visited our younger son, Jonathan.  Dave helped him with a couple of projects relating to the house that Jonathan has owned for almost a year.  Yes, we are proud of him, too!  We stayed two nights at our favorite Seattle area RV park, Lake Pleasant in Bothell. 

While we were in Bothell, we took a day trip to Snohomish, WA.  What a great little town!  We window shopped at all the antique stores and then ate lunch at the Union Street Bakery.  Snohomish has a long, paved multi-use bike path and also a riverfront path that we will have to explore another time.

Snohomish River, Snohomish, WA

On Thursday morning we headed east on I-90 toward Yakima.  What a pretty drive that is, even with the slow downs due to blasting and interstate repairs.  This year the eastbound lane didn’t have as much construction going on as it did last year when we made this same trip to Seattle then Yakima.

Fly that I saw at one of the state park’s nature areas.

Thursday night Dave gave a presentation to the WOA board of officials from all the sports.  On Friday he participated in the annual WOA golf tournament, followed by an awards presentation.

Saturday there were two WOA general sessions and after each general session each sport broke into groups.  Dave had another presentation to make to the general group and he tells me that both of his presentations were very well-received.  

We are staying at a our favorite place in Yakima, Yakima Sportsman State Park.  This is a lovely state park which they faithfully water in order to keep it green.  We are in a sunny site, which we prefer because we want room for our motorhome’s slides and we want a clear shot at a satellite signal.  They have shady sites available, too, which the tenters prefer.  Despite the hot weather, this park is full this weekend.  Families are sitting and playing in the shade and running through the sprinklers in order to stay cool.  I am sitting in the motorhome with the air conditioning running!

I was able to go on two long bike rides yesterday and today.  I went early in the morning before it got too hot.  Yakima has a very fine paved multi-use path called the Yakima Greenway.  I was able to ride to the Greenway path from the state park.  After I finished this morning’s ride, I rode around the state park and took the pictures that you see in this blog.

Busy at the Beach

Dave is painting the trim on our cabin today.  Our weekends have been full with fun activities.  Last weekend we had the second of three Safari Association membership meetings, followed by a spaghetti dinner and white elephant fundraiser.

On Sunday afternoon last week we attended an excellent production of “Fiddler on the Roof” performed by the Peninsula Association of Performing Arts.  The theater is located on the grounds of historic For Columbia in Chinook, Washington.  The matinee was sold out, but we waited and we were able to get two seats together at the last minute. 

On Tuesday, I drove from the beach to Woodland to have lunch at the Oak Tree Restaurant with my good friends, Jackie and Diane.  After an excellent lunch and a long chat, I headed back to the beach.  Dave drove home on Thursday night in order to play golf in Portland on Friday, and then he joined me back at the beach Friday night.

Friday night the rodeo association had a parade through downtown Long Beach.  On Saturday afternoon we attended the 69th Peninsula Rodeo. 

Sorry about the fence in the rodeo picture below.  We weren’t sitting very high up on the bleachers and I didn’t want to stand up and block the view of the people behind us.  The trees in the background were gorgeous, and there was a blue sky all afternoon while we were at the rodeo. 

Saturday night we attended a concert by the Celtic Fusion group Beltaine, held at the Waikiki Beach Amphitheater at Cape Disappointment State Park.

I didn’t know that Celtic groups wore kilts, but that’s where the “fusion” part comes in—part Irish, part Scottish.  They played hammered dulcimers, a marimbala, guitar, flute, penny whistle, and cow bell.  The music was excellent and the stories even better. 

Kids were listening from the rocks in back of the outdoor amphitheater.

The rest of us sat in more conventional seating.

While we watched the concert, we saw a cargo ship leaving the Columbia River and heading to Korea.

Sunday afternoon Dave was all for resting after our busy week and weekends, but I convinced him to drive with me to historic Oysterville to attend the 3pm Vespers at the old church.  Sunday night we relaxed!

Historic Oysterville church

And about that sand castle festival—we were so busy last Saturday that we didn’t get down to the beach to see the sand creations.  When we went there on Sunday morning, the beach sand castles had all been destroyed, so we didn’t get to see them.  The sand creations on 3rd street were still there, though, and we enjoyed seeing those being built from start to finish. 

By Monday morning, 3rd Street was clean, with no sign of sand creations, or even any stray bits of sand.  We look forward to seeing next year’s sand sculptures!

Day One of Sandsations, Long Beach WA

One of the reasons that we like the Long Beach Peninsula is the many festivals that are held all year long.  Today was the first day of a festival that we hadn’t ever attended—the Sandsations Sand Castle Festival, also known as Sand in the City.

A few professional sand castle builders began setting up their forms on Wednesday, and continue building the sand creations on Thursday and Friday.  This afternoon we checked out the activity, which took place on 3rd Street, next to the new Veterans Memorial Building.  They closed off one block of the street and sand from the beach was hauled into the street.

Spraying water on the face:

Some of the other builders were not as far along with their creations.   Yes, this is a woman sand castle builder.

And an older man just getting started.

Since I had my camera with me, I took a few additional pictures.  The one below is of the gazebo on 3rd Street where musical entertainers perform on weekends during the summer.

Also on 3rd Street is a memorial to Lewis and Clark.  The plaques in the background each mention one of the towns where Lewis and Clark stopped or passed through on their way to the Pacific Ocean.

I’m a sucker for anything relating to Lewis and Clark, so here a few pictures of my favorite places where they visited.

If you like sand castle festivals as much as I do, stay tuned for more pictures.  On Saturday and Sunday the competition moves to the beach where amateur individuals and teams of all ages compete in different categories with their sand creations.