South Bend, WA

I visited South Bend, Indiana, home of Notre Dame University, in 1975, but yesterday’s day trip was to South Bend, Washington, located on Highway 101 about forty miles northeast of Ilwaco’s Safari Park.  Dave and I have zipped through the area numerous times, but this time we stopped, went for an hour-long walk, and had lunch before heading back to our cabin.

This small town is the county seat.  The historic Pacific County Courthouse was built in 1910.  We didn’t take time to go inside the building, but we enjoyed the view peaceful view of the courthouse and the view back down the hill to the river.

This is a fishing village.  The Willapa River flows into Willapa Bay which flows into the Pacific Ocean.  We saw several boats taking in and putting out their nets across the river.  Oysters are also big business in this area. 

We ate outside on the patio at the Highway 101 Public House.  No oysters for us, though.  I had clam chowder and Dave had his usual hamburger.  The weather cooperated for our outing.  When we left Ilwaco the weather was cool and foggy, but half-way to South Bend, the sun came out and the temperature reached the low 70s.  It was almost too hot during our walk, but perfect as we sat on the shady patio enjoying our lunch.

There’s a walking/biking path between South Bend and Raymond which was our intended destination, but we stopped before we got to the path and walked along the river and around South Bend instead.  We never did get to Raymond—we’ll save that for another outing.

World’s Largest Oyster, according to South Bend, WA

Dave is available by phone wherever we go!

September Highlights

I had better hurry and write about our September activities before we turn the page on the calendar.  On September 20, Dave celebrated his 66th birthday.  We celebrated by going out for lunch and dinner that day. 

Fall is officially here and so is fall weather.  We’ve had some sunshine but also some rain, and there’s a crispness in the air that always reminds me of fall and football season.

Dave and I spent a good part of September enjoying our time at our cabin at Safari Park.  When at home,  Dave has been evaluating and observing high school varsity football games on Fridays and some Thursdays and Saturdays, and playing golf on all the nice-weather Friday mornings. I have caught up on appointments, grocery shopping, and tasks around the house. 

Earlier in September, the annual “Rod Run to the End of the World” was held on the Peninsula. While Dave was at home at his football game,  I wandered down to the Ilwaco Port and took some pictures of the “Slow Drag at the Port”.  I wasn’t able to stay long, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing the variety of cars.  Here are pictures of some of my favorite cars.

Next year we’ll have to pay more attention to the Rod Run and all the festivities involved!

Our son, Tim, wife, Kiersten, and our granddaughters, Sophie and Anya, came out to the Long Beach Peninsula to visit us one Saturday afternoon.  We showed them our new place and then went out for lunch with them at Chico’s Pizza Parlor.  We always enjoy seeing them and spending time with them!

Sophie started her first day of 3-days-a-week preschool earlier this month.  Last year she went two days a week.  She has grown up a lot now that she is three!

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!