We had never been to Ocean City, WA, so we began our “Beach Weeks” here. We arrived at the Oceana Thousand Trails on July 28, and made this home for the first two of our five consecutive weeks at Pacific NW beaches.
Barry was a little tired from the winding, up and down roads getting here today. Over the last seven years we have shared the driving about 50-50. But this year, I just haven’t felt the desire to drive. Since Barry has been happy to drive each travel day since we left on April 1, and I have appreciated using some of the travel time to work on my blogs or learning Spanish, it’s been working out for both of us. I remain an active co-pilot to alert Barry when roads are changing and when needed to watch for road signs along the way, etc. I still park Vinny when we arrive at our destinations, and pull him out when we are ready to leave. I ask regularly how he’s doing. Does he need me to give him a break?
Oceana TT only has 14 sites with sewer. None were available when we arrived. But we also discovered that only about 7 of the 14 sewer sites would accommodate rigs over 30 feet! (We’re about 37′). We headed over the little bridge to the sites closer to the beach. We got a great corner site. The entire park was nice and easy in which to maneuver. That was a welcomed relief having been at the La Conner Thousand Trails.
The shower facilities were just down the road to our left. The showers were nice and clean with lots of hot water and decent pressure. This was definitely doable to conserve our grey tank capacity for two weeks. We also looked at it as good practice for when we do a major rv downsize.
Beautiful flowers around the nice shower facilities.
Internet and phone signal sucks here! We had to visit the clubhouse regularly to get things done that required a phone signal or wifi. With some of the rainy days we had, we were doing that more than we would have liked.
Exactly one week into our stay, we upgraded to a sewer site. It was a win-win that allowed for laundry, and shower “in-house”, AND our phones and internet worked! It was equally quiet, too. The sites were closer to each other, but it was worth having internet and sewer for another week!
We certainly had some nice walks on the beach.
One day when we walked south we came upon some kite flyers. These were so cool to watch!
At first we thought they were all four connected, because they stayed in line and did loops, but they weren’t. I loved watching how beautifully choreographed they seemed to be. I don’t know how they didn’t end up a tangled mess! We wondered if they were practicing for the upcoming kite festival.
Another late afternoon walk on the beach. We came to quite the sand castle with an entire moat system. It was pretty cool. I can see Isaac and Mona doing this the next time we have them with us at Silver Strand.
Barry wanted to take his bike out on the beach. I suggested he enjoy a solo ride. I think he appreciated that.
A couple of times when we were taking the trail back from the beach to the rv park around 4PM, we saw a couple deer off to the right in the high beach grass. That was cool. I wonder how many people go by them every day without ever noticing them.
Another beach walk.
We drove down the road where we could access the beach with TJ. The plan was to stay on the beach for the day. Barry packed our beach mat, and our propane fire pit for later since real fires were currently banned. It was pretty windy, but the sun and blue skies made it worth a go. We parked the Jeep to block the majority of the wind. Seemed to work great. We didn’t feel much wind directly at us other than what came under the Jeep at our lower legs and feet. But then I noticed our little table between us was pretty gritty with sand. Hmm. No electronics out here today. (Uh-oh! I have a hard time just sitting for hours and not doing something – although I’ve gotten better!)
When I looked down at our beach mat about 30 minutes later, I couldn’t believe how much sand had already blown onto it.
So much for a day at the beach! We packed up and went for a beach walk. Then it was time to go back to Vinny–but we had to make a quick stop:
Visit to Seabrook and Moclips, WA
On August 5, we took a drive up to Seabrook, WA. It’s a cute village, but streets are quite tight, and places are super close.
We went inside the Market to get some milk. We were not expecting it to be a two-story grocery. The dairy was upstairs. I also saw a beer that caught my eye. “Lucille”. It made me smile. I can’t imagine my mom drinking a beer – let alone “being” one. 🙂
We found the pickleball courts. Since it was already about 3:30, we weren’t really expecting any serious players to be around. There was this one guy- Craig – early 30s and his nephew who invited us to play. Craig was amazing. He plays in Coere D’Alene where he plays with a lot of pros. Selkirk Headquarters is located there. It was nice to surprise him with a great shot now and then, but I wasn’t playing very well overall. We had a couple close games, but then the boy’s dad showed up to play. After about 3 games, we called it quits to continue with our drive.
Beach Bike Ride!
August 8 – We went for a beach bike ride even though fog still blanketed the beach limiting visibility – and it was cold. But we dressed for it, including gloves! I wore multiple layers and my winter Seahawks beanie. It was a lot of fun. Pretty much had the beach to ourselves!
Barry spotted a star fish
We enjoyed a fairly leisure ride south towards Ocean Shores for 3.5 miles. The return ride wasn’t as enjoyable heading into the chilly wind. We increased our speed to get out of the head wind and to beat the high tide reaching its maximum within 30-40 minutes, which would push us up into softer sand. My bike cannot go through soft sand.
On our way back we saw a couple people on horseback. We’ve seen some hoof prints during our previous beach walks, but never saw the horses till today. It’s like they came out of the fog.
Then there were more.
The weather wasn’t the best during our two weeks here, but we were able to chill, get a few beach walks in. We did get one nice evening sun and sunset.
We have three more weeks of beach time after we leave Ocean City on August 11.