A Fine Day Indeed...

Gina and I drove out to the Long Beach Peninsula yesterday. It was the second trip we've made out there. I'm in love with the place, personally. Its beauty, its closeness to the sea, the wind and wildness lurking a stone's throw beyond the houses and beach cottages and tourist shops. We spent some time out on the sand at Ocean Park, then ventured south to the North Head lighthouse, Cape Disappointment and the small fishing port of Ilwaco. At an honest-to-God general store (I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid...there was one for years in Blue Jay), in Ocean Park, they had some 'old-fashioned' sodas: I got Gina a black cherry soda (which she loved) and myself a Bulldog root beer (OMG Good!). We nibbled on a couple of sub sandwiches over the course of the day. It was just a nice relaxing time. Lots of things were in bloom: cow parsnip and salal, salmonberry, yellow flag, and coast paintbrush. Other things I don't have names for. Saw a seal or two poking heads up out in the waves at Ocean Beach. A few bald eagles. Caught a glimpse of a distant brown pelican crashing into the water after fish and laboring its way back out again with its catch. There were lots of brown pelicans and gulls, terns and pelagic cormorants. I saw a bunch of things in the gift shop at the North Head lighthouse that I wanted...some posters I'd like to have framed (I had no idea the mouth of the Columbia and area around the Peninsula were so dangerous - some 300+ wrecks!), a coffee/tea mug or two, books. The area is awash in junk and antique shops that deserve gradual exploration, along with several used bookstores. We still need to check out Marsh's Free Museum and Jake the Alligator Man (LOL), the Pacific Heritage Museum, and a couple other attractions. In places, the wind was very strong, and quite brisk, so my attire was drawing some glances (15-year old, thin but comfy t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops), but I was enjoying things too much to feel cold. And I can't wait to go back...