A Day in West Port, WA!

We drove to West Port from Ocean Shores on Sunday.  The ferry no longer runs, sadly.  Years ago, Cora and I took that ferry across to West Port and enjoyed it immensely.  Ahh, well, the drive isn't THAT bad...unless you have an unhappy toddler in the car, in which case it seems largely like a drive across Siberia tied to the whistle of a steam locomotive...except the whistle was going all the time.  Yeah, very pleasant.  We finally found that if we kept up a nonsense conversation going at roughly double volume and often talking over each other, she simply quieted down to listen...it was not fun, but it was better than listening to her.

We arrived and went to the beach, except the tide was not right for gathering the expected ton of shells.  Still, she got a few.  

We headed for the West Port shops...a nice touristy bunch of shops.  Yesterday was a great day to stop, since there was a sort of street fair going on.  We enjoyed walking through the booths and even got a few items.  Chloe got a couple extra lovies.  She LOVES having more than one lovie!  I got a book written by the youngest American to serve in World War Two.  I even shook his hand. 

There was live music everywhere.  Chloe clapped whenever someone finished a song.  

We visited the West Port Aquarium.  Something we both visited in our childhoods.  Except, now we saw it for what it is, a sad place where fish come to die.  Still, Chloe enjoyed it, even though there were no seals there like when we were kids.

 Here is some of the live music.  The majority of it seemed to be solo male singers and musicians, but this group had a nice down home blue grassy feel that was, well, awesome.

I went down on the floats and took a few pictures.  The boats were in varying states of disrepair, but mostly looked like fishing boats anywhere...which is...well, used.

 I stopped and took a few pictures of a bridge I have admired for decades...finally found a good spot to shoot it.  The greens were awesome!

 We stopped at the light house in West Port.  The folks who were volunteering as camp hosts were kind of rude, commenting on Chloe being to small to go up in the light house, without actually talking to us...Pretty rude, really.  I managed to snag a few pics, though.

Barn in Lower Yakima Valley, August 22

I went for a drive and found this lovely barn.  I applied a few textures and altered the colors just a tad bit and then hit the windows with saturation.  I like the look of the finished product.  Unfortunately, it was fenced off and I could only shoot it from a distance.  With my limited knowledge, my guess is it was a dairy barn at one time in the distant past.

Friday Afternoon and this Morning!

 You never know when a fish is going to try to eat your head...

Afternoon at the Beach

 The CRAYOLA kite flew quite well in the midday son, and did not melt.

 Somewhere near Copalis, we spent the afternoon.

Our girl sporting a dress made by her mother could not have been sweeter or cuter!  It was an awesome AFTERNOON!

Everything is just Beachy!

Chloe's first day at the beach.  I think she liked it.  She liked stomping in the wet sand.  I liked taking pictures of her.  It was cold and misty for August...but who knows, maybe this is normal for the coast.

Still, we managed to have some fun and enjoy our family time together, even though SOMEONE wouldn't take a nap.

Running on the beach was fun, even though she managed to crash quite spectacularly...see below.

 The photography in me wanted to keep pushing the shutter, the dad in me wanted to run, and the immature boy in me wanted to laugh.

We started the day at 5AM and managed to leave by about 545!  We stopped for breakfast at a Mcdonald's in North Bend, then when Chloe was tired of being cooped up, we stopped in Lacey at another Mcdonald's. This one had a nice indoor playground and since we'd already eaten, brazenly used the playground to de-energize Chloe.  It work and forty minutes later we were cruising down the road again!

We made it to the beach at about 11am.  We played on the beach and shopped and ate and then checked in.  It's been a lot of fun so far!

A Long And Winding Road

 Today seemed to drag.  It just kept going and going like the Energizer Bunny.  The bastard would not die!  Of course, most days just fly by.  But.  NOT.  today.  Why?  Because we want to go to the beach, and I am as big a kid as the best of them, so all day long I was aching to get moving...now I just want to crawl into bed and curl up.  I'm sore and tired.

Speaking of tired, have a look at that car.  I took that picture Monday and really went a little wild editing it...sorry.

You can look forward to a ton of pictures from the beach, since Cora seems to have packed the entire wardrobe...I carried the suitcase out to the car, it felt like two wardrobes.  I will probably be taking photos of each outfit.

Below you see Tobacco being grown in Washington State...yes.  Tobacco.  AND it's behind a fence...wouldn't want our noble citizens sneaking out and grabbing a chaw, now would we?

 Also on that Monday trip with Chloe, I pulled down a road to shoot a wheat field, when I saw a large hawk on a sprinkler, when I slowed to take his picture he took off, so I began moving again...only to have him fly in front of the car.  I MEAN IN FRONT...he kept looking over his shoulders, like he was surprised I was still there.

 He flew there so long I unlimbered the camera and took a few shots.  Finally he got the idea that I was ground bound and he pulled up in a left handed bank leaving me in his six o'clock.

Which is exactly where I aim to leave this Valley tomorrow morning!

New Look

I've been thinking that this Blog of mine needed a new look.  So, I decided to do something about it.  I think the darker color showcases my photos better.  I have also dropped everything that was in the side bars to the bottom...it's a stock design, so you'll doubtless be familiar with it.  Let me know what you think.  I am considering changing the header, too, but don't expect it to be minus an airplane.  There HAS to be an airplane!